Petra

Just about everyone has seen a photo of Petra’s Treasury. To be honest, that structure was my #1 reason for visiting Jordan. And yes, the Treasury is quite magnificent. But there is SO much more to Petra. So, despite taking many photos of the Treasury, I’m not going to post any in this blog. If you want to see what it looks like, just ask Ms. Google.

The Treasury is a little more than a mile from the entrance. Although there are several options for getting there—golf cart, horse or donkey—Hisham, our guide, told us the very best way is on foot. That way, you can take your time and truly experience Petra’s magic. There are incredible rock formations everywhere, both naturally occurring and man made. Hisham did an excellent job drawing our attention to both, like this formation that resembles an elephant,

and this Nabatean carving of a camel driver leading his herd into the city. All that remains are the legs of the man, and some parts of the camels, still it was wonderful to see. And look at those glorious colors!

I could go on and on about Petra, and I will. For a little while, at least. It is far, far bigger than I ever expected.

Two members of our group, Paulina and Bill are travel guides in Moab, Utah. In fact, if you want to see the highlights of Arches, Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point, contact Paulina (moabinaday.com)—it’s her company, and she’s terrific. There WILL be a Moab visit and blog post before the end of 2024. I promise.

But back to Petra…even Paulina, who lives in Moab, ( and is a geologist) was blown away by the colors, the canyons, the enormity and the unbelievable carvings of Petra. Now that’s saying something.

Petra is strategically located between the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and Yemen, which places it right smack dab in the middle of both the Silk and Spice Roads.

The Nabateans could offer the caravans food, shelter and safety. And the traders could make the Nabateans very wealthy. The Nabateans had a good thing going, at least until the Romans came along in 106 AD, and conquered them. As usual, the Romans had to leave their mark, so of course Petra has Roman ruins. Yet another fact that I never knew. I hope it comes up in Trivia one of these days.

This was a Nabatean theater, which the Romans took over. Did they add the columns? I forgot to ask.

After lunch, we were given several options. We could go back to the hotel or climb to the monastery, the Royal Tombs or the High Place of Sacrifice. The Monastery was 950 steps. I don’t remember how high the other two were, just that they were significantly less than 950. I knew we still had to walk almost 3 miles to get back to the hotel, so the Royal Tombs it was.

Before your eyes glaze over, I’ll post one last photo of Petra then move on to some of the other fantastic, but little known (at least to me) highlights of Jordan.

When we left Amman, Hisham gave us the option of following the regular itinerary or paying a bit more, and making a detour to the Dead Sea. Our very compatible group unanimously opted for the Dead Sea detour. But first, we followed the proscribed itinerary, stopping to view the mosaic on the floor of St George’s Church in Madaba.

The church is being renovated, but we were still able to view the mosaic, which is encircled by the red chain. Fortunately, the graphic of the map, in the visitor’s center was much easier to read, perhaps because there weren’t columns in the middle of it.

Next stop was to a mosaics workshop where we watched items being created. .

In ancient times, the craftsmen scoured the area, searching for rocks of the right colors; these days, it’s much easier. They simply visit the granite countertops place, and collect the scraps.

For the rest of the day, I felt like we were journeying through the Old Testament. Take another look at the names on the map above. Am I the only one who kept hearing “Joshua at the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down” over and over in my head?

Just like Moses, we were able to gaze at the land of milk and honey from Mount Nebo, except back then, there wasn’t t a road running thru the landscape. Maybe it looked more promising thousands of years ago.

It was incredibly windy atop the mountain,

and that wind was responsible for the whitecaps on the Dead Sea. It was so rough, we weren’t allowed to go into the water. Undaunted, I decided to sit on the little pier, dangle my legs, and take a photo. I’m a Massachusetts girl, so I mistakenly thought the tide was creating the waves and the “tide” was going out. Suddenly a strong gust of wind pushed the water over the pier. So, no photo. Luckily, the lack of moisture in the air meant my pants dried rather quickly.

Although we weren’t able to go into the sea, we DID experience what it would have been to float in it like when we used the salt water pool in the Crown Plaza resort. It was quite an experience! Again, no photos, except this one of the view of the Dead Sea from the resort patio.

The rest of the drive, through the Jordan Mountains, was gorgeous.

This morning, We departed from our hotel at 4:30 AM for the 3 hour drive to the Amman airport. We should be in Cairo before 1 PM today.

The van has WiFi, so I’m writing this as we bump along dark deserted streets toward the King’s Highway. Nothing to see, except the glow from my fellow passengers’ iPhones.

Merry Christmas to all!