A Day in Petra

On the day off the team travel to world famous site of Petra to take a visit. Petra was the captial of the Nabataeans, an Arab Kingdom which florished from about 100 BC to AD 100. They became rich from the trade routes which they controlled which connected the Far East (China and Indis) to the Middle East and Rome. The site is a UN World Hertiage site and has was named in the modern list of the seven wonders of world. You can hike in and out or ride on horses, camels, or donkeys.

After walking for about a mile you enter a beautiful gorge called the Siq. The stone all around Petra is Nubian sandstone which has beautiful veins of color. Because of this narrow entrance the location of the city was unknown to outsiders for over 1000 years. In the early 19th century the Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt "discover" the site. He was in disguise as a muslim pilgram to see the shrine of Aaron which is on top of a nearby mountain. This photo captures the beautiful of the Siq and the wonderful moment when you round a bend and get your first glimpse of the famous Treasury.

Here is the Treasury made famous in the Indiana Jones movie. It is actually a tomb. The outer "architecture" is actually carved from the bedrock as a facade. This is a favorite place for photos and a camel rides.

This is the staircase that leds up to the High Place which has an altar of sacrifice. It is a tough climb up but the view is well worth it. The stairs are carved into the sandstone.

Here is a view of the red sandstone mountains as seen from the High Place.

Here is a picture of some of the team that climbed up to the high place. From left to right in the back row Philip Eubanks, Mike VanZant, Melissa VanZant, Melissa Hope, Thomas Wowros, Daniel Hoffman, Jerome Prinston, in the front Jody Owens, and Jeremiah McLeod.

This is great view of Jebel Haroun which in English is the mountain of Aaron. On the peak you can see the shrine to the prophet Aaron the brother of Moses. Aaron is recoginzed as one of God's prophets according to the Quran. 

This a view from inside one of the rock cut tombs, this give you a sense of what they look like and how they were constructed.

  This photo highlights the beautiful colors of the sandstone that change as sun moves. There is no place like Petra and one visit only scratches the surface of this wonderful place.

John Wineland
Amman, Jordan