Those WOW Moments - Petra Jordan

This is one of those moments when as you walk through a canyon you suddenly see the most unexpected view.  Of course if you have seen the Indian Jones movies you are not completely surprised but still it is something else to experience.  This area was settled in approximately 100-200 BC by the Nabateans.  It is believed this structure was carved out of the mountain in 100 BC area.  The Nabateans left no records so they only have what other wrote about them.



This is the Treasury so famous in the movies.  It is actually a religious structure and not a Treasury as the legends said.  It is cut right our of the mountain starting at the top down.  The interior space was removed as blocks to use to build their houses.  While this looks like street level the plaza in front of the building was 20 feet lower.  They have excavated the rubble that has filled the area and found entrances to this structure 20 feet down.  The government will not allow further excavation though as it would make getting tourists in more difficult and they don't want to interfere with tourism.  The area was abandoned in 746 AD after a major earthquake destroyed all buildings and housing.  The poor people who were unable to leave moved into the tombs which are numbered in the thousands as most of what was built in the valleys were tombs and the housing was out in the flat land.

The building above is a Temple that was just recently discovered as it was all buried under rubble.  On the road is what is left of Hadrian Arch.  All of this area was buried during the earthquake in 749 AD and not discovered until 1815 AD.  This picture is taken from what was the residential area that was completely destroyed.

One of the other most famous structures is the Monastery which is reached via 900 steps.  To do that trip you can take a donkey and then walk down.  Eileen didn't think her knees would make it and I should have followed her direction.  I took the donkey ride that ended up to be more than I bargained for.  The saddle came loose and rolled over the donkey leaving me laying on the ground upside down with one leg under the donkey and one high in the air.  My biggest worry was the donkey stepping on me but he stayed still until I got myself freed.  The trip down was the killer though.  The Monastery is amazing.  It was carved out of the mountain as a religious center and had free standing statues in the niches but they fell and were most likely destroyed.  They are considered to be in the debris that filled this are too and is about 20 feet deep too.

The picture above shows camels which we did ride for about a most uncomfortable 1/2 mile.  By the time we rode the camels Eileen had taken 145 pictures and her camera was dead.  I had take 79 and my phone was dead so we have to wait for pictures taken by our fantastic tour operator.

The picture to the right shows steps going up to the horizontal line which is the remains of a clay pipe drinking water line.  The steps were for maintenance of the pipe.  The lower steps have been eroded away.