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| A wall of tombs in the middle of Petra |
Looking at Petra from the road above, you wouldn't know it was any different from other rugged valleys and mountains of southern Jordan. But, when you actually walk into this ancient city, mostly abandoned after a big earthquake in the 4th century AD, you look in awe at what the Nabataeans created. Petra is a city carved from the rose-colored cliffs, originally a burial site and later occupied by Nabataens, Romans and Bedouin.
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| valley of Petra from the road above the city |
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| the Treasury |
The tombs were carved from the top down. They are beautifully decorated with columns, capitals, and statues. Some carvings show the trading life of the city before the Romans took over in the 2nd century AD (having first arrived in Petra in the first century BC). Nabataeans eventually moved into the valley of their tombs and developed an active market center. Under Roman rule, Petra declined and lost its trading status to other cities under Roman domination.
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| Nabataean water channel cut into cliff |
The Nabataeans knew how to live in this desert environment, capturing rain water behind small dams and carving water channels for both irrigation and domestic use in the sandstone cliffs. Jordan is still very careful about water today, saving rain water and using roof-top water tanks that get filled weekly to limit water use.
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| tomb where my kids joined a soccer game years ago |
When my kids were young, we took them on a trip to Egypt, Jordan and Israel, stopping in Petra overnight to explore the then-quiet ruins. There were so few tourists that local boys were playing soccer in one of the largest tombs cut into the cliff. Our kids joined them for a soccer game.
None of that now as thousands of tourists visit Petra every day and souvenir vendors line the main thoroughfare and all the pathways to the tombs and temples. When cruise ships dock in Aqaba, Jordan's port on the Red Sea 2 hours away, busloads of cruisers come to Petra. It's a wonderful excursion, but the ship's time restraints limit their visit to the Siq and the Treasury, missing the next 3 miles of wonderful structures that make up Petra.
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| entrance to the Siq |
You enter Petra through the Siq, a winding, narrow gorge that runs for 3/4 mile to the opening of the valley. The first thing you see is the Treasury, the iconic symbol of Petra. It is beautifully carved, with several small rooms behind the facade. But, there is so much more. Continue down the Roman road, much of it paved in the original limestone blocks, and you pass cliffs completely lined with tombs, until
you come to the widest part of the valley where the Romans built a large temple and marketplace and, later, Christians built churches. Some areas have gorgeously colored rock on the cliffs, the ceilings and the walls of the tombs.
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| the Monastery |
For those who want a little more exercise, you can climb up 1000 steps through a gorge to a temple or tomb called the Monastery. You share the steps with hundreds of fellow tourists, donkeys carrying the faint of heart who fear climbing the steps (not that riding a donkey up 1000 steps is any lark), goats who take shortcuts down the cliffs, and several dozen Bedouin tents all with identical merchandise. It's all worth the effort because the Monastery is beautiful, standing alone at the top of the mountain. On the way to the Monastery, we passed the modern use for some of the cave tombs--parking for trucks.
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| local parking |
In order to employ more people at Petra, the government requires you to buy a horseback ride from the Visitor's Center to the opening of the Siq--but most people walk anyway. There are lots of transportation options--horse-drawn carts, camels, donkeys and horses. But, your own feet are the best since they give you time to stop wherever you want for as long as you want and to climb to whatever tombs or temples you want to see. Meanwhile, the owners of these various means of transport continue to ask if you'd like a ride and, when you say "no, thank you", they say kindly, "OK, you think about it. Take your time. Maybe on the way back."
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| gorgeous ceiling and walls of tomb, all natural rock |
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