I decided I’d go ahead and try and post today. I’m not going to attempt many photos from here. Maybe when we get to Jerusalem tomorrow evening I will be able to edit these posts if the internet will be reliable and a more reasonable price.
Today was all about the ancient city of Petra and hiking. We left the hotel about 8:30 a.m. on foot. We just got back and it’s 2:30 p.m. There is a lot of speculation about how many miles we hiked. Some say 4 or 5 miles. Others guess it was more like 7. Regardless of the distance it was all hills, stairs, wind and sand. (At least there wasn’t any rain which we had been told was coming about noon.)
Petra is a city that was carved out of a sandstone river bed. The original inhabitants dammed up the river and diverted it in another direction. Imagine the Grand Canyon with a city in it. What I can’t figure out is where the river is today. From what I have seen of it, this area is just desert with no river anywhere.
The most famous part of Petra is the treasury. You may have seen it in Indiana Jones – The Last Crusade (the one with Sean Connery). It is a huge carved edifice in the stone wall. The original inhabitants believed in the kind of an afterlife that lead them to spend most of their efforts on their tombs and according to the guide most of the carved out caves are tombs.
Petra also has Roman ruins (I’m beginning to think that everywhere over here has Roman ruins) and ruins from the Byzantine period including a church carved into the stone wall. These days Petra is inhabited by tourists and vendors selling trinkets, jewelry and “authentic” coins. Oddly the coins are in excellent condition for being thousands of years old and their price drops very, very rapidly if you start negotiating. (No guys, I didn’t buy any.)
Tomorrow we are back on the bus and headed to Jerusalem. 4+ hours on the bus if we go back the same way plus the border crossing.
Today was all about the ancient city of Petra and hiking. We left the hotel about 8:30 a.m. on foot. We just got back and it’s 2:30 p.m. There is a lot of speculation about how many miles we hiked. Some say 4 or 5 miles. Others guess it was more like 7. Regardless of the distance it was all hills, stairs, wind and sand. (At least there wasn’t any rain which we had been told was coming about noon.)
Petra is a city that was carved out of a sandstone river bed. The original inhabitants dammed up the river and diverted it in another direction. Imagine the Grand Canyon with a city in it. What I can’t figure out is where the river is today. From what I have seen of it, this area is just desert with no river anywhere.
The most famous part of Petra is the treasury. You may have seen it in Indiana Jones – The Last Crusade (the one with Sean Connery). It is a huge carved edifice in the stone wall. The original inhabitants believed in the kind of an afterlife that lead them to spend most of their efforts on their tombs and according to the guide most of the carved out caves are tombs.
Petra also has Roman ruins (I’m beginning to think that everywhere over here has Roman ruins) and ruins from the Byzantine period including a church carved into the stone wall. These days Petra is inhabited by tourists and vendors selling trinkets, jewelry and “authentic” coins. Oddly the coins are in excellent condition for being thousands of years old and their price drops very, very rapidly if you start negotiating. (No guys, I didn’t buy any.)
Tomorrow we are back on the bus and headed to Jerusalem. 4+ hours on the bus if we go back the same way plus the border crossing.
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