The Tombs of Petra

Monday was all about Petra. This is described as “one of the world’s most impressive and atmospheric archaeological sites,” and we definitely found it to be so. Between the third century BC and the first century A.D., it was under the domain of the Nabataeans. They used these cavernous walls mostly for burial purposes, it seems. Many tombs are evident, although no bones have ever been found.  Our first picture is near the entrance into the city.

The gorgeous façade you see in this picture is what is called the Treasury. The name comes from Bedouin folklore suggesting there was a treasure deposited in the urn above the central area. It was more likely a temple.

We enjoyed the colorful striated rock formations. At the presentation we saw about the mosaics, we learned that all colors are natural because of such layers of the sandstone that contain hints of other coloring minerals. Mark declared this his favorite picture of the day, so I thought I best add it here.

We asked to walk up to this area, where we could step inside, again to see many graves, albeit empty. There was a group of Americans that appreciated the great acoustics of the room. They began singing a contemporary Christian song we both knew, “I Love You, Lord,” so we joined. The reverberation was just wonderful. Mark encouraged them to do the same thing at St. Anne’s in Jerusalem, where our group sang the Common Doxology, and they said they were headed there and would remember.

From this point to the end point, where we would have a great lunch (done by Crown Plaza services) I (Miriam) decided I needed to experience an animal ride, as Mark had ridden a camel near Jericho. So we hired Ishan to lead his donkey Zuzu down the path with me on her. It was fun. The picture includes another boy who was pretty jealous that Ishan had gotten our business.

After lunch Mark and I enjoyed the walk back. The whole trek is between six and seven miles round trip, with the gradual uphill coming on the return trip, but it is gradual with lots of chances to stop and learn and view, so it is a very manageable trek.

We headed north to Amman, Jordan, after the Petra experience, where we stayed at a beautiful Hyatt Regency Hotel. Our fun of the evening was complete attention from the waiter staff in the Lounge. We had gone for a glass of wine before dinner. The view was great, chairs comfortable, and a pianist/harpist was providing lovely music in the background. The host told us we could eat our dinner from that spot as well, brought us menus from all three restaurants in the hotel, from which we ordered soup and a meat dish each. Mark asked for a refill on the wine, but from that point they refilled both of ours a few times. We had some fine conversation with the host. Then they brought us a blank sheet of paper and asked that we write an evaluation of our evening, with both the host and waiter being willing to spell their names for us. It was really just wonderful fun!