Trip to Holy Land - Day Six

None of us could believe what happened at 4:15 a.m.  Out of a deep sleep, we suddenly were awakened with something that sounded like a bullhorn in our ears!  We should have remembered two things:  1) The minaret which is the tall, thin tower of a mosque with a balcony and giant speakers all around, was right next door.  And 2) All Muslims are called to prayer through chants and recitations five times daily, and this was the first call at 4:15 a.m.  I have to admire their devotion to their prayers if they do this every day of their lives!  We were actually able to go back to sleep for an hour or so, then quickly got our luggage packed again and we were off for Petra!

 As we were getting loaded for the bus ride, we looked over from where our little rock houses were and realized how really high up in the mountains we were!

 This is actually 4,000 feet above sea level!

 On our bus ride over to the ruins of Petra, we got a better look of Mount Hor, where it is believed that Aaron, the brother of Moses, died.  (Numbers 20:25-29)   It is the highest mountain in Petra, and you can barely see the rounded dome of the mosque on top of the highest point of the mountain in the middle.

The modern town of Petra which is home to 50,000 people.

 With the ancient city of Petra drawing the most tourists of any place in Jordan, it provides jobs for all of the present day residents.

We soon arrived at the Petra Visitor Center where we would begin our trek. 

With the entrance pass, A horse ride was included in the entrance price to Petra.  You only needed to pay the handlers a tip.  Many of us chose to just walk to be able to concentrate more on what we would be seeing.  We had no idea of the distance or the difficulty of the walk at this time!

Doug chose to ride the horse down.

The he made friends with all the guys who managed the horses.

And so we began our trek.  Petra actually dates back to 1200 B.C.  It is thought that Esau's descendants lived there until they were kicked out by the Assyrians.  They left nothing behind.

In 37-100 AD (or CE which is "Common Era"), the pagan Nabataeans came here who were Arab nomads from Yemen, coming to Jordan for the fertile land.  They carved memorials such as these which are fascades and cave burial chambers which are now 2,000 years old.

The Romans living in north Jordan tried to take over Petra, but failed.  Finally, with a peace agreement in the 2nd Century, they gained control, but lived together with the Nabataeans.

In 747 AD, there was a huge earthquake and the city was abandoned and lost.

 In 1812, Petra was rediscovered and introduced by explorer Johann Burkhardt.  It was described as "a rose-red city half as old as time."

Making our way along the Siq, which is the narrow gorge made by a natural geological fault that provided the caravan entrance into the main part of Petra.  There seemed to be natural sitting places for one to just enjoy the breath-taking scenery!  But we hadn't seen anything yet!  (You can see our Jordanian guide in the middle looking back this way.  He has chosen not to wear the traditional head dress of the Jordanians.)

Along the left hand side of the Siq was a covered water channel used to bring water from the spring in Wadi Musa into the center of Petra.

It was amazing how these people, also, had cisterns along the way to catch every bit of rain water . . . 

 

 as well as the channels which dropped ever so slightly to always have the needed water pressure for the residents who lived there who at the height of the civilization was numbered at about 20,000 in the year AD 50.  You can see how high the channels started (above Shelly's head to the left) at the entrance of the passageway or Siq.

It is just breath-taking to look above and see the beautiful red cliffs.  It sort of reminded me of the cliffs in southern Utah!

Our guide told us this looked like an elephant.  I didn't see it that much until we walked a little further on.

Our guide suddenly had us stand to the right and had us look back at where we had come from.  Then he had us cross to the left side of the path, and then he said to turn around again.  There was the spectacular treasury framed between the rock walls!  AWESOME!  We all just went, "Ahhhh!" in unison.  It was amazing to see it for the first time.  As we moved forward, it became more visible.

 

 The most impressive of all Petra’s monuments is al-Khazneh (Arabic for "the Treasury"). It is carved out of solid rock from the side of a mountain, and stands over 131 feet high. Although it served as a royal tomb, the Treasury gets its name from the legend that pirates hid their treasure there, in a giant stone urn which stands in the center of the second level. 

 Believing the urn to be filled with ancient treasures of the pharaohs, the Bedouins periodically fired guns at it: proof of this can be seen in the bullet holes which are clearly visible on the urn. The Treasury's age has been debated, with estimates ranging from 100 BCE to 200 CE.

 

With less than one-twentieth of the ancient city unearthed, new wonders constantly emerge at the hands of Jordanian, French, Swiss and American archaeologists.  This excavation is right in front of the Treasury and was just found not too long ago to be another level below the two levels above.

I'll never forget seeing "Indiana Jones" here at this very place, and now I was standing right there, too!

In front of the Treasury are many vendors selling their wares--including rides on their camels.

George definitely knew he didn't want to ride one.  He had quite the experience on a camel at the Great Wall of China which became more of a spectator interest by all those climbing the wall than the Great Wall itself, so he knew this wasn't for him!

I had decided I definitely wanted to try new things on this trip--first of all to prove to myself that I could do it, and secondly, to make my kids proud!  But I sort of hesitated, and by the time I was ready to hand the camel man my money, there were no more camels!

I love Joyce's expression as the camel gets up on his knees, then his back legs straighten out.  So, after this, you actually almost fall off over the camel's head! 

"Oh, well," I thought.  At least I tried.  Off went our group, and George and I just walked along.

This is our fantastic tour director.  We have now gone on three tours with her company.  She and her husband are fantastic on all the details and so much fun!

 When we got about half way to our destination, a young man about 14 years old caught up with me and told me he now had a camel for me.  I asked him how much and he said it was going to be the same as if I started at the first.  I said, "No, that wouldn't be fair because I have walked half way."  He just kept walking beside me and begging me to ride his camel.  I just kept telling him he wasn't being fair with me.  Finally, I think it was his dad or his boss who came over and told me he would give me a deal to which I accepted.  

Sorry . . . no pictures of how I got on, but I took this as we were going.  Let me just say, this is not a comfortable ride.  Your hips move back and forth as the camel walks and your whole body is in motion.  But, I loved the experience!

The young man took me to what is known as the Amphitheater.

There were actually rooms inside in another area which Jerry and Blair hiked up to while we were riding camels.  We didn't have time to do both.

Besides all the rock formations, I enjoyed seeing the animals.  Here was a bunch of donkeys.

This really made me laugh.  Some grazing goats (what is there to eat anyway?) decided these necklaces and bracelets looked much more tempting.  My camel handler young man started yelling for the "shopkeeper" who was over talking to another shopkeeper.  She hurried back.

After my camel ride, the young man said, "Let me take your camera."  I was a little leery, but he did such a great job taking all of the following pictures:

 

 

I put all these pictures on because when I went to pay the young man, I said, "You know, at first you didn't want to be fair with me.  But when you were fair on the price and then did all these pictures as a kindly gesture, I'm going to give you the full price you wanted.  Just remember to always be fair with others, and they will be fair with you."  He smiled and smiled.  Now, I wish I would have taken a picture of him!

 The one-mile walk back was much more difficult because remember we are now walking uphill.  Now we noticed these big blocks which are called "djinn blocks" (a djinn is an Arabic spirit).  The blocks are well over a person's height, and are thought to be funerary monuments.

  There are a total of 25 dijinn blocks in Petra.

 A number of other tombs and caves around these dijinn blocks would have been for the poorer class and are the earliest tombs carved in Petra (end of 2nd to beginning of 1st century B.C.)

 It had rained very heavily a few days before, so the carriages couldn't run down and up until it dried out a little.  Some people paid the $30 to come back up.

 There were a few little shops back by the Visitors' Center.

 

 One thing we never got used to was having to take your own toilet paper into the bathrooms and very often having to pay to use the restrooms.  I didn't have the correct change, but only had larger bills, so this lady was kind enough to give me paper and allow me in anyway.  I ran over to George to get some money and took it back to her.  She was so happy, she gave me a kiss on the cheek!  (One other item about the restrooms which I could never accept:  You don't put the toilet paper in the toilet.  You put it in the trashcan beside the toilet.  Yuck!  But they said it would clog the drains, so you had to do it!)

 The four siblings looking back at Petra before loading the bus.  It was an experience we will never forget!

 We began our trip to the Jordanian border along the desert highway. 

 

 We saw many tents:  These were probably Syrian refugees (white, UN marked tents).

 Whereas, these are Bedouin tents--nomadic people who move from place to place.

 Our Jordanian guide kept telling us we must reach the border station on time in order to cross over into Israel.  It would be closing early today because the Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat) begins at sundown.  We noticed as we got lower in the elevation, there was much more vegetation and different crops growing. 

 I took a picture of the markers showing that we had come from Jordan and were on our way to Israel.  This would be the last picture I could take even out the window as we were warned that the police on either side of the border don't want pictures taken of them.  Your camera could be confiscated!  Yikes!  I wasn't about to have that happen!

  We arrived at the Jordan/Israel border crossing Sheik Hussein Bridge.  It took a couple of hours to get through security, etc.  We had to pay ($15 US) tax each to leave Jordan.  We showed our passports – on and off the bus several times.  Again, bathroom woes:  The toilets on the Jordanian side were squat style – just a porcelain surrounded hole in the ground like in China!  We did get a stamp in our passports for leaving Jordan – and another for entering Israel after going through metal detectors and having our bags scanned. 

 Our Jordanian bus driver could only take us across the line and then had to circle back immediately, so we had to say "good-bye to our Jordanian guide."  He had been excellent.  Now we had a new bus and a new driver, as well as a new guide:  Tareq.  He was a tall Palestinian mixture whose father was Muslim and mother was Christian.  Tareq studied for six years at the Hebrew University, so he really knew history.  He would always say, "Good?" when he meant "Okay."  Sometimes the things he said weren't good, and we would say, "Bad!" 

 Our next hotel was in Tiberias on the west side of the Sea of Galilee.  Herod Antipas, son of King Herod the Great, was named tetrarch of Galilee by Caesar Augustus.  Herod Antipas built the city of Tiberias.  This area is part of the Great Rift Valley (from Africa on the south to Syria on the north). 

We arrived at 8:30 p.m. just when dinner was closing, but they held it open for us.  It really tasted wonderful after our busy and exhausting day at Petra!