Day 29 Aqaba Jordan

Mon June 17

Today we arrived at the lovely port of Aqaba. The weather was perfect for our trip to Petra. It was about 29 degrees with a cool breeze.

Aqaba is a resort area with beautiful beaches, and a coral reef. The streets were clean and buildings complete. I found Jordan to be modern and safe considering its neighbours Syria and Israel can be noisy. 

The bus ride north to Petra was 2 hours long. Petra appears like a place from another world. It was built by the Nabataeans who flourished in northern Arabia during the time of the Roman Empire. The Nabataeans raised cattle, and sold pitch from the Dead Sea to Egypt. Petra also had fresh water in a desert region so they were able to control caravan routes. Even the silk and spice rote from India and China to Greece and Rome passed through Petra. As the caravans passed through they paid taxes and bought essential supplies from the Nabataeans, and Petra entered a golden age. With their new found commercial wealth the Nabataeans took advantage of the mountains of their desert home to create a defensible capital. Instead of building they carved homes, tombs and temples out of the rock. The name Petra comes from the Greek word for 'rock'. Petra was a powerful city as early as 312 B.C.

Our arrival into Aqaba

Sea Princess from our bus.

McDonalds with a camel out front lol.

Much of our bus trip look like this.

This photo doesn't do this area justice as it was beautiful. This is where the movie Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. We also travelled along the Kings road, one of the oldest roads in Jordan, also mentioned in the bible with the story of Moses.

This was the surrounding modern area as we made our winding way through the streets down to Petra.

The start of our walk down into Petra. These carved stone blocks were found filled with bones. The dead were placed on top for the birds to pick clean and the bones then stored inside.

A tomb for 4 people which is indicated by the 4 obelisks at the top.

This is the entrance to the Siq, a natural sandstone canyon that winds it's way down for 2km to the treasury building of Petra. There was once an arch that spanned the entrance of the Siq, but it collapsed in 1895.

In this picture you can see some of the original stone path and the channel that runs down on either side of the Siq. These channels had clay pipes that used to carry water from the springs to Petra.

The canyon is often no more than 16 feet wide and 650 feet tall.

Runaway donkey! People who didn't want to do the walk, or who wanted the experience, could ride a donkey, horse, camel or horse drawn cart. The carts were dangerous, they travel around corners so fast and skid about. I felt sorry for the poor animals.

Here are some of the carts. They people inside were bounced around like crazy.

A sneak peak.... Then

Ta-Dah. You can't really see, but at the top there is what looks like an urn. It is covered in bullet holes as people tried to shoot it down thinking it full of treasure. It cleared up a little when I took this picture, but the place was packed earlier. As you can imagine all the sellers were out, mostly kids selling $1 postcards.

Did I mention that there is a bad odour thought the Siq. Stinky camels and droppings about the place. Caretakers are quick to clean up the mess though.  You're famous now girl.

Roman Amphitheatre. Seated 8,000

The hotel where we had lunch. After my dessert experience in Egypt, I made sure I filled up my plate with a selection of desserts. I was not disappointed, Yummo!