The view from the town outside of Petra. Our driver Waleed said, "Petra is inside that mountain."
Me at the entrance of the Siq, the slot canyon almost a mile long.
The Siq
Horse carriages were the only form of transportation through the Siq other than walking . We took one back and it shook our brains.
A wide place in the Siq
And it narrows again
Wide again
And narrow again
Both of us. It really is a spectacular formation
Finally... a view of the Treasury
And all of the people!
It's an amazing view
The facade is over 120 feet high
Here it is in the prespective of the whole cliff
Me & the Treasury at Petra
There are hundreds of carved facades. Most of them have been severely eroded in the 2000 years since they were made.
Erosion
More erosion
The local Bedouin tribe rents horses, camels, mules, and donkeys. In the background are a few of the tombs carved into the sandstone
Look at all of the carvings and tombs
It was hard to believe there are so many tombs in this area
The skies were beautiful and desert mountains formed a picturesque background wherever the the canyon did not block the view
This is the Roman ampitheater. I would go for the reserved boxes up above! ;^)
The canyon eventually widens and splits. You can see many more facades along the wall
This the Urn Tomb, one of the Royal Tombs
A view up the Colonnaded street with the Royal tombs in the background
The start of the path up to the Monastery
I didn't see any hints outside Petra how colorful the sandstones inside would be
Some of the patches are very bright
All along the difficult path up to the Monastery, horses and donkeys could be rented
A view back down one of the many narrow canyons cutting through the mountains
Kim had a hard time part way up. With her blessing I left her about 60% of the way up and continued on my own. Here is another view from part way up
Another view back toward Petra
A self-portrait from inside the Monastery
Finally, a view from the top
The Rift valley
Note the black basalt (volcanic) rock of the Rift
Note the Bedouin tent on the other peak
A view of the Monastery from the trail back from the viewpoint. Note the massive pointed structure on top
More scenery
The Monastery
It was one of the least eroded structures in Petra
A tomb near the Monastery
More tombs
Again
This tomb was huge! It was inside "Viewpoint Rock"
The Monastery from inside one of the tombs
A view back to Petra from the Monastery trail. Note the Royal Tombs in the distance
A zoom of Royal Tombs
Kim made some friends while I was hiking to the top. Samuel is from Madaba. The little Bedouin girl scampered up and down the trail asking tourists for water, candy or lipstick
Here Katie and Jackson start their mule rides back to the Treasury
Claire joined them a minute later
Micah took a camel
Hail Micah!
More beautiful sandstone.
(From inside a bathroom stall!)
Here is the exhausted team at the Treasury
They all walked out except Kim and I
Camels at the Siq
more camels
As tired as we were
