Tour of Israel and Jordan

Mike and Judy Henderson
November 14-27, 2017

I'm going to leave this map up so that you can see where we are.

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11/25/2017 (Saturday)  We're in Petra.  The hotel is just outside the entrance to Petra - a very easy walk.  We gathered in the lobby in the morning.  We're ready to go!

And Phyllis and Hal.

We approached the entrance to Petra.  The weather was great. It was fairly cool when we entered but got warm while we were in Petra.  I can't imagine doing this in the middle of summer - the sweat, crowds, and blowing dust would make it miserable.

Our guide gave us an orientation on a map - not this one, but similar.  We entered at the "Visitor's Center" and we'll walk the Siq to the old city.

While our guide was purchasing our tickets, we were taken to a souvenir shop.  On previous tours, visitors have had problems with credit card purchases - where the charge was perhaps 10 times the actual charge.  So Tauck has arranged with the shop owner for each of us to get one item as part of the tour (at no cost to us).

I wanted to get one of these outfits for Judy.  I thought the black one would make good concert wear.  But sadly, it was more than Tauck allowed for souvenirs:-)

Then we were in.  There's a fairly long walk through some open country before we reach the Siq.

Our guide pointed out a feature on the rocks - stairs.  He said that anytime you see stairs like this in Petra, it marks a tomb.  The Nabataeans, who lived here, believed that the stairs were used to enter Heaven.  I wonder if that's where Led Zeppelin got the idea for their song.

We came upon the Obelisk Tomb and Triclinium.

We eventually reached the entrance to the Siq.

Our group in the Siq.

A few views in the Siq. 

The Siq was sometimes narrow and sometimes wide, as in this picture.  It's never difficult to get through, and the rock formations are spectacular.

Note the two carts in the above picture.  You can hire a horse-drawn cart to take you down or back.

I have many, many pictures of the Siq but I'll spare you.  Eventually, we came to the end of the Siq and could glimpse a view of the Treasury.  In Arabic, it's called "Al-Khazneh" which means "Treasury".

Here's a full view of the Treasury. While that is its name, archeologists feel that it might have been a tomb.

[Update 6/25/2023:  I found this picture of the Treasury on the web and thought it was an interesting view.]

Judy in front of the Treasury.

And me.

And to really bore you with pictures of us, here's another.

There were camels in the area.  We were to learn more about camels in a few hours:-)  Stay tuned.

There was a Bedouin policeman in the area.  He's a real policeman and this is his uniform.

I'm going to put some pictures of the tombs and other buildings cut into the rock.  I can't really identify them.  There were many, many structures cut into the rock.  I took many pictures but can't show them all here.

This was an amphitheater cut into the rock.

This building was originally a tomb but was converted to a Christian church or monastery.  It's not in use now.  We didn't climb up to see it.

This was a Roman building.  Almost all of the "buildings" - rather than rock carved structures - have collapsed from earthquakes.  During the time when Petra was an active town, most of the buildings were constructed buildings, not stone carved buildings.  

Then we went to lunch at a restaurant that's at the far side of the city.

After lunch, we had some real excitement.  We took camels for the trip back to the area of the Treasury.  Here's Judy mounting up on her camel.

She made it!  When the camel rises, it rises in the back first so they told us to lean back hard during that rise.

And then we headed off, pretending we were Lawrence of Arabia, striding across the vast desert sands.

Looks like Judy's enjoying the ride.

Here's Jacki on her camel.

And Stan.

Here's Joyce looking like an experienced camel rider.

Here's some of the other people on the tour.  Some of the pictures aren't the best but I was trying to hold on with one hand and shoot pictures with the other hand, all the while bouncing along.

We made it safely to the Treasury and Judy looks relieved.

Tauck had a professional photographer taking pictures of us when we finished the camel ride.  Here are his pictures of Judy and me.

We took a cart for the ride back to the entrance.  The driver was a speed demon who raced the drivers in other carts.

We went back to the hotel and rested, but soon went out to see the area around the hotel.  We first went back into the visitor's center and looked at the Cave, a bar that operates in what used to be a tomb.

These alcoves were probably individual tombs.

Then we went to the little scarf shop and Judy found a scarf she liked.  The shopkeeper showed her how to wear it Islamic style.  She looks like a good, obedient wife here.  Looks can be deceiving!

That evening we met in the lobby.  We're going to a Bedouin dinner.  Mark came down in the traditional Arab dress of a sheik.  The black bands around his head is known as an agal.

I wore the keffiyeh that I had gotten at the Petra shop.  One of the hotel people showed me how to wrap it.  I don't have an agal here but I have one at home from a previous visit to Israel.

The dinner was at Little Petra.  It was very dark, as only the desert can be at night, and our approach was on a carpeted walkway lined with lighted candles much like the luminarias of our own Southwest.  Then suddenly the colored lights illuminated the Kings Hall tomb for a dramatic surprise.  We walked up to a large rectangular tent which was open on one side, the side facing the view of Kings Hall. 

Here's a picture of the tent setup.

It was a beautifully organized and set up.  Here's the table before we sat down.  As usual, LOTS of food.  I feel bad about the waste.

There was a Bedouin woman making traditional unleavened Bedouin bread.

Here's our group at dinner.

The tour leaders - Mark, Gideon, Aziz, our driver and our policeman.

More pictures of the overall group at dinner.

The Petra Band Jordan came to entertain us.  They sang and stepped to the music, following the beat of the drums.

The orchestra.  It would be an unfortunate camel who was assigned to the middle guy.

The group got everyone involved in the dancing, and the leader took Judy by the hand.  She was soon to receive the ceremonial sword.

Here's Jacki.

And DeAnn, Stan and Joyce.

Judy and one of the dancers.

It wasn't until later that Judy discovered that the dance was a Bedouin wedding ceremony, and she was now the fourth wife of the guy behind her in this next picture.

She complained afterwards on the bus that she must be missing her wedding night, so I tried to make up for it later that night.

Our adventure continues here