Jordan Part 3: Petra

Petra (which means "rock") is a spectacular place. The Nabataeans who lived and thrived here had some serious rock carving skills. I had seen parts of it before... you know, at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Speaking of which, this is the first thing you see when entering the park

Immediately upon entering the park, you see caves and carvings everywhere. The main entrance consists of a long pathway down some narrows

Along the way there are some interesting things to see. For example, can you tell what is/was carved in the wall below?

If you look closely, you can see a man leading a camel... the camel's feet remain below and you can make out its body on the wall.

As we came to the end of the narrow, Ahmed our tour guide made us line up, single file, and close our eyes
He led us farther down the path and then told us to open our eyes. This is what we saw

Besides this site which they call the Treasury, I had no idea how extensive Petra really was -- hundreds of man-made rock formations and tombs. I heard several different figures, but they believe that as of today they have only discovered about 30% of what Petra has to offer. Most of what has survived in the last 2-3 thousand years of earthquakes and erosion are the tombs -- not homes -- built into the mountains. It really is mind-boggling -- no wonder it has been classified as one of the new "Wonders of the World."

Look closely at the mountains in the background

A long hike up "1,000 stairs" to the top of park led us to what is called the Monastery. These tombs are just massive. Howd dey du dat?

Not exactly the top of the world, but it felt like it!!