2018 Eastern Mediterranean Trip - Petra Pictures

So here we go. One World Heritage Site coming up...missing all the joy of the never ending onslaught of locals trying to sell you something. However, I must admit that because we started early we missed most of the tour groups. They seemed to arrive later and we watched them flowing down the Siq (the entrance valley as we were leaving.

Making our long way down the Siq

The vast majority of what we see of note in Petra is tombs

Tombs, tombs everywhere is tombs

How did this civilization grow in such a dry climate?

One reason was they were experts at water collection and management

All along the walk through the Siq there are channels that are flowing water collected from outside into cisterns

These channels actually had clay pipes in them

This is a close up of a section of clay pipe still remaining. It is set in concrete and on the inside you can see the calcifying buildup because of the hard water

 Rock that looks like a face

 

Finally we gain sight of the entrance to the city itself

We arrive and see probably the most photographed building in Petra

It is called the 'Treasury'

It's not

It's a...

Tomb

 

 Time for a break

de-I shows he has gone completely native with his Jordanian coffee held jauntily

Our first scene of the PARTS

Petra Area Rapid Transit System

In other parts of the world this might consist of buses, trams and metros

Here it is camels, donkeys and horse drawn carts

According to her handler, this one, named Monica, was the Lamborghini of donkeys

I chose not to find out

 A full pictorial on PARTS

As we make our way in, the valley opens up and we see the monumental...

Tombs

 Finally we come to the site where people actually lived

Even though the Nabhateans were there own civilization, they came under the influence of Rome and were eventually incorporated into the Roman Empire.

So we have a main street like the Cardo with all the domestic buildings to the sides.

These have been much less restored and frankly after all the pictures taken at Jerash didn't think they were all that photogenic

A tired photographer

Not realizing she is not even halfway done

Flowers and tombs

AND

My Favorite Part of Petra

The truly beautiful (in my humble opinion) combination of natural beauty with man-made beauty

Let's say goodbye to Petra with a scene that is reminiscent of our ordeal climb to come to get back to the hotel

Tired Police resting in the heat