1025. Now on to Petra! What a memorable day!

Petra was one of the very delightful parts of our tour!  A lot of it will be pictures, as I took many!  

This was typical of the landscape before getting to the main part of Petra.  It didn't look unusual at all, almost like Southern Utah!

We hired a cart and horse, driven by a guide, for $40.  (Plus a $20 tip that was expected!  $30 each wasn't bad.) It was outside the main part, and riding in that cart was quite an experience!  It was totally bumpy, to say the least!  A lot of the road was sort of like cobblestones, but large rocks put there by the Romans, probably before the time of Christ.  

 There were many other places there which had been carved quite a bit.  In the openings, there were caves carved out, where people lived.

 I took pictures bouncing along in the little cart behind the horse!

Inside, there were many vendors along the trail, probably 2 to 3 miles, fairly difficult to walk!

To get into the main part of Petra, you had to go through quite a narrow canyon.  If you look on the left side, you can see a groove that was carved all the way in to the center of the village.  It was where water could run, when it rained.  It became a place where water could be brought into the inside.

Nearing the place where they carved quite a remarkable village. For awhile, they had a thriving village of around 30,000 people!

Through that narrow canyon leading into the ancient town of Petra, this was our first glimpse of what is called "The Treasury".  It served as a bank in those days.  People lived in small caves they carved into the side of the mountain.  Pictures are below showing many caves!

 This was my first time seeing the beautifully carved Treasury Building!  Can you imagine the type of techniques and skills they must have had around 3,000 years ago, to carve that, and make it so precise and even in the columns, etc.  It is truly amazing!  We couldn't go inside, but looked from the outside.

 This is the little cart that both LuWana Shakespeare, my roommate, and I rode, along with our driver -- on the small seat!

  A few pictures above of the main attraction.  We stopped and got out of our cart to take pictures!  It was quite early in the morning, but many had already walked the 2 miles or more to get into this part.

The vendors hadn't set up their wares that early in the morning!

 Others getting set up to sell things to the thousands which come every day.

 Can you imagine living in one of those caves, as your home?  Until recently, bedouins lived in some of them.  Our cart driver, in his 60s, said he lived with his grandfather in a cave when he was very young.

 It is rather hard to see, but above in the picture there was an amphitheater carved in the rock, where many people could attend an outdoor event!

Some of the caves were quite a bit larger than others.

 Some donkeys were walking, apparently without owners.  They seemed to know where they were going!

             More vendors!   And more caves also, as we drove further in.

 Toward the end of the valley where many caves were dug, you could see the remnants of things that had been built by the Romans, around the time of Christ -- the columns, etc.

     A lone camel was finding something to eat on the hillside!

 We met another couple in our group, who were in a cart, with a faster horse than ours!  Coming back, as we were not yet in as far as a cart would go.

                             More evidence of Roman ruins! 

 There was a certain place that the driver turned around to go back.  For those who were walking, or even had ridden a truck in (we saw some--$100 to ride in a truck!) there was a restaurant at the end, just past this point.  Some of our group knew a lady named Marguerite that helped run it, and had lived in a cave there for many years.

 More large areas carved in the mountain!

 On our way back from our 2 to 3 hour bumpy ride, the vendors were now getting set up with scarves, rugs, etc. to sell.

On our way back out, we saw quite a few people walking the road.    It was really a delightfully fun ride!  We were giggling and laughing most of the way.  If you look at the road, you can see large stones put there by the Romans, as a sort of highway.  Those helped make the ride especially bumpy!

So our trip to Petra was extremely memorable.  I hope you enjoyed it also!