Day Eight: Petra & Amman

The Tour Itinerary:
This morning will be spent exploring the “Rose Red City” of Petra which is literally carved into the sides of a deep gorge. The only entrance is through the “Siq”, a narrow slit in the rock enclosed by beautiful limestone cliffs. Riding on horseback (no riding experience required) between the 100 foot cliffs we will see a remarkable sight: temples, tombs, and dwellings chiseled right into the limestone walls. After visiting Petra we will drive to Amman, the capital of Jordan, which like Rome, sprawls over seven hills and was built by the Romans according to a traditional city plan.

Breakfast was at 6:45, and I had pancakes, milk, some sort of sliced meat since I was feeling pretty good. We left the hotel at 8:00 and arrived at Petra at 8:15. It is .6 miles from the park entrance to the Siq. The Siq is the start of a sandstone canyon (not limestone as it says in the itinerary) that is the entrance to Petra proper. The canyon is very narrow and over 200 feet high in some places. The walk to the monument area is .9 miles. I expected some monuments along the way like the Treasury (the monument that is the iconic face of Petra) but there were none. There were, however, some rudimentary carvings along the path (see above). Because of the depth of the canyon, the path is completely shaded and thus very cool so the walk was pleasant.

The Treasury is at the end of the canyon walk. It is larger and more impressive than I expected. Natives of 100 years ago thought that there were gold coins in the pot that is at the apex of the monument, and they shot at it to free the coins. There were no coins, but the name the natives gave the monument, the Treasury, stuck. The monument was a memorial to a king one of whose daughters was married to Herod Antipas. The tomb of the king and several relatives was found underneath the monument a few years ago. There are paths that lead from the Treasury and curve away on each side of it. It is there where monuments of a quality similar to the Treasury are found. Because we had a tight schedule, we weren't able to explore

further. We left Petra at 11:15 after spending only two hours there. See page 46 for some pictures of the canyon and the Treasury. Note the handsome camel rider in the bottom left picture.

We stopped for lunch at 1:15, and I had a kebob sandwich and fries, the closest I could get to a burger and fries. We pushed on through barren country until we reached the outer suburbs of Amman. We stopped at 3:00 at the Martyrs of Jordan Church for Mass. Coincidentally, this day was the feast of the Martyrs of Jordan. The church itself is new, only having been open for a couple of months. We celebrated Mass in small chapel next to the church in a building that houses a school and some offices. We went from there to Amman proper. It is a very modern and cosmopolitan city that almost looks American. We reached our very nice hotel located in the central part of the city at 5:30. I freshened up and went to the hotel bar by myself for a Manhattan. Our group had dinner at 6:30. The hotel's system that supplies cooling to the rooms wasn't working so our tour group had a warm night for sleeping.

Accommodations: Amman International Hotel
> Habab Bin Al Munzer St., Jordan University Road, Amman, Jordan
> Phone: ++962-6-5341712
> Highly rated, WiFi available