DAY 13: SATURDAY – JULY 20

July 2013 Day 13We start the tour of Petra at 8 a.m. After getting our tickets, we began our walk into the site. We can already see the high mountain peaks around us, with one of them being the traditional location for the burial place of Aaron, Moses’ brother. We entered the Siq, and walked through this canyon that took us to the famous first monument, the Treasury or Al-Khazneh. It is a dramatic amazing site! It’s the Treasury that appears in the last Indiana Jones movie, The Last Crusade. From here the site of Petra opens up. We walked further down and began to see some of the many Nabataean tombs and burial chambers. There are over 1,000 of them through the site. We walked past the 3000 seat theater from the early 1st century AD that is carved in the sand stone mountains of Petra at the bottom of the High place of Sacrifice Mountain. The royal tombs, specifically the Urn Tomb, can be seen high above the canyon floor.

July 2013 Day 13We continued walking down the Roman street of Petra, visiting with a Bedouin family. From here, we began the walk to the Monastery Tomb of Petra located on the western edge of the site. What a magnificent tomb! From here we looked westward into the southern Negev of Israel. After returning to the Roman street, a few of us began the second optional walk, to the High Place of Petra. This walk was equally unique, seeing many tombs along the way. The view from the High Place was spectacular. We all returned back to the hotel at different times. Some of us took a dip in the swimming pool.

July 2013 Day 15We enjoyed dinner together, followed by a time of sharing on the balcony as the sun set over the Seir mountains. Most of us spent around 8 hours in this ancient red-rose city. What a great day here at Petra!

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