Day 13 – Saturday, May 10: Petra, Madaba
Today was an amazing day! Petra, one of the Seven Wonders of the World did not disappoint. While it was incredible to see all the devastating effects of the floods earlier this week, the site is still so amazing in every way. Following an early breakfast, we walked to the entrance to Petra around 7 a.m. In the morning it felt like we had the site all to ourselves!
Petra
This ancient Nabatean city was built within the Seir Mountains, the land of the Edomites (Deuteronomy 2, 33; Ezekiel 35). We all thoroughly enjoyed the spectacular scenery and tombs/ruins of this red-rose ancient city. Once we entered the site, we all walked through the Siq (canyon) which brought us to the first monument, “The Treasury” (“Al-Khazneh”). This well-preserved monumental tomb appeared in the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” It was the tomb of the Nabatean King named Aretas III (Paul mentions his son, Aretas IV in 2 Cor. 11:32). His daughter (or granddaughter – depending on dating) was the former wife of Herod Antipas, see Matthew 14).
From the Treasury we now began our walk into the city. Besides passing by many of the Nabatean tombs, we walked by a 3,000-seat theater carved into the sandstone, one of the largest theaters in Jordan. From here, a few in the group walked to the Monastery Tomb at the far west side of Petra, while others explored on their own (e.g. the Royal Tombs). The Aravah and Negev of Israel could be seen in the haze to the west from the area of the Monastery.
We all returned back to the hotel at our own pace. John and John made it also up to the High Place. The trail took them around the backside before cresting the top.
“Petra was amazing today! To visit and explore this red-rose city of the Nabateans was incredible. Around every corner there was something to take a picture of. In the morning it seemed like we had the place to ourselves too!”
Madaba
Once we all arrived back to the hotel, we began our drive north to Madaba. Our drive took on a portion of the King’s Highway before we countered with the Desert Highway. The re-paving of this north-south route was recently financed by Saudi Arabia.
Day 14 – Sunday, May 11: Mt. Nebo, Wadi Mujib (Arnon), Machaerus, Madaba
