[BAVI World Tour!] Petra

[Isaac]

The Treasury

Nestled in a valley in Jordan lies an ancient city carved out of sheer cliff faces. There are hundreds of buildings, each one carved out of one piece of stone. We were luckily enough to visit this magical place, and walked miles around, through, and within many amazing stone carved buildings.

Petra was built over 2,000 years ago by the Nabateans, a nomadic tribe from western Arabia who settled in that area around the 6^th century BCE. It is the biggest tourist attraction in Jordan and it is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The area is currently populated by non-nomadic Bedouins. They are very friendly and talkative, especially when they are trying to sell you things.

There are many things to see at Petra, such as the iconic Treasury (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), and the Monastery, an inconceivably tall building thought to be a church because of the crosses found on the interior. On the second day we hiked 2 miles and up 850 stairs to see the jaw-dropping Monastery. When we were there we saw a Bedouin man climb up a rock face to the side of, and then on top of, the 200 foot tall Monastery. On the walk back down, after we were done going the down the stairs, we got to ride camels through Petra, which was probably the third coolest thing I’ve ever done.

A Bedouin on top of the Monastery

The Monastery

hanging out twenty feet up

--
Posted By Isaac to BAVI World Tour! at 10/31/2011 05:59:00 AM