a sideways look of Al-Khazneh
Tomb BD 70 stands 15 meters tall
waiting for customers
Al-Khazneh is the supposed tomb of a high Nabatean king
you can walk the Street of the Facades or use this option
at the end of the dark canyon, Al-Khazneh glows in the sun
at the start of the narrow Al Siq
on the walkway from the parking lot to the entrance of the Al Siq canyon
the Theater dates form the first century BC and was carved out of a rock
Jordan's main tourist attraction is the ancient town of
Petra, carved out of colorful rose sandstone. Hence Petra's nickname
'the Rose City'.
Petra is first mentioned in the famous Egyptian
Amarna clay tablets of around 1350 BC during the reign
of
Akhenaten.
Having a natural water reservoir rmade Petra a major stop-over for the ancient caravan trade and in the 4th
century BC the
Nabateans made the city their capital.
Some scholars claim that Petra sits on the slopes of biblical
Mount Hor where Aaron was buried and Moses himself struck water with his rod for his thirsty people.
Much later, earthquakes
in 363 AD and again in 551 AD destroyed most buildings and after the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 636 the city was finally
abandoned.
Tourists enter Petra from
Wadi Musa through the famous narrow gorge
Siq, that leads directly to
Al Khazneh,
theTreasury.
We visited the
Rose City in December 1998 on a daytrip from Eilat in Israel.
waiting at the border control, it takes hours to enter Jordan from Israel, and it s worse going back
the environment of Petra
the Street of Facades seen from an elevated position
atop a camel you can see the things from a broader perspective
but the donkeys are parked in full daylight
now that is a fine cool spot to park your car
the Street of Facades is lined with tombs