Many of our group decided to take the ancient way in to visit the ruins at Petra…..via beasts of burden!!
Today we visit the ancient city of Petra. The excavations here of the Nabatean peoples date from the 2nd century b.c. to the 4th century a.d. The pictures cannot do this wondrous place justice! What one needs to understand when looking at these pictures is that all of these cut rock formations are burial sites. We traveled over two miles on foot before we reached the most magnificent tomb, which is called the Treasury. That three story carved pink rock facade was most likely a family tomb for royalty. As awesome as it is, excavations are ongoing because they have only just begun to unearth the entirety of it! Furthermore, all the smaller tombs you see in these pictures are spread out over the two mile path we traveled to get to it! Finally, the tombs and carved huts and memorials continue for another two miles before you even get to the area where the Nabatean people actually lived! This society was so very culturally advanced for the time period of their existence that they are thought by many to rival the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. However, so much is still unknown due to a lack of finding any written language to chronicle their history. There are so many ongoing excavations that I’m sure future visitors to Petra will see an ever changing progression of knowledge of the Nabatean people and an ever changing landscape of ruins. br />
Betzabroad...My personal recipe for tasting our big, fat, wonderful world 