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Thursday, February 24, 2022 - Up early to get to Petra before the crowds - we left the hotel at 0700!! On the trail to the ancient city.

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Not far along you can see initial carving into the sandstone. The cave with the stairs on top going both right and left is a tomb - the stairs are to the next world.

The area around Petra has been inhabited from as early as 7,000 BC, and the Nabataeans might have settled in what would become the capital city of their kingdom as early as the 4th century BC.
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Virginia Ann on the trail into Petra. It was a nice day but sunny, so it got a bit warm on the trail.
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A temple in sandstone - it is tantalizing to see the initial "buildings". There are also niches cut for statues of the gods.
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Cal and Virginia Ann on the trail - it follows a stream which cut a slot canyon that is the trail to the town.
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The trail through the slot canyon - reminded us of Antelope canyon in Arizona. In the rain it must be pretty dangerous.

The trail is a little less than a mile long.
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Stairs up to a house on the trail in.
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A strange rock which looks like an elephant.
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There was a life-sized camel being led by a man carved into the side of the trail. Time has erased many statues but the feet are still visible.
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Virginia Ann next to the statue remains of the camel and man.
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The first glimpse of Petra's Treasury through the opening of the slot canyon. We were lucky as we arrived early so not as many other tourists around.
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Closer to the opening the Treasury comes into view.
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The Treasury is 80 feet wide and 120 feet high carved into the cliff. The statues have been pretty much worn away - you can see the remains of two winged victories standing on each side of a female figure near the top. This female figure is believed to be the Isis-Tyche, Isis being the Egyptian Goddess and Tyche being the Greek Goddess of good fortune
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Detail of the Treasury - Hellenistic in style reflecting the architecture of Alexandria.
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Stairs cut into the rock
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A little burro - near a vendor - probably the beast of burden for the vendor.
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Tomb cut into the cliff face
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The theater is hewn from the sandstone and can hold up to 8,500 spectators.

The theater was one of many structures in Petra that took significant damage due to the 363 AD earthquake.
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Urn Tomb was for a very high ranking person as the tomb faces Petra's main temple. There is a place for the high ranking person, they believe it was a Nabataean king, and two additional spaces for his wife or family members.

At one point the tomb was converted to a church - a painted inscription records the consecration as a church by Bishop Jason in 447 AD.
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The ceiling of the tomb is polished sandstone - very pretty
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There were vendors everywhere in Petra - including the trail up to the Tomb of Urn. This vendor was set up on the level of the tomb and had arranged little camels for sale on the top step. This was the view coming up the steps.
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Out through the slot canyon - as the sun changes the light dances in the canyon.
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On the road out of Petra we stopped at an overlook to peer down on the mountains containing Petra. The entrance to the canyon is on the right and way back in the center left is part of the city.

We drove on south toward Wadi Rum.
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Virginia Ann and Cal at the park entrance to Wadi Rum.

Wadi Rum has been inhabited by many humans since prehistoric times, with many cultures, including the Nabataeans, leaving their mark in the form of petroglyphs, inscriptions, and temples. Wadi Rum may be best known for its connection with British officer T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), who passed through several times during the Arab Revolt of 1917-18.
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The mountain called the Seven Pillars of Wisdom named after the book of T. E. Lawrence 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' (1926).

The peak makes visible the two geological formations that prevail in Wadi Rum: a granite base of Precambrian age (4.6 billion years), with a thick Early Paleozoic quartz sandstone formation (500 million years) on top.
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We stayed in an odd trapezoid structure - every couple had their own geo-dome-like structure.

Virginia Ann waiting for sunset on top of a sand dune near the hotel.
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Sunset over Wadi Rum - very interesting cloud formations in the setting sun.
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