Petra by Day

Early in the morning we headed back towards the treasury where we had been the night before. We took pictures with camels and then headed to explore all of the different sandstone carved tombs and buildings that are in the 

surrounding area. It was incredibly surprising to discover how little I knew about Petra. the first thing that shocked me was the sheer size of Petra. It is an entire valley of tombs carved into the hill sides. We hiked to a "high 

place" where we found an alter that was used for sacrifice and also to a Monastery. Along the way on our hikes and in the valley there are shops and stalls everywhere along the paths where people try to sell their necklaces 

Monastery

and souvenirs. This part of the trip was absolutely incredible and I am finding it difficult to describe how amazing Petra is! It is an empty Lake Powell with a lot of ruins! Here are some more photos from our trip to Petra below.

One of many little shops

This is at the entrance into the canyon that leads into Petra.

Descending down the canyon from the "High Place"

Wadi Musa - Petra by Night

When we arrived at the hotel in Wadi Musa(the city right outside of the ancient city of Petra) we were greeted by a group of singing men dressed in traditional Jordanian clothing playing the bagpipe and some drums. We had 

the opportunity that night to discover Petra by night. We put on our jackets and started walking down a path that would lead down into Petra. We walked down part of a canyon until we turned into a more narrow canyon. These canyons resemble the ones in Lake Powell that have really tall sandstone walls that wind back and forth deeper 

into the mountain. We followed the candle light down the small canyon only seeing what was in front of us until we arrived at the treasury(the stone carved building seen in Indiana Jones). It was lit up by hundreds of candles in white paper bags set up in front of it. It was very beautiful and an experience that I’ll never forget. We listened to native music and then took time for pictures before heading back to the hotel.

 The End!

 

Border - Mt. Nebo - Madaba

The border crossing was an interesting experience. The group I am with is very fun and was playing games was we waited to go through customs. the process was very careful. First, our bus arrived at a station where our passports went through some time of verification process. We then went to a different part of the station and waited in line to go through customs with security scanners, border agents and questions. We got through rather quickly considering the size of our group. Once we were in Jordan we had to go through another passport verification process and then we were free to move on. In short the border process was a lot smoother than i expected despite having a lot of different steps. Unfortunately we couldn’t take any pictures of the border.

Scuba Steve - Philliam

Mt. Nebo is the location where Moses overlooked the holy land before dying(being translated). It was an interesting experience. In our old testament class we had been studying Moses and the Children of Israel. I had always felt bad for Moses for not ever being able to enter into the promised land and inherit what he had worked for all of his life. Upon arriving at Mt. Nebo and seeing the promised land I was able to think that perhaps Moses would have felt relieved instead of disappointed. And this because he had fulfilled his mission and would be able to move on from the temporal and seemingly unpredictable problems that the children of Israel would have from then on. It was a beautiful place and it overlooked the Jordan Valley, including the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.

Freddy - Anna - Paris - Philliam

Madaba is a place where an old mosaic map was found in the floor of a church. The map dates from the 6th century and is actually an accurate map of that time period. It helped to reveal the layout of several cities, despite being partly destroyed!

This is our professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies. As you can see, he is AWESOME!

Under the Center

Today, we had the opportunity to go underneath the Jerusalem Center into its secret rooms. The center is built on a hill and between the hill and the building is an empty space that is used for the buildings utilities. It also makes it really easy for them to expand the building into the hill for more space when necessary. We had the opportunity to sign our names down there on some of the walls and columns that are on one of the floors. I even found Neal’s name (with Paris’s help) and put mine down next to it! Who knew this building had so many secret places…