Our hotel (top of the picture), sat in the midst of 500-year-old Dana village. Entrepreneurs have turned some of the old buildings into tourist accommodations.
Though it's not perfect by Western standards, the owners have made the interior seem quite lavish.
A hike in the Reserve reminded me of canyon country in the southwest US, and the springtime flora--particularly the perfume scent of tiny white flowers--eased the steep climb out of the canyon.
On Thursday we were off to the famed ancient Nabataean city of Petra. First we stopped at "Little Petra," a nearby site with a biclinium, or dining room, with rare painted ceilings showing influence from the Romans.
The entrance to Petra is a 1.2 km siq, or slotcanyon, leading to the old city.
Alongside the siq is a water channel that carried water from Little Petra. The siq opens to a view of the Treasury, a towering structure carved directly into the cliff face.
The facades of the royal tombs are carved into the sandstone as well.
Petra has the only theater in the world carved from rock. The Romans continued to use it after conquering Petra in 106 AD.
As impressive as Petra's great structures is the swirling color in the sandstone. The tomb builders took advantage of its decorative nature, I'm sure. In the final post of this blog, there will be a link to a gallery of natural rock art.
One final look at the Petra area from the King's Highway, and we are on our way to Wadi Rum, where we'll spend the night as Bedouins, and where Lawrence of Arabia spent some time.
No comments:
Post a Comment