Eilat and Petra

The Thanksgiving holiday came around at AIS Israel, and those of us with no dinner plans (Keith and Danielle, a new teaching couple from AIS Monterrey) opted for a trip down south to Eilat, with a side trip into the H.K. of Jordan to see Petra, a Nabatean burial site carved into the soft red stone cliffs of Ma'an and one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. I had been eying a Petra trip for over a year, and it was with excitement that I walked to the Tel Aviv bus station.

Eilat is at the narrow, southernmost tip of Israel, a four-hour drive from Tel Aviv through the Negev Desert, and it perches on the northern tip of the Red Sea, with Egypt to the West and Jordan to the East. It's a seaside tourist town with hotels and shops and not much else, though I hear the diving and snorkeling is fantastic. In the summertime it's packed with tourists and vacationing Israelis, but we hit the chilly autumn low season, and it was very relaxing. Here are some photos from the balcony of our hotel:







We walked around the bay and had dinner at a local seaside restaurant where they were blasting Hebrew covers of 80s hits, then went to bed early for the tour into Jordan the next day.

We got our tour through a company who provided the transportation, border crossing, tour of Jordan, lunch and dinner. Here we are at the Jordanian border at 07:00:


There is a "No Man's Land" between the Jordanian and Israeli borders. Walking across it, the traveler is in no country whatever. Kind of cool, and kind of reminiscent of a prisoner exchange:


And . . . welcome!!


Keith and I in front of the border rendering of His Highness King Abdullah II:



The hills of Jordan, near Aqaba. Some of you may remember Aqaba as the port city raided in Lawrence of Arabia where "the guns face the sea and can't be turned 'round..."


Interesting strata:



Finally, Petra itself. This site dates back 2000 years, and was a village of the Nabateans, the traders of the Middle East. The elaborate carvings are supposed to be mausoleums instead of living spaces -- the Nabateans lived in tents and lean-tos by the sides of the cliffs, saving the most venerated and time-consuming carved spaces to glorfy the dead. Here is our group walking down the sloping wide road into the main city:



The stairs carved above the caves signify steps leading to the heavens. Click to enlarge the picture and see the extraordinary detail:


The carvings were executed from the top down. Here, a similar space to the one above was planned, but was only partially completed:


Astonishing.



From here, the tour leads into the extraordinarily narrow, winding canyon that leads to Petra's most famous site and the village itself. The effect of walking into this space is like a piece of performance art, and was apparently constructed meticulously to be so by the people who did the carvings -- kind of a "royal road."



My favorite detail of the winding canyon were the carved stone "gutters" on either side of the main road. I assume it was to collect the rainwater or keep it off the road itself, but it's a fascinating thing to see, and difficult to describe why I liked it:


Near the beginning of the canyon, a place for lanterns at the entrance next to a stone archway (long since destroyed)


Trees grew at invervals along the way.

Narrower and narrower. Colors and textures.







Here's a place where the gutter deteriorated due to runoff:






The narrowest portion of the canyon:


Looking up from the same portion:


Dig this: there used to be a carving of a traveller leading a camel, with the continuous gutter running behind the camel's feet in the foreground. It has since been worn away, but you can see the intent in this photo:


Can you see it?





Ka-ZAM: The Treasury. Even seeing it in the third Indiana Jones film wasn't enough to dampen the awe of seeing this monument appear in person. Following are some shots of the loving detail put into this structure.




Originally, The Treasury was theorized to be a kind of bank with treasure inside, and some were convinced the urn-like carving on its crown was full of Nabatean riches. So, that theory was tested with rifle rounds:


No riches, so it is also theorized to be a burial place. For whom, we're not sure.






Inside, there are three small rooms -- one on each flank, and the main entrance. The marbled stone looks like the surface of Jupiter:




From the inside looking out:



Local bedouin street musician answering his cell phone.


And, the village:







And, the world's most beautiful men's room:





The ampitheater:




Three priests getting off their camels:


The three-way intersection of History, Entertainment, and Commerce:

The Petra valley at night, from the balcony of a delicious restaurant:


Finally, we spent the next relaxing day in Eilat, wading in the Red Sea, before taking the trip home.