Look up on high

A spectacular addition to our trip is a classic tour of Petra, one of the 7 wonders of the world. Petra is a 10,000 year old city, hidden in the dessert. It’s carved red-rose colour sandstone rocks and temples was featured in Indiana Jones The Last Crusader, exploding tourism in the area.

Petra was the capital of the Nabatean Empire which grew rich due to its control of the spice road, a trading route that brought spices, incense and textiles. We stopped at an authentic vendor and smelled myrrh and frankincense from all over the world. Did you know myrrh was given by the wise men as a gift to Jesus prophetically, as it is used for embalming.

Bedouin tribes have all the tourism rights here, a deal they struck with the Jordanian government. Even today, they live among the rocks and caves. The children are not schooled rather working all day, using high pressure tactics to sell their trinkets to tourists.

The road into the rock valley is called the Siq. It is made of split rock over half a mile long. Most of the rock split is a natural formation and up to 250 ft high. There are decorations all over the Siq including sculptures, carvings of gods and animals. My personal favorite is one the locals call Elefish. From the front it looks like an elephant, yet from the side a fish. Can you see it too?

You have to stay alert when walking down the Siq, at some parts it is less than 10ft wide ( or 2 🐪 wide). Yet we are packed in like sardines in the shade of the rocks. The bedouins barrel through on horse carriages, carrying tired tourists ( like my Mom lol). They won’t stop or move out of the way for you- yikes it is not safe when you are a gawker like me.

At its peak, Petra had 30,000 people. The city was maintained with a huge network of dams, cisterns, reservoir pools and aqueducts. Civilalizations without water are nothing, the Nabateans did not waste a drop of it.

The moment when you reach the end of the Siq is more magnificent than can be expressed in words. One has to try to imagine world-weary traders at the end of a long journey, spotting the intricately carved rose stone facade and knowing they'd reached a great civilization. I actually found myself running towards it with great anticipation.

The Treasury is the first structure you see upon entering the city. How in the world? How in the world? How in the world? I repeated over and over. Many believe it was a tomb, others a place to store important documents. This one spot has WIFI and so I texted videos and pictures to my family. It was a moment too great not to share with them, in some small way at least.

Another impressive structure is the amphitheatre, holding up to 8500 people. Petra was the Las Vegas of the ancient world, attracting travellers to stay and providing them with great luxuries and abundance of entertainment.

Along the way there are tombs you can actually go into. The main tomb in the Royal Tombs is known as the Urn Tomb, which gets its name from the jar carved at the top. From outside the Urn Tomb, you get a spectacular view of the desert and the path to other sites in Petra. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to head that way, so this view was going to have to suffice.

In real life, Petra is more incredible than you can even imagine. Pictures just can not capture this breathtaking encounter with the Greatness of our God. Look up and praise the Lord!

[How great is our Lord! His power is absolute!
His understanding is beyond comprehension! - Psalm 147:5]Meer informatie