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Day 1:
Visitor center
– Siq – treasury – royal tombs – urn tomb – theatre – columend
street – qasr al-bint – musuem – monastery.
Upon arrival
at the visitor center of Petra, check in, our representative will
assist with entrance fees, horseback if interested and our tour
guide will escort you to Petra starting from the main gate of Petra
and walk via Siq: Over two kilometers is what
you will have to walk between high pink, yellow, ochre walls to
reach the famous Treasury, a narrow passageway where you will feel
like in other world. You will reach the treasury: The first
sight visitors see upon emerging from the 1.5 kilometer-long
Siq is the
Treasury (Arabic:
al-Khazneh),
the most magnificent of
Petra's
sights. One of the most elegant remains of the ancient world, the
Treasury is carved out of solid rock and stands over 40 meters high.
The Treasury was probably constructed in the
1st century BC. As
its design has no precedent in Petra, it is thought that it was
carved by Near-Eastern Hellenistic architects. The
purpose of the
Treasury remains something of a mystery. One thing that is fairly
certain, however, is that it was not a treasury. In reality, the
Treasury is generally believed to be a
temple or a
royal tomb,
but neither conclusion is certain. The tomb/temple got its popular
name from the Bedouin belief that pirates hid ancient pharoanic
treasures in the tholos (giant stone urn) which stands in the center
of the second level. In an attempt to release the treasure, Bedouins
periodically fired guns at it — the bullet holes which are still
clearly visible on the urn. When the first Western visitors arrived
at Petra in the 19th century, a
stream ran from
Siq and across the plaza. The stream has since been diverted and the
plaza leveled for the sake of tourists. And will keep walking to the
theatre: Petra's theater was built in the 1st century AD. It is
quite large, with a seating capacity of over 6,000 people. The
theater's 45 rows of seats are divided horizontally by two diazomata.
Its cavea faces north and east, to keep the sun out of the
spectators' eyes. Above the cavea are numerous tomb fronts, which
were destroyed to make way for the theater's upper tiers of seating.
Will visit urn tomb and east ridge tombs: These tombs are located
on the East Ridge (also called the East Cliff) above Wadi Musa.
Their facades are cut into the west face of Jabal al-Khubtha, a
massive outcrop that towers east of the wadi and north of the Siq.
As one of the most dramatic overlooks in Petra, the East Ridge was
prime real-estate1 for royal or high-status tombs. The
most important tombs are named, or rather misnamed, as follows:
Palace Tomb, Corinthian Tomb, Silk Tomb, and Urn Tomb. Many people
believe that the East Ridge monuments are "Royal Tombs," because
(aside from the Khazneh) these are the most important facades in the
most important is really just a guess. And then we will keep walking
on the columned street to visit the great temple: The Great Temple
is situated in the city center, east of Qasr al-Bint and south of
the Colonnaded Street. This is a view from near Petra Church,
looking south and west from the rise across the Colonnaded Street.
The symmetry of the building (see plan, above) adds greatly to its
attractiveness. Its outer walls measure 54m x 140m. It is
constructed on two levels. Stairs lead up from the street to a large
colonnaded courtyard (lower temenos, or lower terrace). More stairs
lead up from the courtyard to an upper terrace with remains of a
columned hall and a small theater. The site was built out in two
phases. The upper terrace was constructed first, sometime in the
first century BC. It connected to the street by a central staircase.
Upon the terrace, a building was raised that early surveyors first
interpreted as a temple but that now looks, after further work, more
like an assembly hall of some kind. The second phase of construction
occurred sometime in the first century AD. A lower terrace was cut
below the original one, obliterating the central staircase, and a
retaining wall was built to separate the two levels. The new terrace
was lined on each side by a roofed triple colonnade with exedra,
and connected to the upper terrace by new stairways on either side.
The upper terrace was also remodeled at this time, when the interior
of its columned hall was converted into a small theatre. Will stop
at the Qasr Al-Bint and start climbing up to the monastery: The
great facade of the Deir measures 47m x 48m (155' x 158'), dwarfing
two people seen in this photo just below the entrance. Located high
in the mountains to the northwest of the city, the Deir is thought
to have been carved in the mid-first century AD (Taylor, p. 98).
Contrary to its name, the Deir is not a monastery (nor does it seem
to be a tomb, unlike the other monumental facades of Petra). A
nearby inscription seems to connect the Deir to the cult of Obodas I
(96-86 BC), even though that king lived 150 years before the
building was constructed (Blue Guide, p. 192). The Deir's facade is
comparable to the Khazneh; in each building, the upper story is
designed as a broken pediment, interrupted by a tholos that is
topped by a large urn. However, the plain (though impressive) facade
of the Deir lacks the fine detailing that is found on the face of
the Khazneh. Evening we will walk back to the hotel, enjoy your
evening at cave bar or at roof garden of Movenpick, or we you can
take of of our evenings offers to have dinner at Bedouin cave under
candles light. | 
