Walking in Harrison Ford's footsteps: Educational Experience part II

You can't visit Jordan and not go to Petra. It has to be some unofficial rule. And if it isn't, well, it should be. Anyway, Petra is where part of the 1989 film "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was filmed. It was portrayed as being in the Canyon of the Crescent Moon, but, alas, it really isn't. It actually is hidden in the mountains, and was unknown to the Western World until 1812, when a Swiss explorer, who was masquerading as a Sheikh, was taken to the site by the local Bedouins. (Note: the explorer died in 1817 of dysentery  which, in Professor Dil's words, was poetic justice)

Anyway, Petra was still fairly unknown until 1989, when Harrison Ford and Sean Connery filmed Indiana Jones there. That film essentially put Jordan on the map. Going into Petra, there are a ton of Indiana Jones souvenir shops. Part of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was filmed there too (but, that was a terrible movie and really doesn't deserve to be mentioned, except for the part with Petra).

Mark, next to one of the gift shops

To get to Petra, you walk .8 miles through the Siq, this is close to the view shown in Indiana Jones

Lucy and I in front of the Treasury

So, what exactly is Petra? Well, here's some background information:

Petra is carved out of sandstone. It was the capital city for the Nabataeans and was established as early as 312 BC. The Nabataeans didn't have a writing system. They also didn't really have their own style. Petra was a center for trade from all over, so, it is a combination of styles from various cultures. Styles were borrowed primarily from the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. The carvings are very detailed, and a lot of time was put into them. 

You can't see it very well, but there is a 6-pack chiseled on this facade

Petra is a huge site, and it takes over a full day to see everything. Here's a fun fact, only about 20-25% of Petra has been excavated. Yeah, it's massive. I actually spent about 10 hours there. A majority of Petra is tombs of some kind. There literally are hundreds. We found one place that was covered in little rock towers or cairns, which represent a tomb/grave. 

The place of many cairns

There also are a couple of hikes you can go on. The first one we went one was to the "High Place of Sacrifice". As its name implies, it was at the top of one of the mountains. There were about 650 stair steps. However, there also were stretches that didn't have steps. Oh, side note about the Nabataeans, they loved stairs. I'm serious, there were random stairs carved into the mountains, that led nowhere. It's as if when they got bored, they just carved another set of stairs. Anyway, at the top of this mountain, there was an awesome view of the valley. 

Pat, Lucy, Carrie and I, mimicking the Four Obelisks

On the edge of one of the cliffs, over looking the valley

There also was the sacrificial altar. My friends, Lucy, Sarah, and I did some reenactments, and documented them via photos, for your enjoyment :) 

I'm so somber after being sentenced to be sacrificed

Sarah, sacrificing me (How odd, I"m actually grinning). You can't see it, but she's using a hot pink pocket knife

We believe in equal opportunity sacrifice, and took turns sacrificing each other

You can't see it very well, but I have a maniacal look on my face

After that, we went down a different way, and went through a small valley, that had a lot of carvings, and tombs. I'll just say that all of the tombs had amazing acoustics. A group of us would go from tomb to tomb and sing hymns. Some other tourists (I think they were German), recorded us, and said it sounded really good. Either way, it was a lot of fun.

In one of the tombs, it was a mass graveyard, one of the students decided to play dead too

Then we went up to the Royal Tombs, which were pretty impressive. and then hiked up to the Monastery. It is a longer, harder hike than the hike to the High Place of Sacrifice. It is 850 stair steps with long stretches without stairs. I'm pretty sure that they filmed Transformers 2 at the Monastery. It was alright, but, after a while, everything starts to look the same. 

I ended up coming home at 7 or 8 that night. Lucy, Pat, and I got pizza for dinner, then bought ice cream and had a bit of a girls night, bemoaning our sore legs. All in all, it was a great, but exhausting day.  

Cats are everywhere in Jordan. Even in Petra, and this little kitten was well taken care of. He was super cute and posed for me