After a good night's sleep in an awesome hotel, our guide Haleed met us and started us on our tour of Petra. Haleed was a wealth of information and kept us entertained all day. Here are Haleed, Kelly and Campbell heading down the siq (canyon) towards Petra. It is amazing to think that this whole canyon was filled with sand when the city was first discovered. It has taken almost 200 years to uncover what is to be seen at this time and they are still working on it.
This is one of the most impressive buildings in Petra - the Treasury. It faces you as you come out of the siq into a large square. It is even more impressive than it looks as there is at least one more story to the building which is still underground. They have stopped excavating until they are sure they can secure the building.
Kelly sitting in front of one of the columns gives you an idea of the size of the building.,
Our guide Haleed and a soldier within the city.
The colours in the rock are just amazing. This is just one small example.
There were donkeys and camels everywhere for hire. We chose to walk, but the kids couldn't resist at least petting a donkey.
After a full day of wandering the city with excellent naratives by Haleed, we were ready to make our way back to the hotel for a rest before our evening walk.
We met at the visitor's centre at 8:00 with about 200 other people and headed back towards the treasury building. The siq was lit by 1,500 candles all along the way and the square in front of the treasury building was lit by a further 200 or so candles. We were served tea and listened to traditional music and a story for about half an hour before heading back out through the candlelit siq. It was a really interesting experience. We certainly have more research to do on Petra when we get home.
