Qasr al-Bint

The constant earthquakes in the area has destroyed most of the built places, this one suffered the least damage among them all. The rest has been reduced to rubble, as said in the Bible when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed 'not one stone laid on top of the other', in other words, 'flattened'. Also known as 'the palace of pharoah's daughter', it is a Nabataen structure.It still retained some of its beautiful friezes though I wasn't able to photograph them because it's fenced in and I couldn't get any closer.

The way down

It took us an hour to walk down. We walked past some incredible places. The steps were cut out of the same stuff and were so beautiful. There was no bad view. Everywhere you look was beautiful. They say there is no God, there was a big bang and everything became like what we see today. I wonder.

Me and my donkey

Even growing up in Borneo we never had access to big animals. We didn't use donkeys or buffaloes. But a trip to Cairo just 3 years ago led us to access to big animals. This is unusual in the 21st Century, in modern Cairo where donkey and horse carts mix in with modern cars are found in city streets. We were surprised. Our encounter with donkeys would not end there, in Morocco, we rode on donkeys and here in Jordan, again, we rode on donkeys. We've come to be comfortable with these beasts of burden.

Further up

Just enjoy the view.

Lunch at the top

One thing about the bedouin culture, they share all they have with guests and being a toutists you are regarded as guests. They share their food, they don't sell food. So all we could get up there were tea or coffee. It's a good thing we always pack snacks and candy bars with us when we travel. We brought the Twix bar with us. That was lunch.

Ad-deir or the monastery

This was what we came up here to see, the Ad-deir. In the past this was a monastery complex but now all that is left is this facade. It very much resembles the treasury except it is plainer. The treasury is more frilly. The view from up here is spectacular and well worth the effort to get up here.

the 808 steps

I so wanted to climb the 808 steps to the top to see the monastery. I was agonizing about that 2 hour hike up knowing I'm not going to make it. So a decision was made, we would ride donkeys up there. It wasn't all fun and games, the climb was steep and the drop into the ravine equally steep. But those donkeys were sure footed, they made it with the donkey drivers running at the back of us and coaxing them on. I was a basket case, all I could say was 'oh my god, oh my god....' The donkey driver kept saying, 'just close your eyes and open your mind!' Huh? What does that mean? Anyway we made it in 20 minutes and I was glad.

The blue church

While excavating these churches they found in one of them fragments of Byzantine mosaics and even papyrus scrolls in Greek. It's amazing how anything have survived. These blue granite columns survived. It's Egyptian. The Roman and Byzantine empires covered a huge area in Europe and North Africa and it shouldn't be surprising to see such remains. In Rose MacCauley's book 'the pleasure of ruins', she described all the ruins in the world that she has visited. It is so amazing. This is the blue chapel.

Byzantine churches in Petra

Petra is not only a memorial to the Nabataeans. Before them were the Edomites of the Bible, descendants of Esau. The Nabataeans built most of the monuments that we see. After the fall of the Nabataeans, the Romans and Byzantines were here for a while and the Crusaders were here for even a more lesser while. It is estimated that there are about 15 Byzantine churches in the area. We saw the ruins of a few of them. They are still excavating the area.

The colonnaded street

Right in the heart of Petra is the colonnaded street, the main thorughfare of the ancient city.... (jane Taylor). Here is also a huge gate and a temple complex and excavations has revealed a Nabataean community. The Romans might have added to this complex. It is interesting to see it today, with the throng of international visitors walking on the paving stones and bedouins riding their camels through it.