 1 July 30th, 2010 Hilde and I embarked on a short Jordanian adventure. At the Israeli-Jordanian border. |
 2 July 30th, 2010 Driving on Jordan's desert roads. |
 3 July 30th, 2010 Hadrian's Arch: Impressive South Gate Entrance to Jerash (aka Jarash, Gerasa): one of the largest and best preserved Roman cities outside Italy. |
 4 July 30th, 2010 The Hippodrome could seat 15,000 spectators. Jerash. |
 5 July 30th, 2010 Jerash. |
 6 July 30th, 2010 Oval Plaza with colonnade of 1st century Ionic columns. Jerash. |
 7 July 30th, 2010 South Bridge - led to the town wall and residential quarters of 'Gerasa'. |
 8 July 30th, 2010 Looking back over the Oval Plaza towards the South Gate. Jerash. |
 9 July 30th, 2010 Looking south/southeast from the Temple of Artemis, towards Temple Esplanade. Jerash. |
 10 July 30th, 2010 Everybody is a tourist. Jerash. |
 11 July 30th, 2010 Columns surrounding the Oval Plaza. Jerash. |
 12 July 31st, 2010 Arrived at the entrance to the ancient city of Petra. |
 13 July 31st, 2010 I chose to walk the 700m / 0.43miles to the canyon (easier to take pictures and not all that fond of horses, at least not of sitting on one). Hilde enjoyed the horse ride. |
 14 July 31st, 2010 Obelisk Tomb on the way to the Siq. Petra. |
 15 July 31st, 2010 Obelisk Tomb. Petra. |
 16 July 31st, 2010 Entering the 1,2km / 0.75miles long 'Siq' or 'narrow canyon'. Petra. |
 17 July 31st, 2010 Caroline and Hilde entering the Siq. Petra. |
 18 July 31st, 2010 The floor of the Siq gradually goes down so the walls are really getting higher. Petra. |
 19 July 31st, 2010 At the end of the Siq... Absolute first glimpse of the famous 'Treasury'! Petra |
 20 July 31st, 2010 'Le moment supreme' ... And there is was - 'The Treasury': The Indiana Jones moment par excellence!!! And it exceeded all expectations!!!! Petra. |
 21 July 31st, 2010 About to exit the Siq to admire The Treasury in its full glory. Petra (= rock). |
 22 July 31st, 2010 The Treasury (Al-Khazneh): 30m/98.5ft wide, 43m/141ft high. |
 23 July 31st, 2010 Built in the 3rd century BC (some evidence even shows earlier occupation; only a fraction has been discovered) by the Nabataeans and influenced by Greek, Egyptian, Syrian and Roman elements - and obviously much more complicated than that. Petra. |
 24 July 31st, 2010 Yep, I couldn't get enough of the place! Petra. |
 25 July 31st, 2010 Street of Facades - row of Nabataean tombs. Petra. |
 26 July 31st, 2010 Looking back at the Street of Facades. With obligatory tourist stalls. Petra. |
 27 July 31st, 2010 The Theatre looks Roman but was built by the Nabataeans in the 1st century AD. Could eventually hold 7,000 people. Petra. |
 28 July 31st, 2010 Amazing colors - it is called the 'Red-Rose City'. Petra. |
 29 July 31st, 2010 The Royal tombs. Petra. |
 30 July 31st, 2010 Royal Tombs with Colonnaded street in the foreground. Petra. |
 31 July 31st, 2010 The place is huge. Petra has been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1985. |
 32 July 31st, 2010 Detail. Petra. |
 33 July 31st, 2010 View from the Royal Tombs towards the Qasr al-Bint (square building in the middle), which was probably the main temple of the Nabataean capital. Behind that is the Columbarium. Petra. |
 34 July 31st, 2010 Inside one of the Royal Tombs. Petra. |
 35 July 31st, 2010 Royal Tombs. Petra. |
 36 July 31st, 2010 Some of these Royal Tombs are huge inside. Petra. |
 37 July 31st, 2010 Close to the Royal Tombs. Petra. |
 38 July 31st, 2010 Caroline, the 2 Jenna's (our travel companions on our Jordan trip) and Hilde. Ready to go through the Siq again. |
 39 July 31st, 2010 Bedouin camp outside of 'Little Petra'. |
 40 July 31st, 2010 'Little Petra': Siq al-Barid (Cold Canyon). |
 41 July 31st, 2010 Little Petra. |
 42 July 31st, 2010 The Painted Biclinium. The painting covering the ceiling of this alcove is the only surviving example of Nabataean painting. Heavily damaged by bedouin fires and weather. |
 43 July 31st, 2010 The top alcove holds the painting. Little Petra. |
 44 July 31st, 2010 Caroline and Hilde. Little Petra. |
 45 July 31st, 2010 Our driver Marwan (right) with one of the local bedouin. Little Petra. |
 46 July 31st, 2010 Two locals, Hilde, Caroline and Marwan. Little Petra. |
 47 July 31st, 2010 Now how do I get down from here?! Little Petra. |
 48 Aug 1st, 2010 View from the Citadel. Amman. |
 49 Aug 1st, 2010 Driving tour of Amman - Old City. |
 50 Aug 1st, 2010 Leaving the old city. Amman. |
 51 Aug 1st, 2010 Newer residential areas. Amman. |
 52 Aug 1st, 2010 Modern residential area. Amman. |
 53 Aug 1st, 2010 Bedouin camps along the desert road. |
 54 Aug 1st, 2010 Mount Nebo, 815m / 2680ft. According to Deuteronomy this is where Moses was given a view of the 'promised land'. |
 55 Aug 1st, 2010 Marwan cottoned on that we didn't mind improvized lunches at all and turned out to be very inventive. One guess who's pita bread he put on the floor of the car... where everyone got in and out? Yep, right... stomach handled it though :-) |
 56 Aug 1st, 2010 Saying good-bye to our wonderful driver and guide for our Jordanian adventure: Marwan. Jordanian-Israeli border. |