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full detailed
itinerary:
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 location in the
city of Petra. If you were a king of Petra, where else would you
be buried? Nevertheless, we don't actually know who was buried
here. As with most of the Petra tombs, the names of the deceased
were inscribed on slabs that covered the loculi (wall
niches) where they were interred. Eventually the slabs
disintegrated or were broken out, and the names were lost to
posterity. The East Ridge tombs were built in order, around the
cliff from south (photo right) to north (photo left). Sextus
Florentinus' tomb (north of the Palace Tomb) dates to 129 AD,
the year of his death. The earlier tombs are inferred to have
been built during the preceding half-century, which would date
the Urn Tomb to around 70 AD, although that 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.

Day 2: Visitor center – sacrifice high place - Pharaoh's Column
– Wadi Farasa – cave interior - Roman Soldier Tomb Complex
In the morning
after breakfast our tour guide will escort you to Petra and will
walk by Madras secret way to the sacrefise high place enroot in
Wadi farasa visit Tomb of the Broken Pediment: The tomb is
located on the road to the high place, as it passes behind the
Theatre above Wadi Farasa. For once, a tomb in Petra is
appropriately named; there is indeed a break in its pediment
(center, top of photo). The metopes of the pediment contain
raised rings, and there is a face on each end of the frieze.
Below, two lions, sculpted in relief, face either side of the
entrance, whose unusual "keyhole" shape is due to weathering.
The tomb rests on an elevated platform that is accessed by
stairs. As well will visit cave interior: This cave-tomb, with
its low ceiling and multiple loculi, is located not far from the
Renaissance Tomb during this tour in Petra we will visit
Pharaoh's Column : The road from Qasr al-Bint to the High Place
runs eastward behind the Great Temple by this lone, standing
column, which is part of an unexcavated (2005) building. The
column is also known as "Pharaoh's Shaft" (pun intended). It is
viewed here from the south. References to Pharaoh and Moses are
part of the local folklore, which holds (impossibly) that
Pharaoh pursued the Israelites from Egypt to Petra after the
parting of the Red Sea. The Roman Soldier tomb complex lies
further along the road to the High Place. It is (mis)named after
the sculpture of an armored figure on the tomb facade. Dating no
later than 75 AD, this is the most complete, and one of the
richest, funerary complexes in Petra. It would be appropriate
for a royal burial, although as usual we do not know who was
interred here. The complex has been investigated by the
International Wadi Farasa Project, evening back to your hotel or
we offer you a transfer to Wadi Rum, Aqaba or Petra. End.
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