Jerash part I

This is on the way back form Petra, about a 3 hour car ride. More than enough time to suck in the environment.

A little more greener here, These Mosque belltowers are always so intriguing to me. I suppose if I lived here they would be no big deal, but I don't. Which makes them neat.

So when Europeans come to America they always comment to me about the abundance of American flags and how there's all this obvious pride. "No, its not like that in Europe." They tell me. They obviously haven't been to Jordan, a nation the of small size but more pride than all of Europe combined.

The forests here amaze me. You think Jordan = desert, right. Not really. Well, mostly, but its got as much varience as you'd see in the US or England. Also, notice the road... no divider lines. people drive like mad here.
A few atypical clouds in the morning on the way to Jerash, home of some Roman ruins.

Some farming in teh foreground and more white blocky cities. From the car I couldn't tell what it was that they were growing, I assumed olives but Those don't really look like olive trees...

Ah, I think everyone remember's their first Roman victory arch. This was mine. It was Hadrian's. I saw it at the entrace to Jerash.
The coolest aunt in the world, Mary Ann, and Johnny in front of the arch.
Johnny gets his hands on some historical reality. It's amazing how approachable everything is. If there was a Roman victory arch in the US... well, they would be crazy as all get out... but they're be about 20 meters between you and the arch, bulletproff glass, those nets to keep birds from landing on it, and probably 15 armed guards. In Jordan this isn't so, best place in the world.
Another detail shot. I can't get over how awesome this thing was. It was huge, it was sandy, it was Roman. I touched it and so have emperors.

Petra Treasury

Terry and I victorious.
The town outside Petra.

Some ruin on the way out of the Petra area, its amazing to see this old stuff just hanging out everywhere.

Horses, everywhere! And usually someone offering you a ride for an extortionate price. I would have, but there was so much to see and look at on the way between the entrance and the actual sites.

Little water duct along the side of the road used to supply the city when it was running.

Ah yes, the Treasury. Seriously on of the coolest things I've seen. And I'm not saying that just because it was in the Indiana Jones film, but this thing is a work of art, carved into a mountainside. It's liek Mt. Rushmore, but cooler.

But everyone must have taken this shot. When you're in the approach to the Treasury you come in between two tall canyon walls and at first you get this tiny glimpse and then a little more and a little more... The shot captures this I believe. It's also on the cover of the travel guide for Jordan, but I found this out right after I got back into the car to head back.
More details.
There's some people in the front to give you an idea of scale. The door way is mammoth. You can walk right up to it and check it out, but it doesn't go too deep, not surprising because without ventilation or electricity it makes going deep in the mountain difficult back then. I don't suppose they were trying to build a bunker after all.
Another, more full shot of the Treasury.
Interior of the Treasury.


Too cool.

Down from the Monastery

So on the way down I took the time to take more pictures of what was going on around me than I did going up. This huge hike is littered with families selling stuff to tourists, from young kids to old ladies. They all have the same lines too, like there may be a business school in a cave off in the back.

"No charge for looking, my friend."

"Come here, let me show you something."

Above is Terry offering the 96th "No thank you" of the trip

It's a bit interesting to consider the logistics of this kind of business. Most of the stuff is mass produced junk from China. I mean, I don't think FedEx ships out this far.

There's a large number of families just hanging out and working the local shop.

And their clothes are interesting as well. This kid has a polo shirt on that really anyone could be wearing. The only difference is this one probably doesn't get washed between wears.


Detail of the rock as its cut away from the mountainside. It's got these cool marbled patterns that you'll see every so often around the hike.

I'm assuming this boy lives up there. I heard him call up and someone reply, then he climbed this 20ft cliff face. And to think, there's some of us who complain about having to walk to school.

The above and the next cost me one Jordanian diner to take. This girl was selling packets of post cards and spotted me with the camera taking pictures. She basically came and charged me, which was alright with me.



In a strange way it was unsettling to see this girl sweeping these perpetually dirty stairs. I mean, as a child I played the same games but for me it this stood largely out of context. On another note, look at the jeans she's wearing. They've got the fake jewel studded patterns distinct to the fashion pandemic across America. Another out of context scene.

While this shot cost me nothing, I did get scolded. The kid said, "No pictures my friend. I am not a museum."
In the distance is the long walk back to the meeting place. At the cliffs is the Treasury, which I will post pictures of in the next post.
Roman ruins.

Detail shot of the entrance archway.
Roman columns and Nabataen ruins in the background.

A close up shot of the Nabataen ruins from a few pictures ago.

Living caves. If you look on the ceilings you can see the marbled texture of the rock.

Petra Monastery

Ah, so these are the picture I've taken in Jordan. There's roughly 800 taken and I've pulled the best 200 and tampered with them a little for presentation. I'll try to give a little explanation, but for the sets that are basically different takes on the same thing I will keep the gab to the minimum. The order of the pictures is a little hairy, but I'm keeping it segmented into blocks of a common theme. This one would be the Monastery and hike to it at Petra.




So this one here would be the actual Monastery. It's on top of a mountain and secluded from the rest of the Petra scenery. But then again, its a monastery, its supposed to be like that. As the plaques tell me on the way up, Nabataean monks carved this baby out of the mountainside and dedicated it to their sun god. First century BC I think. It's got a lot of Greco-Roman styling, which, as it turns out, had nothing to do with either Greece or Roman. The Nabataeans just stole the design elements, probably because it looks cool. On the interior there isn't a whole lot, nor does it look like there ever was. I suppose a statue or something could have stood in the middle, maybe they just used it for shelter. I'm not entirely sure.

So what's amazing about all this is it's huge. I mean, you have to imagine that they had no scaffolding (no trees) or perhaps limited scaffolding at best. Maybe they built it like the Egyptians did the Pyramids, once the first layer is done, build a sand ramp and start some more. Not sure, there's a lot of room for imagination. But however they did it, it required dedication. Maybe even across generations. It also required precision and a solid knowledge of architecture. I can't imagine a project like this would have been considered lightly.

So now all remains is the identiy of that man with a scowl of grim determination.

That'd be Terry. He works with my Aunt Mary Ann and accompanied me on the trip to Petra. To say the least, he took a lot of monotony out of climbing a mountain and was quite helpful and informative. bear in mind, I'd only been in Jordan for about a day and the nature of Jordan seriously eluded me.


There are an unbelievebale amount of Donkeys around. Mainly because they're the atvs of the Jordanian hills. Catch a Donkey ride the mountain for who know's how much... I walked.




What I like about this picture is that it gives you an idea of the scale of this thing. That's one person in the door. Now scroll up and look at how small the door is.

I have no clue who either of those people are but it was one of the first images to greet me upon arriving at the top. To an extent, I emphasized with this guy. I mean, you're in the one of the coolest places in Jordan, you climbed a mountain to the top. There's a sense of accomplishment there. I think this picture basically summed it up.


So I took this picture on the way up. Mainly because I was shocked at how close I was to a gorge and how little assistance the rock might give should I take a wrong step. You'd just roll right down. So ont he way back down from the Monastery I noticed two young guys just relaxing on this same rock. Right on the little shelf towards the top.

This one just struck me because it was a blooming flower in the rocky desert. I mean, I knew there was vegetation out there but I didn't expect it to be so big and... pink.

Like donkeys, goats are everywhere climbing on things and making noises. I don't know if he was wild or someone's farm animal... either way I'm sure he ended up as dinner for someone.
Yours truely. You can see the trail we walked going back to the canyon wall. To get back to the car you need to walk through the canyon. It was hike. Not to mention 800 steps carved into the mountainside.