petra, jordan

on the way back from aqaba we stopped by petra.

the scenery on the way there was beautiful as well.

the scenery of the city of petra hinted about what was to come.

since we had two girls and a baby we decided to take a carriage for the first few kilometers or so.

the views were beautiful as we wound through this curving path like a mini-grand canyon.

and then we were offered a peak a the palace tombs…

all we could say was mashaAllah! and wow!

i was impressed because the rooms corners were perfectly square it seemed
after how many year?
can you find that in a home built these days?

the colors of the stone and rock only added to the beauty of the place.

do you see the men (below) on the left in one of the rooms/tombs, just chillin
like they’re at a park or something:

i even saw one man praying on top of one of the flat spaces along side the path.

beduoins live in the area
and it looks like they have free reign.
this one woman was grazing her goats (below).

the girls did well on this long walk through a good part of petra.
so we did a camel ride on the way back.
aya — not even a month old!, mind you — and i rode one camel
and ishaq
– wincing in the saddle made for one –
held onto sanaa and rahmah on the camel following us.
if i could have gotten a picture,
i would’ve,
but both us parents were busy holding onto our children
on this rhythmic ride.
(some other tourist ooh-ed and aww-ed over the girls with their daddy
on the camel and snapped a picture.
maybe they’ll find us.)
sanaa and rahmah posed on the camel after we disembarked.

if i could’ve done another day there,
i would’ve.
we didn’t get to see all of petra,
but most of it.

maybe we’ll go back again
and hit wadi rum, too.

more info on petra:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra

in the visitors center there were computers set out so that visitors could
vote for petra as one of the new 7 wonders of the world:
http://www.new7wonders.com
this campaign was new to me.