Israel (Jordan technically), Day 13: Petra

Today we made our way to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Currently under governance by King Abdullah II , Jordan is now on it's third king. King Abdullah's predecessors: his father King Hussein reigned from 1951-1999, and his grandfather King Abdullah reigned from 1921-1951.

The border entry gate between Israel and Jordan. This took us an hour, but it was worth it. I'd definitely go back to Jordan any day.

The King is held in extremely high regards in Jordan, his picture--along with the pictures of his father and grandfather are displayed prominently across Jordan. We saw at least 5 different displays of King Abdullah II on our way between the Israeli border patrol office and the entrance to Jordan. He was appointed the Crown Prince of Jordan only weeks before his father passed away from leukemia--at Mayo Clinic in fact.

The country of Jordan is a monarchic country, the monarchic family is the Abdullah family, descendants of the Hashemite family who ruled the Hashemite kingdom before and during the time of Mohammed. They family does have a direct connection to Mohammed, by blood and therefore have declared Jordan to be a Hashemite kingdom.

The sign welcoming us all to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. We had to present our passports a total of 5 times to enter the country, and 4 times to return to Israel. It was surprising, but understandable.

We went through border security, it took about an hour for us all to get through. The main chunk of time (about 45 minutes) is when we had to give up our passports for them to be inspected, stamped, and checked by the Royal Jordanian Military. We were then given the all clear to enter the country and make our way to Petra. As we started to head up the mountains it got incredibly foggy. After about half an hour of driving, we noticed this little sight:

Look very carefully at the sand on the other side of the road......

Yup. That's snow. It snowed in the desert... That says something about winter in Minnesota this year. They got about 4 inches of snow here in Jordan (it clearly didn't stay, but 4 inches of snow fell overnight and this morning), pretty sad considering Minnesota can barely keep any snow on the ground at all this winter.

After a 2 hour drive through the pea soup fog in the Jordanian mountains, we reached the city of Wadi Moussa--the city that surrounds the ancient city of Petra. Petra was discovered in 1831 by Francis Burkhart of Switzerland. During an exploratory mission through the Jordanian desert, Burkhart noticed there was a facade that was sticking out of the ground. He sent word back to Switzerland, where a crew was sent to start excavations around the facade. That's when they discovered this: a large temple/monument carved into the sandstone. After heavy research, the building was dated at over 1850 years old (now over 2000 years old).

The original discovery made by Francis Burkhart. He only found the top 5 feet or so, but  this is what was uncovered during excavation.

The ancient city of Petra stretches for miles and miles through the canyons and crevasses in the sandy desert in the center of Jordan. We were able to climb up some of the old steps of the city and get a panoramic view of the old city, which you can see stretches for miles in the distance.

After we were all exhausted from hiking down the canyon, to see one of the new 7 wonders of the world, we boarded the bus and headed up the hill in Wadi Moussa. We stopped at the Amra Palace Hotel--a 5 star hotel that over looks the city and the Petra entrance facilities--and had a wonderful buffet lunch. I had THE BEST dessert I have ever had in my entire life. It's called Om Ali. It's an Egyptian dessert--literally translated it means mother of Ali. It's similar to bread pudding. It usually includes phyllo dough, dried fruit--strawberries of cranberries, any kind of nuts, heavy whipping cream, and cinnamon. It's baked and served warm, and is absolutely amazing.

Om Ali, the best dessert I have ever had... ever!

After our wonderful dessert, we boarded the bus and all lapsed into a coma until we reached the border with Israel again.

Tomorrow we're headed to Beersheba, 'the capital of the Negev (desert)'. It's home to Beersheba University one of the largest universities in Israel, and is also located near the grave of Ben Gurion, considered the George Washington of Israel.

I'll have an updated on our excursion in Beersheba later tomorrow night, unless we don't have internet access.

Thanks again for reading everyone!