Bab El-Siq

{NOTE: We’re still traveling, on the road in CA, and usually away from the net. I haven’t got my current photos sorted out, so I’ll share bits and pieces of Petra and Jerash, and eventually catch up with what we’re up too. Hope you all are enjoying your summer too!}

Bab El-Siq is The Entry to the Siq. What is the Siq? I’m not sure?? What I know is the Siq is the thin canyon that leads to the main Petra site, Bab El-Siq is the valley path that gets you there. I have yet to research or read my tourist-y brochure. We went to Petra because my husband’s cousin was in country to visit, and Petra is a must-see even though we hadn’t yet given it much thought or preparation, therefore I really did not know what to expect or what we were seeing! I picked up a map at the visitor’s center, but Honor had it most of the day. It didn’t really matter to me though. I roamed about, happily ignorant. There was enough to see and be amazed at with or without knowing the details.

We arrived in the morning of what turned out to be a blistering hot day… not just normal “Jordan in the desert in July hot”, but reeeaaallly hot. When we got back to Amman I read stories in the newspapers that were griping of record heat. I believed every word. Whew!

Brad, his cousin, and Brian went their own way rather early in the trip. Honor and I meandered along behind them much slower. We gazed, explored, climbed on things, sat in the shade and rested, etc. We had to fend off countless offers of donkey and camel rides… everyone was thoroughly convinced that we must want to rush through as far and as fast as possible. They didn’t understand that I wanted to mosey along and explore, as the others went ahead and tried to explore the whole site… I wanted to keep Honor entertained, but not worn out or bored. She really did great considering the heat and distance we traveled… the site truly is huge. At least 3-4 kilometers, one way, not counting the climbing up temples and tombs, or the 850 steps hewn into the mountainside up to the monastery. 

Anyway, we moseyed as the others hurried ahead. I read some tour guide signs… or not… there was far more to see than I had realized. Definitely worth a repeat trip, or, if you are only in Jordan as a tourist, I’d recommend allowing more than one day to see Petra. I could have spent more time in the Siq alone, just staring at the pretty rocks. I took tons of photos, and will share them in sections.

These structures are called Djinn stones, and there were a number of them along the path to the Siq.

ok- I have a bit of info from a photo of a sign: The Bab El-Siq “follows a meandering riverbed that flows from Wadi Musa. The Bedouins believe that Ain Musa is the spring that gushed forth when Moses smote a rock in Biblical times. The valley was formed as a result of floodwaters, and the Nabataeans carved cisterns and channels to divert the water into Petra for their use.”

Honor loved the animals! This man was nice and stopped his horse to let Honor pet it.

  Just part of the many long paths we trekked…

More info from another photo of a sign (there are benefits of snapping random shots of everything – facts!): “Djinn Blocks – 50BC to 50AD. Djinn is the name for a type of spirit that features in Arab folklore, the name was adopted for these blocks as Petra’s Bedouin occupants believed these monuments were the dwellings of djinn, which were thought to inhabit the area. Today, it is generally agreed that these monuments served as tombs and memorials to the dead.” There are 25 djinn blocks in Petra, around them are tombs and caves that would have been for the poorer classes, and are the earliest tombs carved in Petra, end of 2nd to beginning of 1st century BC.

There are also structures known as the Obelisk Tomb and Triclinium… not sure which is which.

Approaching the Siq.

Even in the heat and dry desert, there was greenery… dusty, but green.

More about the Siq, coming up soon…

On the way to Petra

{NOTE: We’re still traveling, on the road and usually away from the net. I haven’t got my current photos sorted out, so I’ll share bits and pieces of Petra and Jerash, and eventually catch up with what we’re up too. Hope you all are enjoying your summer too!}

I enjoy driving. I like looking out the window, and seeing what there is to see. Part of the fun of going to Aqaba and Petra, to me, was the getting there. Most of the driving was through fairly arid desert areas, but it was still scenic. The air was so clear that we could see for miles, especially during our trip south! I’m sure that varies depending on wind and other factors, such as the haze we had as we left Aqaba on the way back north.

With the exception of the camels we saw, and Bedouins camps, much of this drive reminded me of driving through California.

Seriously… it’s California!

Actually, this is the edge of Aqaba and Wadi Rum… Aqaba means ‘obstacles’, which is probably what ancient travelers thought of this route way back before the days of easy to commute highways.

I like how the morning haze turned the normally yellow, red, black, and violet rock to shades of grey. It was driving through a watercolor painting.

The haze lifted as the sun rose, and we could see more details, like this Bedouin camp in the distance.

Their tents were huge, and our driver told us that they were usually erected to take advantage of the direction of the winds.

We also saw many herds of livestock… had to stop the car more than once for goat traffic jams.

Finally we arrived to the area near Petra. Our driver stopped at one point to show us the valley from above. The site was HUGE.

The valley we are looking down in is called Wadi Musa, the Valley of Moses. In addition to the Petra site, there is a well/spring on one of the mountainsides where it is believed that Moses struck the rock with his staff and brought water for his people. It is still used today.

The other end of the valley, and the town.

So much to see… and we weren’t even there yet!

Unable to Connect

… and I don’t care. We are ‘getting away from it all’ so well that we have no internet available. Can you even imagine that? Our cell phone coverage drops in and out too. I’m typing this up on Windows Live Writer and shall save it in draft for when we do have internet again, maybe when we are on down the Pacific coast somewhere, in whatever hotel we find ourselves in next. In the meantime, I am sorting through various photos from recent adventures and plotting future blog posts. I’ll catch up eventually, even if it isn’t timely or in order.

Currently… meaning, as I write this but who knows when I’ll get to push the ‘Publish’ button… we are staying at a cute little vacation cottage within easy walking distance of the beach in Bandon, Oregon. We’d planned a few days here, and I’d researched hotels, but a vacation rental actually turned out to be very competitive. Can’t beat having a 3bdr/2 bath home, with kitchen and laundry room, over a cramped hotel room with only the basic amenities… at a very reasonable and highly (seriously) competitive price! Isn’t it cute?

Bedrooms with tired sleeping kids in them… they were tickled to get their ‘own’ rooms here.

There’s also a master bedroom suite that I do not have pictured. The cottage sleeps 6.

Here’s the family, awake now, relaxing after a morning at the beach.

The house is outfitted with everything you could need, inc. a grill. A hotel can’t beat this! And it really is a short walk to the beach. A pretty walk too… with flowers and nice houses to gaze at on the way.

Gorse and wild rose.

Brad’s grandparents used to live here, right down the road and to the left, on a bluff overlooking the beach. It was fun to take our kids to a place where their dad and his siblings used to play when they were young.

The folks who run the place are wonderful and we set up all of our lodging arrangements by email before our arrival in country. This is a link to their website:

Dave & Eileen Schradieck

Bandon Beach Vacation Properties, LLC

www.bandonbeachproperties.com

888-441-8030

and I highly recommend you consider doing business with this family-run company if you find yourself with some time to spend in Bandon.

Why would you want to come here anyway? I mean, there’s no internet (lol!), and this place is blustery and downright cold in July …. 50s and 60s … yea, us hot weather folks are feeling pretty darn wimpy and frozen about now…  well, more photos in a bit (again, no promises on timeliness or logical sequence of events, we’ve been busy!), and you’ll see! It is very pretty and definitely worth toughing out the chill. I think that today we might go for a horse ride on the beach, and perhaps go hunting for agates.