Little Petra

 Sept 20 Morning

Today we start at a the lesser known site of Little Petra. I loved this area, so much fewer people and much smaller after all the walking yesterday. It is a really narrow gorge, only 2 meters wide in parts. Little Petra was like a truck stop for caravans, inhabited by the Nabateans. There are a number of tombs, water tanks and river beds here. There is a registration place at the entrance where the caravans would have had to stop before entering the gorge. Lots of caves for storage, where people lived until 1985. The caves were so black on top from burning for cooking and heat. We climbed one staircase to see The Painted Biclinium from the first century AD, it is one of the few surviving from this time.

At the end of the gorge there are steps for a lookout. Not too many steps, but I really didn't like the angle they were on, so walked part way up and then just chatted to others as they went by. Only about 150 steps here, but I was afraid of falling with the sand on the steps so passed on this one, but I talked to lots of people!

Back to the bus and we are off to Wadi Rum. 

See the afternoon Blog for the rest of the day

city of Petra

Hot air balloon we could see from our hotel, a new attraction here.  It is tethered and I think holds 50 people

Views driving in the bus on the way to Little Petra, amazing

Little Petra

Little Petra entrance gate

Much narrower gorge than Petra yesterday

The Painted Biclinium from the first century AD

I did climb these steps to see the painting, but passed on the next ones

Notice the black ceiling from burning inside the caves for heat and cooking

Andre ventured up these steps, I just visited with others as they went by

Water cistern 

We saw one bike tour, this woman did not seem to be enjoying herself too much. It was hilly here, and hot

Yep, another lunch break, another shopping stop