Indiana Jones says hi!

In observance of the Jewish holiday of Purim, the Hebrew University granted us a four-day weekend, which I spent--with several of my friends--in Eilat (pronounced "a lot"). Eilat is a resort-town at the very southern tip of Israel, on the coast of the Red Sea. It is a stone's throw from both Jordan to the east and the Sinai (Egypt) to the west. Given our proximity to Jordan, we also booked an expensive day-trip to Petra, the ancient city in Jordan (considered by many to be a Wonder of the World!) that has featured prominently in many movies (most notably, the Indiana Jones films and Arabian Nights).

One would think that after all of my traveling in the West Bank, I would be used to checkpoints; however, the border crossing between Israel and Jordan was the most intense I've experienced so far. In addition to paying upwards of 200 shekels for a day visa, I had to surrender my passport to our sketchy tour guide in order to get it stamped. Luckily, after a long wait, I got my passport back. Below is my first celebratory picture of Jordan (the sign is in need of some repair).



On our drive to Petra through the barren Jordanian desert, we stopped briefly to visit a Bedouin (Arab nomad) family and their small caravan of camels. The Bedouin boy knew English and was very friendly... he even posed with me and the camel in the picture below.



Petra began as a Nabataean (an ancient Arab group) city in the 6th century BCE, but its architecture was greatly influenced by Greek and Egyptian styles during the era of Seleucid Empire (following Alexander the Great). Petra was later conquered by the Romans, and it became a part of the Roman and later Byzantine Empires.

To access Petra, one must walk down a valley called the Bab ("entrance") el-Siq (first picture below) which is lined with huge tombs hewn out of the rock. The Siq itself (second and third pictures below) is a deep, narrow ravine, into which a few tombs and idols were sculpted. On both sides of the ravine, troughs brought drinking water and bathing water into the city.







The Siq opens up to one of the most well-known ancient sites in the world, the Treasury. The Treasury may have served as a Temple and burial chamber, but later became the object of legend--it is said that an Egyptian Pharaoh hid his fortune in the urn on the second level. Even today, the front face of the Treasury is dotted with bullet holes from looters attempting to unearth some of Pharaoh's riches.





Touchdown, Jesus!



Many other cool archaeological sites are to be found beyond the Treasury, including a first-century Greco-Roman theater (first picture below) and a number of other tombs dotting the hillside (second picture below). If only we had more time, we could have spent hours hiking around the cliffs, entering the tombs, and exploring the remains that are found above the city (including, I hear, a ancient sacrificial altar).





After our day-trip to Jordan, we spent a full day dodging sunburns in Eilat, on the beach of the beautiful Red Sea. The two pictures below should suffice to make you jealous...