We visited three very interesting sites. One still in Egypt, Mount Sinai but on the way to Jordan, and Petra and Jerash in Jordan.
From the Sinai we crossed into Jordan. First stop was Petra. If you saw the Indiana Jones movies, Petra will look familiar. Beautiful “buildings” carved into colorful sandstone cliffs. The interior shots of sandstone colors are the actual colors seen. Do these facades look Roman in origin? You may understand why when you see the next series of Jordan photos.
To get to Petra, you must traverse this long, deep, narrow canyon. It appears to be an earthquake fault as the sides follow each other. Where one side has a bulge, the corresponding one has a depression indicating that it is actually a split in the rock. The only other way in is across hundreds of miles of waterless desert so Petra was easily defended against intruders.
The most impressive “carved building” is the Treasury. It is massive on the exterior but relatively small inside. It was carved in the second century AD so is relatively “new” See http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/lost-city-petra/ for additional info.
The colors of the sandstone were fantastic. It was dark inside the rooms but a flash really brought out the color. They really were this brilliant. I did not enhance them in any way.
You can see some of the same brilliant colors in this cliff.
