Rose City of Petra, Jordan

Treasury at Petra at Night

Sig - Entrance to Petra, Jordan

Enterprising Bedouin Girl
- Petra, Jordan

Pat at Amphitheatre - Petra, Jordan

Urn Tomb - Petra, Jordan

Wayne Riding Donkey 
to the Monastery - Petra, Jordan

Wind Blown Ancient Tombs - Petra, Jordan

Pat in 2000-year 
Old Nabataean Cave

Rose City of Petra, Jordan (5/13-14/2010) - AMAZING PETRA! - chosen as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and an UNESCO World Heritage Site!  

Petra was on our travel wish list for a long time. It was a thrill to walk the over mile into Petra and stand in front of the famous Treasury (see photo). The natural wonder of the area is astounding (see photos).

Our first views of Petra was a stunning candlelit night walk to the Treasury called Petra by Night (see photo). Thousands of candles lit the way along the Sig for a very unique experience. 

We followed up the next day with a 10-mile hike throughout Petra visiting the Colonnaded Street, Amphitheatre, Royal Tombs, Outer Siq, Theatre, East Cliff, Petra Church, and rode donkeys up the 800 steps to the incredible Monastery (see photo). We also visited Little Petra down the road where the camel caravans actually came through.

Al Khazneh (Treasury) 
- Petra, Jordan

Petra, meaning rock, dates back to 1200 BC and is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited tourism attraction. The impressive entrance, called the Siq (see photo), leads for over a mile down through a sometimes narrow gorge (in places only about 10 feet wide). It is a natural geological feature formed from a deep split in the sandstone rocks and serves as a waterway. 

At the end of the narrow gorge stands Petra's most dramatic view, the Al Khazneh (popularly known as "Treasury"), carved into the sandstone cliff and featured in the 1989 film classic Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Al Khazneh dates back to 56 BC and may have actually been used as either a temple or a tomb.

Some information about why Petra is so special... Enclosed by towering rocks and watered by a natural stream, Petra not only possessed the advantages of a fortress, it controlled the main commercial routes throughout the whole region. Excavations have demonstrated that it was the ingenious ability of the Nabataeans to control the water supply, creating an artificial oasis, that led to the rise of the desert city. The area experiences flash floods and the Nabataeans controlled these floods by the use of dams, cisterns, and water conduits. These innovations stored water for prolonged periods of drought and enabled Petra to prosper in the vast surrounding desert.

Some history... Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, Petra reached its zenith 2,000 years ago in the first centuries BC and AD. This once great city grew wealthy enough on the caravan trade to challenge the might of Rome. Petra’s decline started under Roman rule, in large part due to Rome’s revision of land routes away from too powerful Petra as well as the establishment of sea-based trade routes. 

In 363 an earthquake destroyed many buildings and crippled the vital water management system. Petra remained unknown for centuries, except for local Bedouin inhabitants, to the Western world until 1812, when it was introduced to the world by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.

See our other post about Jordon:

Staying in a Bedouin Camp in Wadi Rum

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Write by: AN - Saturday, May 22, 2010