Photos of Petra, Jordan

[This blog post is from 2011.]

The capital of the Nabateans, Petra, is an archeological site that dates back to the first centuries BC to AD. It then became a major caravan centre in the Hellenistic and Roman times for trading: silks from China, incense from Arabia and spices from India. Today you can walk through the preserved tombs and temples that are half carved into the red sandstone cliffs.

Instead of walking through Al Siq (the narrow canyon leading to Petra’s most famed view of the treasury) with the busloads of tourists, five of us and a guide started near Siq Al-Barid (also called Little Petra) and were hiking in the back way along a desert path.

We had heard that there was a precipitous break in the trail that had to be shimmied over on a skinny rock ledge. Every time we came to a drop off we would say to each other, “Is this the one?” When we finally came to “the one,” it was pretty obvious: each of us passed our bags and water bottles to the person across the drop off and the guide went back and forth to give us his hand in support.

Jordan book recommendations: Lonely Planet Jordan, The Rough Guide to Jordan, Insight Guides Jordan, and Petra Rediscovered: The Lost City of the Nabataean Kingdom.*

* The above links are to Amazon and are for your reference. I receive a small referral fee if you buy from Amazon. But I encourage you to buy books from any retailer, ideally your local bookstore!