Because I've spent a lot of time in the Colorado Rockies, I've done a lot hiking. Imagine walking along something that resembled a hiking trail with rock walls on each side and suddenly seeing this:
The "Treasury" at Petra
There you have it: your initial view of the ancient city of Petra, built by a people called the Nabbateans
sometime around the 6th century BC. It is Jordan's most visited tourist attraction. What is kind of surreal about it, is that it looks like a Roman ruin, except that it is carved into cliffs and there are camels running around.
Petra, now a World Heritage site, was unknown to the outside world until 1812. In ancient times, Petra controlled the trade routes that passed through it to Gaza in the west. It is naturally fortified, by the towering rocks around it.
Petra was vital into the early years of the common era, although under Roman rule, it declined rapidly because of changes in trade-routs. An earthquake in 363 destroyed many buildings. They were known of in the Middle Ages, but not rediscovered by the west until the 19th century.
Petra is best seen on foot, although carriage-rides and horse-back are other options. We spent the day wandering around amazed by the buildings and equally interested by the local Bedouin population that mans the site and it's craft markets. There is a building at Petra that is reached by 800 steps carved into the mountain.
It's this building that is, for want of a better name, called the temple, although no one really knows what its purpose was. Our guide told us, at this point, that we were short on time, so we opted to let donkeys do the climbing for us. On one side of the steps was a sheer drop down the mountain. I asked my donkey driver, a 15 year old Bedouin boy who spoke excellent English, to keep a tight rein on his donkey, who, incidentally, was named Jack. (His friend's donkey was name Michael Jackson). Well, we made it up to the temple and down in one piece and the whole experience, which included purchasing an
item from a merchant who had set up shop on the steps, was exhilerating.
Egypt had been fascinating and Petra made the whole trip even moreso.
