The Magical City of Petra, Jordan

I have been always been intrigued by the city of Petra in Jordan since I saw a documentary on the travel channel about it when I was fourteen. Petra is the treasure of ancient world, hidden behind an almost impenetrable barrier of rugged mountains, boasting incomparable scenes that make it the most majestic and imposing ancient site still-standing in modern times. Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges. It is one of the world's most famous archaeological sites, a place where ancient Eastern traditions blend with Hellenistic architecture. It looks like nothing I have ever seen before. I sincerely hope to visit Petra at some point in my life. Traveling in the Middle East at this point in time for Americans, especially American women is tricky at best and perilous at worst. However, I am hoping that someday I will have the opportunity and feel safe enough to make this journey, as well as to visit Egypt, a place on the top of my traveling bucket list.

Petra was first established sometime around the 6th century BC, by the Nabataean Arabs, a nomadic tribe who settled in the area and laid the foundations of a commercial empire that extended into Syria. Motorized vehicles are not allowed to enter the site. Once inside the site, you can hire a donkey, or for the more adventurous, a camel ( I would SO go for the camel, I have always wanted to ride one... and an elephant). Both come with handlers and take designated routes throughout the site. Entrance to the city is through the Siq, a narrow gorge, over 1km in length, which is flanked on either side by soaring, 80m high cliffs. The Petra basin boasts over 800 individual monuments, including buildings, tombs, baths, funerary halls, temples, arched gateways, and colonnaded streets, that were mostly carved from the kaleidoscopic sandstone by the technical and artistic genius of its inhabitants. Petra has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985, and was designated as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007. You may have seen Petra in the city's Hollywood debut in the 1989 “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” movie starring Harrison Ford.

Have you ever heard of the city of Petra? Would you visit if you had the opportunity?

BAS

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