Yu R Well Come

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Petra had always been a place in the back of our minds for many years. A famous old city in the Middle East, carved out into rocks. Cool to see one day, but nothing that would really get out of our way for… So getting there, without too many expectations, that place was really impressive! Built by the crafty Nabataeans 400 years before Christ, it’s referred to Sela in the bible and today most known from Indiana Jones III.

The entrance to the city begins with walking in to a narrow canyon within huge rocks. In the old days there were big statues and arches along the whole way which is over 1.5km long, with aqueducts on both sides leading water to the city. When we well reached the city, the first sight of it is the building called ‘the Treasury’. This is an amazing sight coming out from the narrow canyon and probably the only picture that most people will ever see of Petra. Seeing just this picture doesn’t make justice to the city… the whole area is huge! Everywhere there are temples and chambers carved in to the rocks, one free standing building still exists, all other that where not carved has been demolished by earthquakes and floods. It took us about 8 hours quick walk and climbing up and down, just to cover most of the area, but still not seeing all… We only had a one day pass, should really gotten two. The most amazing thing is though, that 85% of the city is underground! They are still exploring it and unfortunately we could never see any of the underground stuff. We liked the place very much and it gets a position of 3 in Claudio’s ranking of man made wonders.

Jordan was by the way a pleasant rest from the one day hassle we had in Egypt. The people are very different in a good way we found it (note that we were only there for 2 nights). No hassle and they are not trying to rob you of every dollar you have. Most people spoke decent English and were very polite, always with a hearty ‘Yu R Well Come’ after every chat.

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