PETRA
The area in south-western Jordan, called Petra, was inhabited from 7000 BC. From the 4th to the 2nd BC, the Nabataeans, nomadic Arabs, settled there, and made it their capital.
The architecture in this well-survived, more than 2000 years old, city is overwhelming. Access to it is through an impressive 1.2 km long gorge called “Siq” (marked in the map below), beginning west of the visitor center. One walks there, but a trip on camels can be hired.
Around the city center, in the rocky environment, are many further temples or graves - some not finished when the Nabatean kingdom crumbled. Petra, this hidden place, then got forgotten for a long time.
At the end of this essay my usual question: Is Jordan worth a visit? Well, Amman may be - yet the real "super" target is of course Petra! There is nothing like this anywhere in the world. And to see it, you have to walk! Only cynical travelers will find it boring.......
