We had arrived in Jordan to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Petra, the ancient capital of the Nabataeans who dominated in pre-Roman times, carving elaborate buildings and tombs out of solid rock.
Petra is now one of the new Seven Wonders of the World but lay hidden from Westerners until 1812 when it was discovered by a Swiss explorer.
Much of Petra’s fascination comes from its mountainous setting on the edge of Wadi Araba which stretches from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Dead Sea.
Petra lies in rugged, rust coloured sandstone which forms a well-protected canyon, accessible through a narrow gorge, or Siq.
Arriving in Petra we travelled down a winding dusty pathway on horseback to the beginning of the Siq. From here we began our walk through the Siq’s winding passageways, its mountainous walls towering above us.After about an hour our guide asked us to close our eyes before turning the final corner. It was a revelation – framed in the sky-high rock on either side of us was the magnificent Al Khazneh - the Treasury building.
It was one of those "wow" moments and inadequate as that sounds, we were in good company. Steven Spielberg had chosen the Treasury six years earlier as a setting for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Like all rock-hewn monuments in Petra, it is the facade of the Treasury that captivates despite the fact that many of its architectural details have eroded over time.
Well protected from the elements, the Treasury was carved to serve as a tomb but received its name from the legend that bandits hid their spoils in a stone urn within the structure.
Beyond the Treasury the canyon widens to expose an amphitheatre and numerous tombs carved in the rock face.
The sandstone’s colouring changed throughout the day as the sun’s position moved. Hot and dusty, we took one last lingering look at the Treasury before turning to enter the Siq for the return journey to Aqaba which took us through Wadi Rum, stomping grounds of the enigmatic T.E. Lawrence.
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