The city in Red

The siq, the 1km ancient gateway to the city
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Our next stop was Jordan's greatest attraction, the ancient city of Petra. 2000 years ago the Nabatean civilization was at the crossroads of many great trade routes, and they found a beautiful location to carve a city straight out of the hills.

You enter the city via a narrow 1km rift in the rock, which suddenly opens up to the Treasury, one of the most beautiful buildings we've seen. Honestly just hiking in the hills around Petra is stunning, as the cliffs are all made of this amazing red sandstone. Add in a 2000 year old city and you have a great attraction. Really most of what is left now are the tombs carved out of the hills, earthquakes got rid of most of the freestanding buildings long ago. Also, the tombs are all empty, so all you really see are the facades.

A wonder of the world

Tombs of the nobles
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We spent 2 days hiking the hills around Petra, which was just about the right amount of time. There's a lot to see and even though it gets tons of tourists it is such a huge site that you often have the hills to yourself, and of course a few bedouin with their goats. Other than the treasury the other amazing site is the monastery, which is a larger but less impressive copy of the treasury, the 500 step climb up to it though make it a much more rewarding payoff once you get there though.

Petra was recently voted one of the 7 wonders of the world and it definitely deserves it!