Petra, spectacular ancient ruins “New Seven Wonders.”

Petra is one of the world`s “must-sees.” The unique combination of more than 2000 years old ancient ruins with sensational natural scenery.

The back entrance to Petra

Visit Petra had been on my bucket list for years, and finally, I could fulfill my dreams. Discovering Petra was part of a hike with Hvitserk, and to reach here, we hiked through the desert for four days. We were so close and walking from Little Petra to Petra on the last day. You can read about the whole journey in the blog about Jordan.

We had spent the previous night in a luxurious bedouin camp, and now the group was ready for the hike’s final destination. It was an exciting landscape we were walking through, and we reached the stairs that would take us higher up in the mountain. Here we were offered to ride with donkeys. However, we were already in the mood for hiking, we let the riding tourists pass us on the way up.

The Monastery

The Monastery was the first glimpse of the carved-out buildings we saw, situated relatively high up from the rest of Petra. This monumental building dates from the first century AD and got its name from the crosses scratched into its rear wall. It has some impressive classical Nabataean capitals, and the adjacent plateau has many other monuments, including tombs and decorated niches.

From the plateau at the Monastery, we had to walk about 800 steps down to the central part of Petra, and reaching the bottom, we walked over a vast excavation area discovered during the last 30 to 40 years. Here you find the Great Temple and ruins of a Byzantine church. We could see the mountain chain with the Royal Tombs at the opposite end. Not often can you see so much ancient history within so short a time? And it is protected by UNESCO, of course.

Mahmoud our local guide

During the ten-day trip, we had an excellent local guide. Mahmoud had a lot of information to give us, and we learned a lot from him. He was unique because he was born in one of the caves in Petra. Mahmoud had spent his childhood here in the caves until the Jordanian government decided to remove all the bedouins from the area and make it a permanent museum area. He showed us the last cave he lived in, and the whole group climbed into what was once his sleeping area.

The Treasury

The most famous monument of Petra is the Treasury; its facade shows various classical and Nabataean architectural elements, including statues of gods, animals, and mythological figures. I was standing in front of it, feeling speechless. The Nabataeans, who created these fantastic buildings and artwork, were semi-nomadic people for the northern Arabian Peninsula. Petra was established as their center and a commercial entrepot. You find evidence of Roman Corinthian capitols, Hellenistic Tempel facades, Egyptian obelisk monuments, and many more.

Petra by night

As I told earlier in the post, we arrived from the “back door” into Petra, so we had to leave through what is called the main route into Petra. This is a 1,25-kilometer long natural corridor in the mountain that was developed into a stately entrance to their capital city. I got to experience this entrance later the same night. I wanted to see the Treasury again, and they arranged Petry by night in the evening. They lit up the whole way in with candles. When we arrived at the square in front of the Treasury, they had hundreds of candels on the ground, and we were told to sit down and wait for the show to start.

Here we were introduced to local bedouin music, and the Treasury was lit in different colors. It was a very tourist show, but still, it was magic, sitting there in the comfortable temperature. The square is lit by candlelight, and this 2000-year-old carved-out building is lit up. On all sides, we had high walls of mountains and above we saw the starry sky.

I will also write a post about Wadi Rum later.