Petra

The giant red mountains and vast mausoleums of a lost time have little to do with modern civilization, and ask nothing to be appreciated at its true value, as one of the greatest wonders ever wrought by Nature and Man.
Although much has been written about Petra, nothing really prepares you for this amazing place. We must see to believe.
Often described as the eighth wonder of the ancient world, Petra is undoubtedly the most precious treasure of Jordan and its most important tourist attraction. It is a huge city completely excavated in the rock by the Nabataeans, an Arab tribe hard worker who settled in the area over 2,000 years ago and became an important city for passing routes linking the silk, the spices and other connecting China, India and southern Arabia to Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome.


The entrance to the city is through the Siq, a narrow canyon, a mile long, surrounded by cliffs that rise up to 80 meters. The simple act of walking through the Siq is an unforgettable experience. The colors and rock formations are dazzling. When you reach the end of the Siq catch your first glimpse the facade called Al-Khazneh (Treasury).
It is an awesome experience. A massive façade, 30m wide and 43 m high, carved into the rock face of pale pink and dwarfing everything around it. It was built in the first century as the tomb of an important Nabataean king and a sample of engineering genius of these ancient people.


The Treasury is the first of the many wonders found in Petra. You need at least four or five days to know the city thoroughly. As you enter the valley of Petra, you will be overwhelmed by the natural beauty of this place and its impressive architecture. There are hundreds of elaborate rock-cut tombs with intricate carvings, unlike the houses that were destroyed by the earthquake, were constructed to last for all eternity and 500 have survived, empty but bewitching as you go through their dark openings . There is also a large theater built by the Nabataeans in Roman style, with capacity for 3,000 people. There are obelisks, temples, sacrificial altars and colonnaded streets, high above, overlooking the valley is the impressive Ad-Deir Monastery, an increase of 800 rock cut steps leading up El.En inside the site also You can find two excellent museums, the Petra Archaeological Museum and the Petra Nabataean Museum. Both have a great background from excavations in the Petra region and provide an overview of the colorful past of Petra.
A thirteenth-century shrine, built by the Mamluk Sultan Al Nasir Mohammad to commemorate the death of Aaron, brother of Moses, can be seen today at the summit of Mount Aaron in the Sharah area.
Within the compound, several artisans from the town of Wadi Musa and the nearby Bedouin settlement set up their small stalls selling local crafts such as pottery and Bedouin jewelry, plus bottles of colored sand in the area.


Not allowed access to the area to motorized vehicles. If you do not wish to walk, hire a horse or a horse drawn carriage to tour the Siq, 1 mile long. For the elderly or handicapped, the Visitors Centre, located near the entrance to the Siq, granted a special permit (at an additional cost) for transfer to the inside Petra to visit the main attractions. Once inside the enclosure, you can rent a donkey or, if you look a little adventure, a camel. The two options include the support of a carer and travel routes of the site.


Petra was founded around the sixth century BC, Nabataean Arabs, a nomadic tribe who settled in the area and laid the beginnings of a business empire that reached Syria.


Despite successive attempts by the Seleucid king Antigonus, the Roman emperor Pompey and Herod the Great to take to their respective empires, Petra, the Nabatean city remained in power until around the year 100 AD when the Romans took it . Remained inhabited during the Byzantine period, when the Roman Empire established its interest in the East, to Constantinople, but later dropped its importance. The Crusaders built a fort here in the twelfth century, but soon withdrew, leaving Petra under the control of the local population until the nineteenth century, when the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered in 1812.
Jordan Tourist Office