Our guide Okla led us up a steep pathway to the top of a cliff. Sitting on the edge, with our feet dangling over the rocks, we had a great view of the Rose City. From the top we could see the amphitheatre, tourists wandering around and Bedouin boys riding donkeys back and forth. It was a great way to see Petra.




More photos (slideshow) of Petra on Flickr.

Our visit to Petra was part of our Road to Jordan tour. We did a 17-day tour with On The Go to Egypt and Jordan and we had a lot of fun. Other entries from this trip include: Petra - The Rose City, Petra - The Siq and the Treasury, Petra - Beginning, Temple of Hatshepsut, More Egyptian Temples (Luxor and Karnak), The Tringles, Wadi Rum, Kom Ombo and Edfu, Feluccan Fun, Abu Simbel and The Dead Sea.

Petra is known as The Rose City because of the colour of the stone from which the tombs are carved. One tomb that we visited had a beautiful range of earthy colours and the sedimentary nature of sandstone was evident. Horizontal lines of tan, brown, yellow, rose and white made for a decorative final resting place.

The people who built the tombs, the Nabataens, also used the sandstone colours as makeup. Our guide did an impromptu makeover on Chris. I'm not sure that yellow is his colour.


More photos (slideshow) of Petra on Flickr.

Our visit to Petra was part of our Road to Jordan tour. We did a 17-day tour with On The Go to Egypt and Jordan and we had a lot of fun. Other entries from this trip include: Petra - The Siq and the Treasury, Petra - Beginning, Temple of Hatshepsut, More Egyptian Temples (Luxor and Karnak), The Tringles, Wadi Rum, Kom Ombo and Edfu, Feluccan Fun, Abu Simbel and The Dead Sea.

Petra was used as the location of the Grail Temple in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In the movie, Indy has to travel through the canyon of the crescent shaped moon to get to the temple. And that's exactly what you have to do to get to Petra - travel through a canyon. (I don't think the canyon is actually crescent shaped but it is a canyon. Well technically it's a gorge. Whatever! It will do.)

The gorge is called al-Siq, which means the shaft in Arabic. It's quite narrow - only 3m wide in some places - and dark - the walls of the gorge tower above you and block most of the sunlight.

After walking for a couple of kilometres through the Siq, you round one last bend and can see that up ahead the light changes. It changes from shade to golden sunshine. At the end of the gorge there is just a tiny glimpse of the lost city of Petra.

You stumble out into the light and are greeted by an amazing sight, the Treasury (Al Khazneh), an impressive monument carved out of the cliff face (it's actually a tomb, like all the buildings carved into the rock at Petra). Emerging from the Siq you can imagine what it would be like to be an explorer stumbling upon a hidden city (well, you can if you ignore all the people who are stopping at the end of the gorge to have their photo taken, and the guys asking you if you want a camel ride.)

Petra is one of the new seven wonders of the world. You can definitely see why.

More photos (slideshow) of Petra on Flickr.

Our visit to Petra was part of our Road to Jordan tour. We did a 17-day tour with On The Go to Egypt and Jordan and we had a lot of fun. Other entries from this trip include: Petra - Beginning, Temple of Hatshepsut, More Egyptian Temples (Luxor and Karnak), The Tringles, Wadi Rum, Kom Ombo and Edfu, Feluccan Fun, Abu Simbel and The Dead Sea.

The Indiana Jones obsession continues. Is it wrong to admit that the main reason I wanted to visit Petra was because it features in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?

It all started when I was working at Kodak developing photos. One day, I was watching photos being printed by the machine when I noticed that somebody had taken a photo of the "Grail Temple" from Indiana Jones. I was surprised. I thought it was just a set. I hadn't realised that it was a real place. I went home and did some research and discovered that it was Petra. (I also printed a copy of the photo for myself and took it home for inspiration. Yes, I am a bad Kodak employee.) From that day on, I knew that I wanted to visit there. Yes, I am lame. When we finally organised our trip to Egypt, I knew that I wanted to include Jordan and Petra on our itinerary.

When I write about our visits to places that I've always wanted to go, I always struggle to get started. It's like there is too much to write about. Or I don't feel confident putting how I feel into words. Whenever I feel that way I always break the task that seems impossible into smaller, more manageable chunks. So that's what I'm going to do with Petra. Rather than try to fit it all in one note, I'm going to space it out over a few notes. I'll see how I go.

More photos (slideshow) of Petra on Flickr.

Our visit to Petra was part of our Road to Jordan tour. We did a 17-day tour with On The Go to Egypt and Jordan and we had a lot of fun. Other entries from this trip include: Temple of Hatshepsut, More Egyptian Temples (Luxor and Karnak), The Tringles, Wadi Rum, Kom Ombo and Edfu, Feluccan Fun, Abu Simbel and The Dead Sea.

Andrew and I have been known to visit the odd attraction for a bit of morbid touristing. We added the Chapel of Bones in Évora to our Portugal trip because it sounded creepy (and it was). We also visited the Catacombs of San Sebastiano in Rome because I was tempted by the thought of exploring dark tunnels filled with bones a la Indiana Jones. I can remember being disappointed when there were no bones or skulls in the Roman catacombs. So when I read about the Catacombs of Paris, which are actually filled with skulls and bones, I knew it was somewhere I wanted to visit.

And that's basically what the Catacombs of Paris are - tunnels filled with skulls and bones. The tunnels were the solution for an overflowing Saints-Innocents cemetery. In the graveyard the dead were interred straight into the ground in mass graves. As the cemetery started to fill, the decaying bodies were not only very smelly but started to cause issues with the Parisian water supply.

The cemetery was a source of revenue for the church so they continued burials even when the graveyard was full to bursting... literally. In 1780, the cellar wall of a restaurant adjoining the cemetery collapsed and the cellar filled with a mix of bones and putrid flesh (yuk!). The government decided enough was enough. They closed the cemetery and moved all its inhabitants into the tunnels - abandoned stone quarries - on the outskirts of the city.

When the bones were transferred, they weren't haphazardly piled in corners. The bones line the walls of the tunnel and have been arranged in beautiful patterns. There is even one section where skulls are artfully organised in heart-shaped patterns.

So, are the catacombs worth a visit? Well, they are morbidly interesting. The inscription over the entrance reads "Arrête, c'est ici l'empire de la Mort"..."Stop, this is the empire of Death". The tunnels are the perfect site for an ossuary. They are dark, cold and damp. The average temperature is only 14 degrees and the sound of dripping water only adds to the atmosphere. But they are also long - the tunnel route is two kilometres and it did get a bit boring after a while. (They should add rats! and flaming torches! and Arab men chasing after you trying to stop you from recovering the Holy Grail! Hrm, that Indiana Jones influence coming through again. I think I just want to be Indiana Jones.)


Who knows, one day my bones may become a tourist attraction. As an avid traveller I don't really have a problem with that.

More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.