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.

The temple of Hatshepsut is devoted to the Pharaoh Hatshepsut and the god Osiris. Hatshepsut was one of the few female pharaohs and was the most successful of the women pharaohs. Originally she was the regent for her step son, Thutmouse III, but she usurped him and claimed the throne for her own. All the statues and hieroglyphs show her as man wearing the pharaonic kilt and a false beard. By appearing as a man she was asserting her claim to the throne.

The temple is very impressive from far away but up close it's quite damaged (it's a monet! movie, anyone?). After Hatshepsut's death someone tried to erase her from the history records by destroying her monuments and chiselling away the hieroglyphs that referred to her reign. The who and why of the damage is still a mystery. Some Egyptologists believe that it was Thutmouse III. He destroyed the monuments out of resentment because he had to wait so long to be Pharaoh. Others believe that she was erased because a woman had no right to rule and that her reign may be seen as offensive to the gods. Whatever the reason, she almost disappeared from history forever.



I think we can sum up our visit to the Temple of Hatshepsut in one word. Hot! The temple is in the middle of the desert. We visited the temple in the mid-morning. Egypt was experiencing a heatwave with temperatures 9 degrees above average. The temperature was in the high 40s. Luckily they have a little train which takes you from the front gate to the temple itself. Any form of excerise in that heat is not very fun.

More photos on Flickr.

Our visit to the Temple of Hatshepsut 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: More Egyptian Temples (Luxor and Karnak), The Tringles, Wadi Rum, Kom Ombo and Edfu, Feluccan Fun, Abu Simbel and The Dead Sea.