Petra

Cue the Indiana Jones music. We just came back from a tour to Petra. I cannot add anything more to all the existing descriptions of how impressive it is, except to say they are all true. (With a touch of exotic added by being located in Jordan!) I didn't know it, but it's a fully realized city of 350+ structures (that have been uncovered so far), all carved in the stone walls of a huge valley with a single narrow canyon entrance - and dating back to 1st century BC!

You've probably seen many pictures, but I'll present a few of mine anyway, starting with the most famous sight - the Treasury (2000+ years old, and still beats the one in DC):

See the square carve-outs on the sides of the facade? They are actually foot-holds for the builders who carved it out all that long time ago:

Other structures in the valley are a bit more eroded, but are still magnificent and humbling in their scale. Many are actually tombs - some for single citizens, some are shared cemeteries. Petra in its time was both a trading post and a sacred place for its founders, the Nabataeans.

View deeper into the Petra valley, beyond where we had time to go, shows still many more buildings and tombs to explore. It really requires more than a day trip to do it justice!

The Romans supplanted the Nabataeans around 4th century AD, and constructed a paved road that is visible in spots throughout the slot canyon that leads into Petra. The road is 1600 years old, and still holding. (Meanwhile, New York streets develop potholes every spring.)

And now for that touch of exotic, supplied by the Bedouin who nowadays ply the tourist trade at the Petra site. A while after the Romans moved out, the Bedouin moved in and actually lived in Petra well into 20th century. After Jordan was established as an independent country in 1946, it undertook a project to construct a new city to which to move the residents of Petra, and preserve Petra as a historical site.

Check out that donkey parked in the tomb in the middle:

And the three musicians relaxing in another tomb:

As you can see, donkeys are the Camry's of the Bedouin world:

The grandeur of the ancient city tends to overwhelm the natural beauty of the site. It is best appreciated in the entrance canyon, called the Siq. It reminded me very much of the slot canyons of the American Southwest. And just like in Utah, the red color of the rock comes from oxidized iron (i.e. rust) present in the limestone.