Winding your way through a narrow, towering canyon where camel trains the size of armies once brought frankincense, myrrh, silk and slaves, that first glimpse of Petra, the lost city of the Nabateans, rose pink in the afternoon sun, is gobsmacking.
The thing that grabs you, first of all, is the scale.
Petra is enormous. It extends for at least 60 square kilometres through canyons, up mountains and along river beds — most of its ruins are sized for giants.
A mere two storeys high, the Treasury (never a treasury, but rather a king’s tomb) stands almost 40 metres tall, or eight to twelve times life size.
Several of his successors built even bigger, though most were damaged by the series of earthquakes that left the city abandoned.
Even the public buildings that lined Petra’s colonnaded main street were, pretty much, on steroids. This temple, still only partly excavated, was the largest religious structure in the Middle East.
I mean, in Petra, even the boulders are big…
But, seeing we’re talking giant-sized…
This is us in the doorway of the Monastery.
As with so much in Petra, nobody knows exactly what this building was used for, but most likely it was built to worship a dead god-king.
And this is the Monastery itself.
It is big. Ridiculously big.
And even after the pyramids, Luxor, Angkor Wat and the Great Wall of China, the scale of Petra just amazes.
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How incredible. It is certainly on our short list of sights to see this year. I wonder if they charge for children?
Under-12s are free, Mary, but over-12s pay full price. Which is quite eyewatering, but does even out a bit over three days.
I really dug Petra when I was there many moons ago. I spent a full three days there and I agree with you — you need that time to see it all properly.
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Oooh, you’re in the Middle East! How long are you there for? We’re Lebanon next, then Egypt-Israel, arriving Israel late June…
This is beautiful. Thanks so much for the wonderful picture tour. I especially like that we can project our own ideas on what this place might have been. Amazing that archeologists are unclear.
Looking forward to the master class in terror!
Thank you! Upcoming soon, just got back online after a day or two off…
Wonderful pictures! What was the terror? Heights? Look forward to hearing more….
Heights and… rain in a wadi…
So that’s why your calves are aching, I thought you went on a trek! I’ve been to Egypt but somehow never got to Jordan. Would love to take the kids to Petra. Are you ever going to South America?
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South America is under discussion, funnily enough. I’d like to. I’m also getting a bit obsessive about Africa…
IMHO, there’s not THAT much more to Jordan than Petra. So it’s worth doing for that — plus some nice Crusader castles — but the Dead Sea is better done from Israel, and Red Sea better done from Egypt.
Mind you, maybe I’m just jaded because I spent 5 sodding hours covering what might be 100k but certainly isn’t 100 miles, and was, in theory, 2 hours on the bus…
Wow that is large! Don’t really get a sense of it until you notice those tiny things are people in the photos! haha
What a great sight! Will have to add it to my list of things to see! Thanks for sharing the photos!
Thanks, Rachel. It is BLOODY HUGE. I’d recommend visiting it, as it is quite extraordinary…
More beautiful, wonderful inspiring photos. Thank you.
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And thank you, Leigh.
I believe it really was made by giants and occupied by them. Only giants would need a door that big. They were descendents of the Nephilim, known as the Horim. They excavated dwellings out of the sandstone cliffs and mountains of Edom, especially Petra. In the Hebrew Scriptures, their name means cave dwellers.