Here’s a little information about Petra, if you’re new to this place:

Petra is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.  Inhabited since prehistoric times, this Nabataean caravan-city, situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, was an important crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia. Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges. It is one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites, where ancient Eastern traditions blend with Hellenistic architecture.

Situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea and inhabited since prehistoric times, the rock-cut capital city of the Nabateans, became during Hellenistic and Roman times a major caravan centre for the incense of Arabia, the silks of China and the spices of India, a crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia. Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges. An ingenious water management system allowed extensive settlement of an essentially arid area during the Nabataean, Roman and Byzantine periods. It is one of the world’s richest and largest archaeological sites set in a dominating red sandstone landscape.

The Outstanding Universal Value of Petra resides in the vast extent of elaborate tomb and temple architecture; religious high places; the remnant channels, tunnels and diversion dams that combined with a vast network of cisterns and reservoirs which controlled and conserved seasonal rains, and the extensive archaeological remains including of copper mining, temples, churches and other public buildings.

The fusion of Hellenistic architectural facades with traditional Nabataean rock-cut temple/tombs including the Khasneh, the Urn Tomb, the Palace Tomb, the Corinthian Tomb and the Deir (“monastery”) represents a unique artistic achievement and an outstanding architectural ensemble of the first centuries BC to AD. The varied archaeological remains and architectural monuments from prehistoric times to the medieval periods bear exceptional testimony to the now lost civilisations which succeeded each other at the site.

It was incredible to me to learn how long ago this place was created out of the mountains and gorge valleys.  Petra is one of the oldest cities in the world. Archaeologists believe the Nabateans established the city in 312 BC. It was the capital city of Nabateans, an ancient Arab tribe who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant and arrived in Jordan around the 6th century BC.  It’s likely Petra was here when Lehi and his family left Jerusalem!

Much of the time we walked through these narrow slot canyons, that opened from time to time on incredible structures.  Along the sides of the canyons there were water systems carved into the stone that collected rainwater and emptied into cisterns.

Our guide, Kareem, demonstrating how the women used the sandstone for makeup.

An average of 1,750 people visit Petra every day.

This is the Petra Treasury:

There are so many colors in the sandstone.  The stone looks different at different times of the day.

This vendor showed me how he makes sand art in bottles.

This was the colosseum, or theater which was once surrounded by shops and vendors.

You could spend several days here hiking and exploring.

These pavements are more than 2000 years old!

After a long and fascinating day and some more good food, we got back in our little bus with our new friends and we drove into the night to the Israeli border.  It takes about an hour to do the border crossing.  On the other side we got into another big full bus and headed to Jerusalem with lots of other people heading that way.  I wasn’t the only one who got carsick.  It was a pretty miserable 4-5 hour drive.