Petra Jordan

Legendary

An ancient trading city built by the Nabataeans in the barren desert around the 4th century BC.

Photo by Kévin Veau

A Swiss explorer found this city by lying. In 1812, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt disguised himself as a Muslim pilgrim and told his Bedouin guide he wanted to make a sacrifice at a holy tomb nearby.

The guide led him through a narrow gorge in the cliffs. When it opened, Burckhardt became the first European in over 500 years to see the carved city inside.

That gorge is called the Siq. It runs for about 1.2 kilometers between rock walls up to 80 meters high, and in places it's only 3 meters wide.

Petra was built by the Nabataeans, a people who started out as desert nomads in southern Jordan around the 4th century BC. They grew rich by controlling the trade routes that carried frankincense, myrrh, and spices from Arabia to the Mediterranean.

Instead of building with stone blocks, they carved their city into the sandstone cliffs. More than 600 tomb and temple fronts are cut directly into the rock, which glows pink and orange in the sun.

The most famous is the Treasury, which faces you the moment you step out of the Siq. It rises about 40 meters and was probably built as a tomb for a Nabataean king around 2,000 years ago.

The Nabataeans also solved the desert's biggest problem. They built dams, channels, and cisterns that caught winter rain and stored it for the dry months, enough for a city of around 20,000 people at its peak.

In 106 AD, the Roman Empire took over the Nabataean kingdom. The last king had died, and Rome turned the region into a province.

Petra kept going under Roman rule for a while. But trade shifted to sea routes, a huge earthquake struck in 363 AD, and the city slowly emptied out.

By the Middle Ages, only local Bedouin families knew where it was. Then Burckhardt walked through the Siq.

Walk the full length of the Siq and watch for the water channels carved into the walls on both sides. Stand in front of the Treasury early in the morning, before the crowds and while the light hits the carved columns. If your legs are up for it, climb the 800 steps to the Monastery, a carved front even bigger than the Treasury, high above the city.