If there is any ONE place that I recommend you MUST travel to in your lifetime, it is PETRA.
A while back I saw a picture of The Siq in
Petra, Jordan opening into this ancient carved cliffside known as The Treasury, and I instantaneously said to myself I had to go. A year later I was staring up at a scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade... Did you think I was kidding
when I said I was basically becoming the new
Indiana? (Petra was in the film which I didn't know at the time.)
To get to
The Treasury, you must first pass the Siq, an event in itself and one that I recommend walking on foot. The Siq, a dim and narrow gorge (approx. 600 ft high and only 10 ft wide at some points) winds its way through a mile of carved niches and ruins left by the
Nabateans. This was the grand entrance to the old city of Petra and even today, horse chariots whiz by over the same cobblestone streets that are believed to have been in use over 2500 years ago.. Amazing!
Then all of a sudden, there's a crack in the gorge that reveals a sliver of the Treasury. The feeling you get once finally there is beyond description but I will compare it to being a lot like the
very dramatic music used for the Romeo & Juliet
soundtrack. No one knows for sure what the Treasury was ever used for – a tomb? a palace? a temple? The mystery remains as do the bullet holes (see pic below) as proof that throughout history it was thought to house real treasure though none was ever found. I still find it astonishing how entire buildings were carved so ornately BY HAND, into mountain sides. It's just unreal, you must see it for yourselves.
Travel Tip: Get up at dawn and head over to the The Siq and The Treasury before the crowds and tour groups arrive. It's so worth it having the place all to yourself.
