X Marks the Spot – Petra

“So forget any ideas you’ve got about lost cities, exotic travel, and digging up the world. We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and “X” never, ever marks the spot.” – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

I beg to differ. Welcome to Petra.

This is a bit of a photo dump, but this site is every bit as spectacular in person. I just couldn’t take enough pictures.

Before we get into it, let me tell you a few things about Petra that surprised me. Clearly I didn’t do any sort of prep before stepping foot onto the complex.

Turns out, Petra is a lost city. A once glorious city inhabited by the Nabataeans, this prehistoric civilization is was half-built, half-carved and boasted revolutionary engineering techniques that we use to this day.  Once situated on a main trade route, the city thrived until it was destroyed by a major earthquake and the major trade route was rerouted. These combined tragedies let to the decline of these traditions. 

Luckily, we still have remnants to gaze upon today.

The famous Treasury that we’re all familiar with is only one of the amazing structures you’ll find carved into the gorgeous red sandstone. Remember it’s a whole city, and the Treasury is only 15 minutes from the main gate. The entire complex boasts numerous additional trails off the main road. We only did one additional one- and that day got us a whopping 33,000 steps. Just for one additional trail.

Without further ado, let’s see what I saw.

I mean. 

Weaving through carved walkways, it wasn’t long before we caught a glimpse…

Almost like a mirage in the desert.

Spectacular from every angle.

After we caught our breath, we set off to see the rest of the city.  

Tombs and tombs carved into rock after rock.

We opted for the Al Khubtha trail, which, while rough, allowed us to see The Treasury from its highest (legal) vantage point.

When we first got there at around noon, the place was packed, and the famous sites were obscured by throngs of people. By the time we left near sunset, Petra had mostly emptied out. Leaving us plenty of opportunities to be alone with the camera

to live out our best Indiana Jones moment.

The next day we wove a different path, up and down a different, back end path to see The Monastery.

Staking our claim – been there, done that.

FYI – The Treasury and The Monastery are just given names. It’s likely they were both tombs.

After our exhausting exploits, we treated ourselves to a much-needed massage and a fabulous meal.

And as the sun set on our time at Petra, we packed our bags for (figuratively) greener pastures.