Petra is known as “The Rose-Red City, Half as Old as Time.” It is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ancient city dates back to around the 6th century BC originally built by the Nabataean’s and expanded by the Romans during their time of rule around 106 AD. The city suffered from an earthquake around 660 AD severely damaging it’s infrastructure and economy and around 1189 AD it was eventually abandoned and forgotten about until around 1812 when it was rediscovered by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
Petra is truly an incredible place to see, it’s almost unbelievable how they were able to carve their city out of the massive sandstone canyon of Wadi Musa. The detail that went into every building and structure is truly something to behold, particularly the Treasury. This is a must see for history lovers and all those that enjoy exploring ruins.
You can get there a number of ways. The easiest is to fly into Amman and take a bus to Petra, you can do this as a day trip. For the more adventurous i’d suggest taking a ferry from Nuweiba Egypt to Aqaba Jordan, that way you can spend some time on the Red Sea and visit Aqaba as well! That is what I did. I started in Sharm El Sheikh taking a bus to Nuweiba, this can take all day depending on if the bus plans to leave on time or not. However the bus is very inexpensive, around 4 USD. Once in Nuweiba you have to go to the ferry terminal and find an unmarked shack where you can buy a ferry ticket, after you get there i’d suggest asking a local how to find the ticket office. It’s a good idea to spend the night in Nuweiba so that you have an entire day to get your ferry ticket in order. The round trip ticket costs around 100 USD. I can’t stress enough how important it is to give yourself plenty of time because the ferry’s are often not on time, the one I took was 3 hours behind schedule on the way to Aqaba and 8 hours behind schedule coming back to Nuweiba.
Once you get to Aqaba you can get your visa on arrival at the port after going through customs. They have currency exchange counters so you can exchange for Jordanian Dinar. The visa costs 40 JOD which is about 55 USD. I suggest staying a couple nights in Aqaba as it is a beautiful beach town full of restaurants and night life.
To get to Petra from Aqaba you can hire a taxi, they will drive you there and back for around 40 JOD, make sure to negotiate a price before you leave. The drive is about an hour and a half through the beautiful Wadi Musa mountains.
Once you are at Petra you can buy a ticket at the gate for 50 JOD which is about 70 USD. The trek down through the canyon can be done on foot or by donkey or camel. If you choose donkey or camel be sure to negotiate that price too, you shouldn’t pay more than 4 JOD.
There are several areas to explore, there is the Siq, the Treasury and the Monastery. If you have time you should try to explore them all. It is often very hot so bring plenty of water and try to stay cool!
This does interest me