I first visited Petra when I was living in Cairo in 2000 and so some of the photos are from that trip. Pre-digital camera days for me meant that the scanned photos lack the sharpness of the other photos taken on a more recent trip in April 2008.

Petra. But what an amazing place. Emerging from the canyon almost too narrow for a horse and cart and then to be confronted by the ancient treasury chiselled out of the sandstone cliff has got to be one of the most amazing sights in the world.

After visiting the treasury and surrounding monuments and buildings, the gorge opens up a bit. Here is the amphitheatre from my first trip – you can’t actually climb up here anymore.

Tombs

Behind some of the tombs there is a path that leads up the mountainside which provides a great view of the amphitheatre far below (top left of the photo).

Walking further around, you get a great view of the Treasury as well.

After going through the gorge you enter a wide and hidden valley. Here are still more buildings excavated out of the soft rock.

In addition to the amazing tombs and buildings of the ancient Nabateans, Petra is also know as the Rose Red City after the amazing colours of the rock.

Obviously there are plenty of knick-knacks for sale including sand in a bottle!

There are still a few buildings surviving and amazing mosaics. After all, the Petran civilisation was of about the same time as the Romans and shared a lot of their culture.

Taking time to explore the amazing scenery is one of the highlights of a trip

Petra is also an excellent place for a spot of birdwatching. Here are a couple of Mourning Wheatears

Here’s a Pipit. Notice the typical red Petra rock in the background

A video by Jackie – made for the travelogue section of our site podcastsinenglish.com

More photos here