Rose-Red City of Petra

Travelife Magazine’s Feb-March issue features “Old Rose-Red,” my trip to the stunning city of Petra in Jordan. The elaborate stone carved entrance to the Treasury is probably best known for being the “entrance” to the final resting place of the Holy Grail in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).

The ancient city, located in Southwestern Jordan between the Red Sea on the south and the Dead Sea on the north, is Jordan’s top tourist attraction. It’s roughly two hours away from the capital Amman, where I attended a conference. The visit to Petra was just a one-day side trip.

Here’s some trivia about the place.

• Petra was named a UNESCO world heritage site in 1985 and was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. BBC has also ranked it “one of the 40 places you have to see before you die.”
• With its numerous tombs, temples, buildings and caverns, you need about 2 to 3 days to fully explore Petra.
• The cavern after the magnificent carved rock entrance is actually hollow. There’s a small room, but it doesn’t lead anywhere.
• The best time to visit Petra is early to mid-morning and late afternoon to get the signature hazy rose-red glow at Al-Khazneh (Arabic for the Treasury).
• Though you can travel on foot, you can also hire horses, carriages, or donkeys to get around faster.
• Petra is no longer officially populated. A separate town has been built for natives who used to occupy the surrounding caves.
• Petra is also known as “The Rose City” or “Rose-red City” (because of the hue of the rocks in which it is carved) and “The Lost City of Stone” (because it remained unknown to the Western World until 1812).
• Aside from Indiana Jones, other movies that have been shot in Petra include: Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Mummy Returns (2001) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009).

For the full article/travelogue, grab a copy of Travelife magazine in major bookstores 🙂

Published in: Travelife, February-March 2011

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