We had heard that there was a precipitous break in the trail that had to be shimmied over on a skinny rock ledge. Every time we came to a drop off, we would say to each other, “Is this the one?” When we finally came to “the one,” it was pretty obvious: each of us passed our bags and water bottles to the person across the drop off and the guide went back and forth to give us his hand in support.

There were five of us and a guide hiking along a desert path from near Siq Al-Barid (also called Little Petra) to the Monastery (representing the hidden Tomb of the Primes in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) in Petra, Jordan, one of the many magnificent structures carved into the sandstone mountains. Petra is an ancient city that was built right into the sandstone cliffs by the Nabataean people more than 2,000 years ago.

Instead of arriving as the hundreds of bus loads full of tourists do at the beginning of the Siq and then walking to the treasury (the final resting place of the Holy Grail was filmed here in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), this hike brings us in the back way.

The first building we see is the Monastery, and after marvelling there for awhile, we descend the more than 800 steps down to the rest of the rock city to marvel some more. My photos can’t in any way capture the grandeur that is Petra, but at least it’ll give you an idea. Enjoy.

PausePlayPlayPrev|Next

 Archeological Wonders of Egypt & Jordan