Indiana Jones and Me

The biggest tourist attraction in Jordan has to be Petra. Petra is most famous for it brief inclusion in the Indiana Jones film The Last Crusade. But it has also featured in the most recent Transformers film ( where the the machines basically destroyed the whole complex.... I was a little worried that there would be nothing left for me to look at). It was something that I was quite looking forward to. But I think I probably saw it on one of those 'off' days and looking back at my photo's I don't seems to have really captured it well. The day was extremely windy. Even the local tour guide and shop owners were complaining about it. Many packed up and went home early! The wind whistled through the cannon and stirred up masses of dust. I could kind of understand why the woman cover their faces as expose skin tended to get rubbed red!
The most famous image of Petra is probably the view of the Treasury at the end of the Siq



And it is a difficult spot to get a photo as everyone (including me) stops and stares in wonder! The night before we had attending "Petra By Night" where the whole of the Siq is lit by candle light and it was equally impressive! The site of Petra was mostly build by the Nabataens but many others have also left their mark. It seems on this trip that I can't get away from the Romans! While this site was known about in ancient times it was 'lost' until about 1812 when it was 'discovered' by the Swiss. In fact the locals who were living in the site itself had 'hidden' it to stop Westerns from coming.



Petra is also a bit special to Kiwis a well because a New Zealander ended up marrying a Bedouin and living in a cave at the site (Marguerite Van Geldermalsen) Dad gave me the book for Xmas and I am about haft way through reading it and rather her than me! I did meet her son while I was there. It was very werid to hear a kiwi accent there (he was educated in NZ and still knew what was going on in rugby) as There seemed to be very few kiwi's travelling through the Middle East. I had met none and normally when travelling you can't help but trip over all the Kiwi's.



The whole site is rich with decoration but my favourite was the elephant carved in one part of the Siq. There were also camels and people but I think the elephants were the best!