“A Rose-Red City Half as Old as Time”

Petra is known as the Lost City. Despite once being an important city, home to many people and a centre for trading it was lost to the Western World in the 14th century. In 1812 it was discovered by a Swiss traveller who dressed up as an Arab to get into the heavily guarded area. Can you even imagine? Discovering all this? As an explorer you would be lucky to find a new kind of bug or something, but a whole lost city? It is just incredible.  What he found was over 500 tombs, a massive theatre and of course the treasury, all of which have stood the test of time and several earthquakes.

The iconic image of Petra is that of the rose red treasury. However, the walk up to the treasury is visually even more impressive. It is a place of real natural beauty with multicoloured rocks. I walked through a dark narrow gorge called the shaft, at the end of which is the treasury. When I spotted the rosy iconic sanctuary for the first time it actually took my breath away…