Petra ~ July 17 & 18

Al-Batra, the Red Rose city carved out of living rock, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Petra is truly one of the world’s great archaeological treasures. Built on the edge of Wadi Araba by the Nabateans – Arabs who controlled the strategic trade routes linking the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean – more than 2200 years ago, the city continued to flourish through the Roman and Byzantine Era but passed into obscurity (except for local Bedouin living there) by the 12 th century and was not “rediscovered” by the West until 1812. Students are quick to associate Petra with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a pop culture icon. We arrive mid-morning and along with 100s of others enter through the impressive 1200 m Siq gorge to experience the anticipated chills on first sighting the “Treasury.” Over the course of the afternoon I explore the Royal Tombs, stroll past the Theater, walk along the Colonnaded Street to the Roman Forum recently excavated by Brown University, visit the ACOR project Byzantine Church site, and climb 900 steps to Ad-Dier - the Monastery, and its spectacular views of the Wadi. By the time several of us drift back to the Treasury in the evening we have the place to ourselves and can truly experience the stunning beauty of the now shadowy and mysterious Siq and its carved votive niches and water channels. When the site reopens the next morning a few of us are there to climb to the High Place of Sacrifice returning by the more magisterial western route processional stairways sliced into the rock-faces to provide access to the ritual center to the Colonnaded Street below. As the photos illustrate, my Petra experience exceeded all expectations.