Petra Jordan, The Lost City by Day
Petra wasn’t voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the world for nothing!
The treasury of Petra
Petra in Jordan is one of those places that really does live up to the hype. We were first introduced to it the evening before during Petra by Night. While the actual performance of traditional music was less than stellar, the walk through the candle lit Siq to view the legendary Treasury building was awe inspiring. The Siq is a narrow gorge winding its way towards the ruins for over 1 km. With cliffs reaching up to 80 metres high it is absolutely one of the most phenomenal gorges on earth.
Horses gallop by at the entrance to Petra
We awoke bright and early to beat the crowds for our tour of Petra where we met the officer from Petra Development Authority. He was hired to stay with us while we took photos of Petra. We retraced our route from the night before towards Petra’s most famous monument.
Later that day, we were told that a horse ride was included in our entrance fee. It would have taken us from the visitors centre to the entrance of the siq. I wish we had known, that would have been cool. But something tells me we wouldn’t be riding as fast as that guy above!
As it turned out, we needed the extra time to walk anyway because we arrived a little too early to the Treasury and had to wait for the sun to make its way over the high cliffs.
The sun lights part of the Treasury at Petra
It wasn’t long until the sun peaked over the walls to light the treasury with its golden rays. The crowd was sparse at this time of the day and by having added bonus of the officer from Petra assigned to us from the Jordan Tourism Board and our guide Ali work together to keep the areas clear for photographs, Dave managed to snap photos of Petra that people only dream of getting.
A private vantage point of the Treasury in Petra
We spent quite a while at the Treasury and while Dave explored with the Petra Officer, I sat with Ali (our personal guide from the Jordan Tourism Board for our trip through Jordan- who rocked by the way) as he told me some of the history of Petra.
Only Bedouins are allowed to reside in Petra
Built by the Nabataeans over 2000 years ago, not a lot is known about Petra and its history. An important stop on the Silk Route to China and India, Petra was a flurry of activity with camel caravans stopping frequently en route to the Far East. It remained under Nabataean rule until 100 AD when the Romans invaded. It was some time during the 12 century that it was abandoned once and for all and left to the local people.
Hard to believe Petra was lost for centuries
Surprisingly, Petra was forgotten for centuries. It wasn’t until 1812 that it was rediscovered by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt that the world took notice again.
It was in 1989 that Hollywood discovered Petra as a film location for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Most recently we have seen Petra featured in Transformers II. But we’re trying to forget that that movie ever happened.
Ali told me that much of what we know about Petra is speculation. The Treasury was named so because it was believed to contain treasures hidden within its walls. They say that the Bedouins used to fire upon Urn at the top of tholos and the facade because they thought that Pharaoh put his treasures and the gold there. The official from Petra even told Dave that his father used to shoot at it. You can still see the bullet holes on it’s facade today.
A permanent fixture in his Keffiyeh at the treasury in Petra
One of the most popular people in the entire complex is a dashing man who sits in front of the Treasury. A local Bedouin that lives in the nearby caves, he sells rides on his trusty steed for a memorable photo opportunity in front of the monument.
He is pestered all day long by tourists wanting a photo with him or his camels and I can see why. He is the epitome of what a person thinks of when traveling to an exotic place like Jordan. His striking eyes peer playfully from behind his keffiyeh (traditional headscarf) as he sits in his long robes beside his decorated camel.
The scene is set to perfection.
Hangin' out with their Camels at the Treasury
As we chat with him we find out that he has already been featured in several magazines. He jokes that he will allow us to take a photograph without signing a release because we are nice. But he’ll look us up online because he has Wifi in his cave!
We never did get his name, but we won’t forget the fusion of ancient and modern life colliding within this historic site. Looking at him, you envision a man from centuries past but talking with him you see a man in tune with the rhythm of today. His earbuds connected to his iPod are hidden under his headscarf, he speaks with quick wit and references pop culture. He’s a living contradiction.
The Royal Tombs are a sight to behold in Petra
We can’t decide if he is teasing us and actually lives in a cave, or if he goes home each night to an apartment with big screen TV and Internet. The cave wouldn’t surprise us though because we learn that many people still live in the surrounding ruins and that the families who work in Petra are granted permission to live there.
Correction: After it was brought to our attention by Darren of RTW travels that people don’t live in the caves anymore, we did some further investigation and found out that people are not allowed to live in the caves anymore and have been moved to a nearby village by the Jordanian government.
Caves are scattered everywhere throughout Petra
As we walk to see the Royal Tombs, we scramble up a large rock, duck through caves and passageways and find ourselves standing high atop a stone a mountain overlooking the complex. It is here that we can see the walkway to both the high sacrifice and the Monastery and look down on the Petra Theatre. A 3000 seat amphitheatre that looks to be Roman architecture but was actually build by the Nabateans in the 1st century.
People are still living in the caves of Petra today
There are countless monuments and it is hard to believe that much of Petra was destroyed during a massive earthquake hundreds of years ago. Imagine what this great city looked like in its prime.
Since we only had one day at Petra, we had to choose between the high sacrifice and the Monastery. We chose the Monastery which some say is more impressive than the Treasury.
We begin the walk up to the Monastery
This 45 minute climb get’s the blood pumping and our guide Ali was not enjoying our fast pace. While we explored the area on our own, Ali took a well deserved rest to enjoy an icy lemon mint. If we were wise we would have hired a donkey for all of us to scramble our way up the stone path.
Welcome to the end of the world Petra style
We paused to view the Monastery before walking higher to gain a better vantage point. Following the trail we came upon a sign stating The View of the End of the World. I’ve always wondered what the end of the world looked like, so we marched on.
A view of the end of the World...scary!
It may not have been the end of the world, but I can see how the Nabataeans believed it to be. There seemed to be nothing beyond the borders of Petra and one would think that people would see no reason to leave the safety of this secluded city that was once the crown jewel of the Middle East.
Gazing towards the horizon I could almost imagine a camel caravan descending upon the city. Petra would be a welcoming sight after a long journey through the arid landscape and as I stood atop the mountain, I had visions of the generations who came before me, standing in this exact location gazing over the desert while admiring the beauty of the monastery below.
The Monastery of Petra, Jordan
We would like to give a hearty thank you to our guide Ali from the Jordan Tourism Board for checking our facts and keeping us well informed about everything in Jordan, including Petra!
83 Responses to Petra Jordan, The Lost City by Day
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Wow Dave! Unbelievable photos with the perfect brightening filter to add to them. The black and white portraits are absolutely stunning as well! Incredible – these photos have put me into a mesmerizing dreamy daze.
Hi Mark, I didn’t use a brightening filter. It was the natural lighting of the day and a polarizer. I have used HDR processing in some of the photos to bring out the shadows but no brightening filter. Petra and Jordan are just that stunning and did most of the work for me. Cheers!
Great post, amazing images bring the whole place alive in my lounge, thanks ….. even greater resolve to go soon.
Thanks Iain. Petra is quite the place. The setting alone is stunning and then to have these incredible monuments built into the rocks sets it over the top of great ruins of the world!
Brilliant photos of an incredible location.
Thanks Andrea, Agreed, Petra is an incredible location. We have been to a lot of the great ruins on earth…the Pyramids, Angkor Wat, Tikal, Machu Picchu… and Petra is something very different and unique from anywhere else.
Your photography is always so amazing. And an amazing place makes it even better. Beautiful
Thanks Dean. I took so many photos of Petra that it was difficult to choose which ones to use. I could dedicate an entire book to it! Cheers.
Absolutely breathtaking pictures and fitting commentaries! You’ve convinced us that a visit to Petra is a must in one’s lifetime!
Thanks Jeremy and Shirlene. You must go, Petra is one of thos e places that will not disappoint. Glad we could inspire you to go one day.
Stunning pictures, as usual! I don’t know how many times I’ve looked at Petra pictures, but I never tire of them. I think that means I need to get there. Now!
Definitely true. I know that Petra is very popular right now on the Internet, but that’s totally because it is such an amazing location. I hope you make it there soon and hint, go early.
I thought your other pictures were amazing but these are even better! They definitely make me want to go.
Thanks Debbie. It is a very picturesque location. I think it is difficult to take a bad photo of Petra:)
Amazing, beyond words
Cheers and thank you!
Great photos! How awesome to have the cooperation of the tourism rep and your guide to clear the shots for you. Looks like it was a wonderful trip. Still on my bucket list!
Hi Kaytein, I have to admit, we were spoiled. how on earth will we visit world ruins again without the official and a tourism representative?
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Exceptional photography! Petra by day is just as awesome as Petra by night! Funny that how the ancient people loved to think that they had somehow reached the end of the world. Thanks for sharing again!
I have to admit, I don’t know if they actually thought it was the end of the world, but I can believe it. And I’ll take the sign as meaning that they did
Wow. Just incredible images.
WOW… I am blown away by your spectacular photos. I was there last week and your photos put mine to shame. Just one point, I had two guides when I was there and was told by both that nobody is allowed to reside in Petra any longer. Everyone was moved out to a new town just west of the site in the late 1980′s. Today decendents of the Natataens live in this town and travel to Petra every day to work.
Thanks Darren, we appreciate the compliment. We were definitely told that there is a tribe that is allowed to live in Petra. Maybe not in necessarily in Petra proper but in the surrounding caves. I wonder if The Jordan Tourism Board can weigh in on this. As I looked for information it states that everyone was relocated to a town, but even when we talked with tribe in Wadi Rum, they said that many people have been relocated to town, but many still live in the desert. I wonder if this is the case in Petra. The Petra officer specifically said to us that families working in Petra are allowed to stay there. I’d love to know for certain. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ali checks this out and answers. He has been an excellent fact checker for us:)
thanks for the clarification. I look forward to a response from Ali too. If that’s the case I’ll have to edit my own post
Me too. If not I wil facebook Ali, to ask him. We are facebook friends and keep in touch at least once a week. I love how the Internet brings people together.
I know… what did we ever do before the i’net??? and how could people travel with just sending postcards and calling home??? Glad WE connected… especially since we’re just a couple of world travelers from CANADA!
Hi Darren. Ok. Ali confirmed that you are absolutely right. Nobody lives in Petra today. I will make sure to change it in the post. We had more than one person tell us differently while visiting Petra and Dave and I both could have sworn we recalled Ali stating that as well, but I guess we were wrong:) On facebook Ali confirmed what you said that they have all been moved to the village. Thanks for the correction.
This is something else I love about the Interent, people can fix problems instantly. A newspaper has to write a little blurb the following week to make corrections or to hear the other side of the story in the editorial section. We have instant discussions right here on the post and people can instantly correct the mistakes that we make.
Cheers
Wow! these are wonderful photos! the more I look at your photos, the more I remember the long walk in Petra, I had almost forgotten about the distances and amazing sites.
PS: I like your note about who/what you refer to as ‘living contradictions’, I live in a place where you see many of him, daily.
Wow, you must live in a very interesting place. I love how the old is colliding with the new in the world today. It will be sad when the earth becomes one big generic corporation of chain stores and shopping malls. I hope it doesn’t happen any time soon. Hopefully people will hold on to their heritage and keep individuality. It is what makes travel so exciting. I’m certainly not saying that people can’t evolve and become modern, I just hope that the culture stays in tact in countries and that the Starbucks generation doesn’t take over too much.
You are right, the walk to the Treasury is a long and beautiful one for sure.
Great work guys! Love this write up, and the photos are absolutely amazing!
Thanks Randy. It was certainly fun learning about Petra and witnessing it’s beauty.
Wow, just wow. Agree with Darren. They definitely put mine to shame. Especially jealous of tourism rep crowd control and a lack of a fence and grating in front of the treasury. I was also told by a few of the people there that they live in the caves in Petra.
Thanks Mike, I am sure yours are awesome! We have to say that we were very spoiled having Ali and the tourism officer helping us out. I am glad to hear that you heard about people living in the caves as well. I have to send Ali a message to ask him for certain.
Absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. My jaw was dropped the entire post!
Sheryll, Thank you very much. Our jaws were dropped during out entire walk through Petra. It is truly like stepping back in time.
Playing with photoshop is fun for non-photographers.
Photoshop is used in photography today like dark rooms were use when shooting with film. All photographers have used post production techniques in the past and today to dodge, burn, crop and correct colours. And yes, playing with photoshop is fun for both photographers and non-photographers.
Wow! These are gorgeous shots! I first heard of Petra when I saw that Indiana Jones movie. I still haven’t made it there yet, but these photos are convincing me that I really need to go there!
Hi Michael, I didn’t even know that Indiana Jones was filmed in Petra before going there. You were ahead of us in your knowledge. I hope you make it there one day soon, it was awesome.
These are amazing. Just. Wow.
Cheers, Thanks so much Andrea.
This is a wonderful collection of shots, I liked them all.
Cheers, thanks so much Isseddeen
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Wow, amazing shots Dave! I’ve never seen Petra like this – truly inspiring me to get there one day soon!
Thanks Clare, You will love it when you go. Make sure to go early, the crowds build up by 11:00 am
Just incredible images.
The photos looked so familiar to me like I had been there before and then i realized that I saw them from the Transformers movie. Just crazy I would really love to visit this place and check out the view from the end of the world and the tombs.
You are absolutely right Kirk. Transformers was shot in Jordan at Petra and Wadi Rum. When watching that movie, I really wanted to go to Petra. I can’t believe that we got to go so soon!
That’s great that we got that cleared up. After following some of the comments here I was sure I was wrong but am glad we got it sorted out. I love that about the internet too. I love how I can read other people’s posts about the same places I write about, to get a different perspective (and sometimes to double check my facts). I look forward to reading more and more of your posts and following your adventures.
Amazing pictures. Really puts Petra in a different perspective. What kind of lens did you use?
Hi Amanda, I used a Canon 16 – 35 L 2.8
Those photos are truly stunning! So surreal… I am curious about the history of the structures, and wish more info had been included, particularly years of construction. But hey, that’s what Google’s for, I guess.
Hi Renee, the problem with Petra is that there isn’t a lot of information. If you read what I had to say, I state that there isn’t a lot of information on the city and that a lot of what we know today is speculation. There are 1530 words in this post and for a blog, that is quite a bit of information. I chose to share what I learned and what I know and yes, you are right that is what Google is for. I also actually say it was built by the Nabateans over 2000 years ago. It remained under their rule until 100 AD where I am sure that they kept building on to it. It was then taken over by the Romans. I know that the pictures make it seem that there isn’t a lot of text and it is easy to become distracted by Dave’s incredible work, but there is quite a bit of information in the post if you do read it.
What an amazing place! You captured it beautifully.
wow! i feel like such a jerk for not looking at these before now. unbelievably beautiful. i can see why many of the comments said you’ve inspired future trips to petra. thank you for sharing!!
Thanks Lauren, I appreciate the compliment. I hope that we inspired people to go, it was an outstanding ancient city and worth seeing.
Some great photo editing Dave!
Somebody’s pretty kick ass with the camera!
Cheers, Thanks Cam.
AMAZING photos. I wanna go there…NOW haha
gorgeous!
I especially love the one with the horse galloping!!
Those pictures could be run through photomatix a few more times.
I take it you would like more HDR? Yes, it is very subjective as to how much to go with. some people like less, some like more. Thanks for the feedback.
Great photos! The polarizing filter definitely helps show this area’s true natural beauty. I visited Jordan as part of a day trip from Sharm Egypt. One of the issues with this is that by the time we made it to the site it was swarmed by tourists, so it was impossible to get clear shots like the ones above.
That is very true Thomas. We noticed all the day tours coming in to Petra as we were leaving. YOu really need to get there early to avoid the crowds. Even then, it took a lot of patience to wait for people to clear the shot.
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How I wish that I can also have the chance to be able to visit the place you’ve visited . Looking at picture they are quite remarkable and amazing.
Hi Richard, thank you for the kind comment. I hope that you get to visit some day too! Petra is a great thing to put at the top of the list.
these pictures are absolutely crazy. excellent job capturing this place i’ve never heard of before. it looks like quite an adventure indeed. i can’t believe it’s carved right out of a mountain!
i want to go there now too.
Absolutely fantastic! This, Lebanon and Israel are my Middle East to-do list. Glad to hear it lives up to the hype.
There really are no words are there? Awesome…………and I want to go there. You know I might even be convinced to ride a donkey again
The last image is my favourite… but they are all great. Definitely one of the places I want to photograph before I kick the bucket.
Your photos always rock. No exceptions here either guys. Hope we find the time to visit some day soon.
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Hi Cole, thanks. You must go to Petra for sure, Jordan itself is a very magical place.
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These photos are really incredible. These are the kind of photographs that make me really believe I’m getting a realistic view of Petra. Y’know how
sometimes you are inspired by your surroundings and get that flutter in your stomach and the itch to photgraph but your pictures never really
express the magnificence of a place? These seem to do that. These make me want to travel again. I can’t wait to start planning my honeymoon.
Wow, Hi Gretta. Thank you so much for your kind words. I am glad that I could capture Petra for you. It truly was one of those places that didn’t disappoint. Walking through the Siq towards the Treasury is a magnificent experience. That alone is worth going to Petra for. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I hope you have an amazing honeymoon! Enjoy.
These pictures are just amazing! The black and white picture of the man is so powerful!!
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Petra really deserved a place in the new seven wonders of the world together with such phenomena like the Serengeti -masai mara wildebeest migration in Kenya. Its a pity that not much of its history is known despite some sketchy stories. Those are some of the best photos i have seen with very good technique as well.
I just wanted to thank you for the great photos and for the kind words about Petra and the Jordanian people . By the way I am a Jordanian tour guide ,to answer the question about the people living in caves ,it is just like you said some still do not inside Petra its self but in caves on the outskirts of PETRA ,
Thanks Ali, I am glad that you liked it. That means a lot to us coming from a person living in Jordan. We hope to capture what we truly felt about your country. and thinks for the clarification on the caves, much appreciated.