The World Heritage city of Petra with over 600 rock-cut tombs, offers such a wealth of attractions that you should really plan several days for a visit. These informative photo tours introduce the main highlights, draw attention to many details and recommend routes with breathtaking views.
Petra, which means stone, is the Greek denomination of a Nabatean retreat, which the Nabateans called Raqmu. There are different theories about the origin of these North Arabic people. The first historically documented reference dates from 312/311 BC.
Petra/Raqmu is located halfway between the Gulf of Aqaba and the Dead Sea, in a wide valley surrounded by protecting rock massifs. Initially it served as a seasonal tent campsite for the nomadic traders and cattle breeders. In the course of the 2nd century BC, a more sedentary lifestyle developed, and Petra became the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom at the crossroad of important caravan routes. Its legendary wealth was based on the trade of incense, myrrh, spices, as well as bitumen from the Dead Sea.
For today's visitors, after an impressive walk through a natural cleft 1.2 km long , the sacred Siq, with steep cliffs up to 80 meters high, the well-known Treasury of the Pharaoh is the spectacular beginning of an enormous area with elaborate tomb and temple architecture, religious high places, ingenious water management system, and archaeological remains that are an exceptional testimony of the succession and intermingling of periods and styles from prehistoric to medieval times.
Detailed information in the photo tours.
