Petra, the ‘Rose City’, Jordania

Amidst all the wonders the Middle East has to offer, my trip to Petra in 2006 is a precious memory I will cherish for all my life.

There is something special about traveling to the Middle East—a region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq—I did not find anywhere else.

The smells, the food, the musicality of the languages, the feeling you get walking around these streets—this cradle of civilisation is all very enchanting.

Petra is an Arabian historical and archaeological citadel, ideally located between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea.

It was established in 312 BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, an nomadic Arab civilization that thrived from the 4th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. They invested in Petra’s proximity to the incense trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub.

The Nabataeans are among the ancient people of the Near East and have left behind a strong heritage.
Their patrimony includes the tombs carved into the sandstone cliffs of Petra and the Hegra Archaeological Site in Saudi Arabia, whose exploration really began in the early 2000s, while the first excavations carried out in Petra date back to 1929.
Another little-known legacy is the Nabataean script, an Aramaic-derived script spoken by the ancient Aramean pre-Christian tribes throughout the Fertile Crescent.

The magnitude of the rock-cut architecture of the Nabatean City of Petra, which is mainly tombs, reflects the greatness of the immense historical and cultural significance the Nabataean caravan city holds as an important crossroads between the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, and Syria-Phoenicia.

The site is also famous for its water conduit system: reservoirs and key cisterns harvesting rainwater, dams, springs, channels, and pipelines comprising water distribution.

Inhabited since prehistoric times, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is also listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
A rightful place among the most iconic innovations or achievements of mankind from across history.

I was completely bewitched by this half-built and half-sculpted citadel, carved into the pink sandstone mountains.

A harsh beauty where the influences of ancient Oriental and Hellenistic architecture mingle, caressed by the desert wind.