On our last trip to Jordan (which I’ve had the honor of visiting several times since our nonprofit has had teams in there) we spent two days at Petra, the ancient civilization from pre-Roman times. These are by far the most incredible historical ruins I have ever seen. The scale and sheer audacity to make this city is hard to get my mind around. It would have been untold amounts of work to build what they did. In many ways this impressed me more than the Great Pyramids of Egypt. I made several videos of our explorations, which you can find in this playlist.
Going on adventures in desert canyons is just so much fun. This very narrow canyon was the only access point to the city of Petra. It is still paved with original stones from 2,000 years ago.
I was unprepared for just how massive the Treasury is. The level of preservation, and the fact its carved directly out of the cliff face, is astounding.
The ruins of this civilization goes on for quite a ways, with innumerable houses and temples carved into the cliff faces.
These gargantuan temples on the opposite side of the valley look like something that belongs on another planet. And that this could have been made 2,000 years ago is hard for me to wrap my mind around.
Here you can see some people for reference of just how large these carving are. That's an unspeakable amount of rock that had to be removed and formed.
A theater; the natural color of the rock quite vivid.
When we visited it was only a few days before the COVID lockdowns went into place. We had the honor of being the only ones at the Treasury as the sun was setting. Seeing it without all the tourists was something that is quite rare.
The only entryway into Petra. The cliffs got quite narrow a several points, making it secure from attack.
