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The architecture of rocks and sandstone of Petra in Jordan transports visitors to ancient times. This vast city was carved into the sheer rock face by an industrious Arab tribe
A walk following the trail of dimly lit candles on either sides of a stony pathway between cliffs is a thrilling, somewhat other worldly experience, for a tourist if you visit Petra by night. It could have been an eerie, scary experience, too, but for the throngs of tourists who take the night walk to visit the ruins from antiquity. You cannot almost see each other in the darkness but the rattle of shoes of so many others walking in the same inky night is re-assuring. When we reached Petra on a May day, it was sundown and before we could see the rhapsody in rocks in the blaze of sunshine, we took the night walk to undergo an unforgettable experience of walking, often stumbling through the darkness, and then reach a point where the rock-cut architecture of the iconic Al Khazneh or "The Treasury", a temple facade carved out of a sandstone rock, unveiled before our eyes in a mysterious yet starry Jordanian night.
The row of candles — 1,800 to be precise — adorning the courtyard of Al Khazneh, the most famous and almost symbolic monument of Petra, gives a sense of deja vu to an Indian tourist. It is like a Diwali night in India as the lamps in the courtyard of Al Khazneh casts a mesmerising spell on you. And the music — a combination of rebab, the violin-like bowed string instrument, and flute-played there with some spiced tea only adds to the mood. There is a brief story telling too though perhaps you cannot pick up much from it. The Treasury is said to be the most elaborate ruin of Petra and a high-point in the tour of the sandstone empire that dates back to the first century AD during the reign of Aretas IV Philopatri. During the night, it seemed like we have reached a dead end in the rocky cliffs. Al Khazneh, though very well preserved, has countless bullet holes made by the local Bedouin tribes, who once hoped to lay hands in the treasures that were once rumored to be hidden within it. So the next morning, a walk down the same rock hemmed pathway, As Siq, took us again to Al-Khazneh, made famous by Hollywood movies, including the final sequence of the Spielberg film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Al Khazneh was used for the entrance to the temple housing the Holy Grail in the film. But this towering facade is only the first of Petra’s secrets, boasted the tourism literature on Petra. And they are true. When you go beyond an entire sandstone world of royal tombs, a Roman theatre, colonnaded streets is revealed and a climb of nearly 900 rock-cut steps can take you to the biggest highlight — a gigantic first century monastery (Deir). While The Treasury is the first highlight of Petra, the pathway to it or As-Siq is also a wonderful walk, which one can cover in a horse-drawn carriage too. As-Siq, as this entrance is called, is the ancient main entrance to Petra. It is a 1.2 km long gorge of stunning rock formations on either side. It is hemmed by cliffs soaring up to 80 m and the carvings on the cliffs, the colours are all treat to eyes. A Unesco World Heritage Site, Petra is Jordan’s most famous tourist place and it now draws Indian filmmakers, too, to shoot song sequences. This vast city was carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab tribe, who settled there more than 2000 years ago. They made it a famous junction for silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. Hellenistic influences can be seen in Nabataean art and architecture, especially at the time that their empire was expanding northward into Syria, around 150 BC. Beyond the Treasury (Al Khazneh), are hundreds of elaborate rock-cut tombs with intricate carvings. Here you will also spot a Roman-style theatre, which can seat 3,000 persons. There are obelisks, temples, sacrificial altars and colonnaded streets in Petra, and high above, overlooking the valley, is the impressive Ad-Deir monastery. Inside Petra is also a 13th century shrine, built by the Mameluk Sultan, Al Nasir Mohammad, to commemorate the death of Aaron, the brother of Moses. It can be seen on top of Mount Aaron in the Sharah range. And here in the ancient city, if you climb hard into the rock, you reach the top or to the "High Place of Sacrifice" from where you get a spectacular view of Petra down. Another must visit is the two museums in Petra — the Petra Archaeological Museum and Petra Nabataean Museum. But for a tourist, there is nothing more cool than to laze under the shadow of the cliffs lying on a rock after an arduous trek to the ancient city that was lost to civilisation till Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered it in 1812, who actually had tricked his way into the fiercely guarded site posting as an Arab from India wishing to make a sacrifice at the tomb of Prophet Aaron. Petra, as English Anglican divine John William Burgon, who wrote a famous poem on the ruins, had said — truly a rose red city, half as old as time.
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