No visit to Jordan would be complete without Petra. Developed by the Nabateans around 600 BC this is actually a kind of fortress, acting as a stopover for camel caravans, not to mention a tax collection point. Vast numbers of camels would wind their way through the canyon, or Siq. There is even a (very worn) bas relief showing the legs of a camel driver and the belly of his camel. The soft sandstone rock has been sculpted by wind and flooding or carved by hand to create living rooms and stores. The Nabateans were actually very skilled at collecting and storing water, which they even piped to its point of use, whether for agriculture, gardens, animals or dwellings.

Visiting Petra means climbing: up steps and over boulders, sometimes with very little to hold on to. Naturally the best views are ‘from the top’. That includes the Treasury and Monastery. In places the paths leading up are lined by market stalls offering every kind of tourist rubbish. It’s a whole new take on ‘exit through the gift shop’!!

The best time to visit is early, before 7.00 am, just as the sun climbs above the surrounding hills and illuminates the front of the Treasury. Later in the day, this small space is crammed with donkeys, camels, sellers of drinks and souvenirs, barefoot Bedouin children and any number of visitors. The heat and the noise are something else! On our second day it was windy - extremely windy. Having climbed to the Place of High Sacrifice we clawed our way across the plateau and descended in the lee of the wind. Even so we had sand between our teeth for the rest of the day!