Rose Red City - PETRA, JORDAN

Today was like any other winter day in Florence, cloudy and surprisingly warm. I was expecting rain but nothing came from up above, it kind of dissapointed me. Sometimes I like rain, being home under a blanket, watching some good program on TV, a good movie perhaps and inocently falling asleep... a dream takes me to a far away place...anywhere I desire. Amazing, how there is no rules...You can go anywhere you'd like. My imagination took me to Petra, Jordan. The following is what I remember...I was trying to find a way to the lost city that I only read about. I saw a narrow, winding pass between towering walls, as I walked frightened, not knowing what will be in my sight. Then ,swiftly, I noticed something that blew my mind, it was a hallowed sight, something I've never seen before, a dream or reality, enchanting, mesmerising...taking each and every breath away....the enterance to an ancient magnificence....the city of PETRA.

Enterance to the forbbiden city. The end of the Siq, with its striking  view of Al Khazneh ("The Treasury")  

 

The Treasury-hewn into the sandstone cliff.

MARVELOUS! I can't get enough of this site! It's surreal!!!  

My dream ended here, in front of an enterance to the Treasury...reality hit me and this is what I get...The feeling is ASTOUNDING!

The picture to the left is inside of the Tresury and the one on the right is inside of a church.

Part of a poem about Petra:

It seems no work of Man's creative hand,

By labor wrought as wavering fancy planned;

But from the rock as if by magic grown,

Eternal, silent, beautiful, alone!

Not virgin-white like that old Doric shrine,

Where erst Athena held her rites divine;

Not saintly-grey, like many a minster fane,

That crowns the hill and consecrates the plain;

But rose-red as if the blush of dawn,

That first beheld them were not yet withdrawn;

The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,

Which Man deemed old two thousand years ago.

Match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,

A rose-red city half as old as time.

- By John William Burgon (1845) -

FACTS ABOUT PETRA: 
 
- the home of the Nabateans, is a complete city carved in stone. The huge rocks are colorful, mostly pink, and the entrance to the ancient city is through a 1.25 km narrow gorge in the mountain—called the Siq.
 
- In the city are various structures, all are carved into rock, including al Khazneh – known as the Treasury – which has been designated as one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World" by the for-profit New Open World Corporation.
 
-Other major sites of interest in Petra include the Monastery, the Roman theater, the Royal Tombs, the High Place of Sacrifice.
 
- Petra, which means "stone or rock" in Greek, may have had a population of between twenty and thirty thousand people.
 
- For seven centuries, Petra fell into the mists of legend, its existence a guarded secret known only to the local Bedouins and Arab tradesmen. Finally, in 1812, a young Swiss explorer and convert to Islam named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt heard locals speaking of a "lost city" hidden in the mountains of Wadi Mousa. In order to find the site without arousing local suspicions, Burckhardt disguised himself as a pilgrim seeking to make a sacrifice at the tomb of Aaron, a mission which would provide him a glimpse of the legendary city. He managed to bluff his way through successfully, and the secret of Petra was revealed to the modern Western world.
 
( Facts were found online!)