If I say that the sensational city of Petra in Jordan served as the setting for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with Harrison Ford and for Rede Globo’s soap opera Viver a Vida, I guarantee you’ll be curious. And as if that were not enough, I’ll tell you that this city was carved in stone by the Nabataean Empire in the third century BC, continues to tell its story to the present day and is one of the 7 New Wonders of the Modern World. Can you imagine how surreal this little corner of the world is? It is one of the most impressive places I have ever visited!!!

Petra is called the Pink City for being born in a dry region of the Wadi Musa Desert, amidst immense gorges. Fortunately, it stayed in a strategic place in the Middle East where caravans used to pass through, transporting products to market and ended up becoming very rich with the collection of taxes.

One of these products was myrrh, a medicinal plant used as an antiseptic, which you may have heard of because it was one of the gifts given at the birth of baby Jesus by the Magi. The Bedouins say that this myrrh is still very valuable today at a cost 10 times more than gold. Well, that’s how Petra thrived. However, an earthquake shook the region and caused the caravan route to be diverted. So the city fell into oblivion and only the local Bedouins knew of its existence. Twelve centuries passed before a Swiss explorer rediscovered it and revealed this treasure to the world.

Everything is unusual and unbelievable from the start. You walk for almost 2 kilometers in a narrow corridor between sandstone walls and suddenly there is a clearing with a 43-meter-high temple called Al-Khazna that they imagine was the mausoleum of a king. It is impossible to understand how they carved it on stone. They were super advanced in terms of engineering. And this is only the beginning because the city has more than 5 square kilometers where you can see avenues with colonnades, tombs, palaces, temples, houses and even a Roman theater, all carved in the stones.

To explore Petra, stay at least two nights at the Moevenpick Hotel, which is right at the gateway to the archaeological site. Go prepared to walk a lot because cars do not enter. Take comfortable shoes and do not use the services of carts, horses and donkeys. The animals are very mistreated. And after all, the walk is beautiful. Choose the months of April, May, September and October because they have milder temperatures. Take the opportunity to visit Jordan and Israel on the same trip.

#DICAS DE VIAGEM: PETRA, UMA VIAGEM AO PASSADO

#DICAS DE VIAGEM: PETRA, UMA VIAGEM AO PASSADO

#DICAS DE VIAGEM: PETRA, UMA VIAGEM AO PASSADO

#DICAS DE VIAGEM: PETRA, UMA VIAGEM AO PASSADO

#DICAS DE VIAGEM: PETRA, UMA VIAGEM AO PASSADO

I guarantee you’ll be surprised.

XoXo and see you next Tuesday.

Claudia Liechavicius