ALPHABET TRAVEL CHALLENGE
Petra: Jordan’s Historic Cave City
A to Z of my favorite travel destinations — P is for Petra
Jordan is often overlooked as a destination in the middle east but it shouldn’t be. Its neighbors may get more attention. Consider Egypt, Israel, West Bank, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. So it’s remarkable what a calm and peaceful country it is, despite the wars and political strife all around it. Jordan is safe, sophisticated, and clean and it has been spared any of the violence that has plagued many of its neighbors.
One of the highlights of any visit to Jordan is Petra, one of the world’s most famous archeological sites and which is nothing less than awe-inspiring.
I visited soon after the Arab Spring. Normally during peak tourism season, 10 to 15 thousand people will pass through Petra on any given day, maybe only half or a third of that during low season, but on the day I went only 20 tickets had been sold in the first half hour of the ticket office opening. That is unheard of and devastating for the hundreds who depend on this UNESCO Heritage site to make a living. Eventually, a few bus tours…
