Petra, Jordan - the Treasury

You're walking through the Siq, and you can only see maybe 20 feet in front of you because of all the twists and turns. You come around a corner, and bam! Even if you know the treasury is coming up, this view will stop you in your tracks. My first reaction was, "how did it sneak up on me?" It appears so suddenly. Duly note: this picture is almost identical to the first scene of Petra in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Breathtaking. I wish I had a person in this picture so it would capture the scale. This thing is enormous; it's on a much larger scale than the Parthenon, for example. To think that this was completely forgotten by the outside world until the 1800's! Very similar to how it's portrayed in the Indiana Jones movie, the location was kept a secret and protected by the Bedouin nomads.

This is just the beginning of Petra, however. Petra goes on for 4-5 miles of caves and the like. But most tourists - on packaged bus tours - only see the the Treasury and go no further. They miss a lot! I hired a donkey guide and we set off into the city.