Bedouin legend that a pharaoh hid treasures in an urn at the top, although it was actually a mausoleum used for sacrifices.
I got lost in my own imagination as I gawped at its winged griffins, axewielding Amazons and the bullet holes which remain as evidence that some had believed the myths. They say nothing is built here, only carved.
In 2007, Petra was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and it’s hard to argue with that.
You can actually spend a couple of days wandering around its maze of tombs, temples and other ruins, absorbing its extensive history, and still not manage to take it all in (the Petra By Night tour is a unique experience).
Getting to know the locals was also on the menu when we opted to cook our own dinner at Petra Kitchen, which turned out to be a fun evening as we learnt to tell our fattoush from our baba ganoush.
Up the road at the aptly named The Cave, described in Lonely Planet as “the oldest bar in the world”, we were shown how to smoke shisha on a hookah.
This is not for the fainthearted – you draw heated tobacco through water using a pipe attached to a hose.
Petra is not the only jawdropping experience you can have in Jordan – there’s also the spectacular wilderness of Wadi Rum.
Also known as the Valley of the Moon, it is set on a high plateau on the western edge of the Arabian desert.
Featuring dramatic threecoloured sandstone mountains that litter its expansive landscape, prehistoric carvings and vast swathes of red-pink sands, it’s quite unlike anywhere else I’ve seen on Earth.
When I wandered away from our group to spend five minutes alone, it felt as if I was the last human left on the planet.
It’s easy to see how this “otherworldly” landscape has played its role in movies such as Ridley Scott’s acclaimed blockbuster The Martian.
It’s also lined up to star in the next Star Wars film.
And our safari adventure speeding over dunes in an open-top Toyota jeep felt like a scene out of Top Gear as we watched a sunset so breathtaking that even the most amateur photographer couldn’t fail to capture the magical effect of the light catching on the rocks.
Our base for the night was in the surreal “Martian” setting of Sun City Camp.
We tucked into a sumptuous meal of traditional dishes cooked by local Bedouins over a fire buried underground before settling into one of the surprisingly cosy space-age domes that dot the resort.
Keen to savour every moment of our once-in-alifetime trip, we braved the desert chill and got up before dawn.
Then, after viewing a stunning sunrise, we set out to discover 2,000-yearold rock etchings of camels. Suddenly, making a dramatic
GETTING THERE: easyJet flies weekly from
Gatwick to Aqaba, Jordan, from £99. Book at easyjet.com.
PACKAGE DEAL: Seven nights at the Al
Manara hotel in Aqaba, including flights, costs from £845pp in February. Book at easyjet.com/ holidays or call 020 3499 5232. Holidays can be secured with a low deposit of £60.
For more details on Jordan see visitjordan.com.
entrance over the horizon, appeared men riding camels.
They had the sun behind them in a scene that could have come straight out of Lawrence Of Arabia (also filmed here).
After the excitement of the last few days, we had a chance to unwind in style at the luxurious five-star Hotel Kempinski, a fourhour drive to the north from Wadi Rum.
We took advantage of the hotel’s location on the edge of the Dead Sea (at 1,312ft below sea level, it’s the lowest point on Earth) and alternated between caking ourselves in the famous therapeutic mud and floating
on our backs in the treacly salt-saturated lake, before relaxing by lounging on sunbeds sipping cocktails.
As I gazed past the infinity pool out across to the vast sea, I couldn’t believe it was only three days ago that we had landed in Aqaba.
Taking a boat out to go swimming with turtles and puffer fish hidden among the colourful coral reefs, we could see why this place boasts some of the world’s best diving and snorkelling sites.
It was one of many highlights to treasure from my memorable visit to this infinitely fascinating and most hospitable Middle Eastern kingdom.