Stephen Jones

Ican’t think of any other historic site in the world that does ‘The Big Reveal’ quite like Petra in Jordan – even though I had thought I knew what to expect. I’d walked for half-an-hour down a dark, narrow gorge in between rocks called ‘the Siq’ (the shaft) that are in places only three to four yards wide, when I first glimpsed light shining through a crack at the end of the ‘tunnel’.

As I nervously edged forwards, my eyes came into focus, and I stood open-jawed as Petra’s most elaborate ruin, Al-Khazneh, revealed itself to me in all its imposing glory.

Like many, I’d first dreamt of seeing the spectacular 2,000-year-old, 130ft high monument carved out of a single block of sandstone when it featured as the entrance to the temple that housed the final resting place of The Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Thanks to easyJet, which has started flying weekly to Aqaba in Jordan direct from Gatwick – opening it up as a potential new winter sun destination – that dream has become an affordable reality.

And Petra is undeniably even more inspiring in the flesh than in the movies.

Al-Khazneh’s name translates as The Treasury, which comes from a local 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, axe-wielding 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 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