In the southern reaches of Jordan in the heart of the desert three hours south of Amman is a city like no other in the Middle East. In fact there?s no other city like this in the world. For more than 2,000 years it has dominated this landscape, it has endured the worst that nature could throw at it: sand storms, torrential rains and earthquakes. On top of that it was annexed by the Romans in the 2nd Century BC and later served the Crusaders as a fortress but despite the harsh ministrations of time, the elements and its eclectic history enough of Petra remains to engender awe in even the most jaded of tourists. And to provide nominal shelter for the few Bedouin tribes people who despite the efforts of their government still light their campfires and shelter from the cold desert nights in the city of their ancestors.

Petra, also called the rose city, is a sunken island in the desert rimmed by nigh impregnable mountains that make it a perfect natural fortress. The ?Nabataeans?, an Arab tribe, recognised the importance of the site both as a stronghold and as a trading post on the caravan routes from the Persian Gulf, Damascus and Gaza. Under their control the city that they made here flourished.