23/12/2023
The Night at Petra (Dec 2019)
Petra, one of the World’s Heritage Sites is HUGE. The rock-carved city was built by the Nabataeans in approximately 400 BCE. They were the “Pirates of the Desert”, initially nomadic people who attacked nearby caravan routes and hid their loot in their secret settlements behind the narrow gorge. They became wealthy and built the magnificent city of Petra.
For thousands of years, Petra was hidden from the known world, until in 1812, a Swiss explorer rediscovered the ruins. Johann Ludwig Burckhardt pretended he was looking for the Tomb of Aaron/Harun around The Valley of Moses/Musa, and asked a local Bedouin guide to show him the new route. Once discovered, the secret of Petra was spread to the world.
The hike around Petra’s enormous complex proved to be a productive Cardio exercise. I covered a 22 km distance, a ~2,000M Elevation Gain within 10 hours during the day hike, and a night-long session. Overall, I walked ~30,000 steps and burned 7,000 calories within a day. Hope to lose some weight!
Thankfully it is winter time, so the cool air breeze was nice. I won’t do the hike in the summer 😉
