Inside Petra, the lost city of stone

Nothing quite prepares a visitor for the arresting vision of the most exquisite Greco-Roman mausoleum, the Al-Khazneh or 'The Treasury'

That the iconic film, Lawrence of Arabia, and the popular adventure classic, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, were both shot at locations in Jordan should tell you something about a country where history lurks at every turn amidst its deserts, hills and valleys. A recent visit took me to its capital, Amman, better known as “Philadelphia” in Roman times, to the even more ancient capital of the Nabataean kingdom, Petra, and finally the beige, rust and grey desert landscape of Wadi Rum.

Amman was originally a city spread along seven hills, its modern name derived from Rabbath Ammon or the