Petra, the fabled “rose red city, half as old as time”, was the ancient capital of the Nabataean kingdom. It is without a doubt Jordan’s most valuable treasure and greatest tourist attraction. A vast, unique city, carved into the side of the Wadi Musa Canyon centuries ago by the Nabataeans, who turned it into an important junction for the silk and spice routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Greece and Rome. The most elaborate building in Petra is Al Khazneh (“The Treasury”), carved out of a sandstone rock face, it’s massive façade dwarfing everything around it.