The way in
You leave the sun at the mouth of the gorge. The Siq winds on for about a kilometre, cool and narrow, the sky a ribbon far above.
Scroll, and you walk. The dark comes in as you go.Move down the page to walk in.
Some of what you find along the way can be kept for your plan.
Walking the Siq, Petra
Deeper
The rock is close enough to touch on both sides. It grows dim. Then, ahead, a thin bright line that is not sky.
The Treasury appears, Petra
The last step
Nobody is shown the Treasury. You come round the last bend, and it is simply there between the walls.
Draw the walls apart with your hand, or press Part the dark.Press Part the dark.
There. Forty metres of rose stone, cut from the cliff some two thousand years ago. You stop walking without deciding to.
The Treasury from the Siq, Petra
In front of it
Pale in the morning, rose by noon, deep red as the sun goes. People come out of the Siq, look up, and stop talking. Find somewhere to sit. There is no hurry.
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, Petra
After dark
On the evenings it is held, the Siq is lined with candles and you go in with the night all round you. Same walls. Same last bend.
Part the dark once more.Press Part the dark once more.
Candles on the sand, and the Treasury glowing above them. Nobody speaks above a whisper.
The Treasury by candlelight, Petra
Then south
The walls fall away, and there is only desert.
Wadi Rum is under two hours down the road. You arrive for sunset and sleep under canvas, with the whole sky to yourself.
When would you come?
Spring and autumn are the seasons here. Choose a month and see what it brings.