One enters the incredible ancient city of Petra, Jordan, through the Siq, a 1 km long canyon. At the end, one sees glimpses of the rock cut tomb known as 'The Treasury'

Along the Siq, you can see lots of relief sculptures as well as water channels. This relief is much weathered, but you can just make out that it was a camel caravan. Parts of the legs and stomachs of the camels are still visible

The so-called 'Treasury' (actually an ancient tomb) is one of the most monumental and dramatic rock-cut facades at Petra, a city built by the Nabatean people two-thousand years ago.

This is a view down into an area where some early Nabatean tombs are carved into the cliffs

Here's a closer view of the tombs in the previous image

A camel train walks by the Roman-era theater, carved out of the rock of the mountain

The seating area of the Roman-era theater

The ruined city is full of rock-cut architecture, with classical facades of enormous tombs

A view of an ancient temple complex

A toppled column of a temple

Another view of a toppled column; the coin-like column drums fallen like dominos

Some architectural details of the 'Treasury', the upper section

A taxi in Petra, taking a rest

Columns against a beautiful sky

I collected sticks for a old Bedouin man and brought them to him; he was happy he had some fuel to make some tea, so I sat with him and drank the tea he make on his little fire

The 'Obelisk' tomb gets its name from the obelisks along the top; it's a double level tomb complex

At the end of the day, I caught this rider galloping along the path in front of the Obelisk tomb

More tremendous facades of tombs; you can see scale with the people in the lower right

There was a cat at the Byzantine basilica, taking refuge from the heat. I put a little water in one of my camera caps and he seemed happy for the refreshment

The Treasury in the sunglasses of a young tourist

The most impressive monument at Petra, and the most difficult to get to: the 'Monastery'

The 'Monastery', Petra

Detail of the sculpted architectural details of the 'Monastery'