When I decided to forgo Europe and head through some of the Middle East instead, everyone kept telling me I needed to visit Petra, in a small Bedouin city called Wadi Musa in the south of Jordan. I had never heard of this historic site, but I soon learned that “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” was filmed there. Aside from that, I ventured into Jordan blindly with just three days left in my trip and intentions of seeing this mysterious rock city called Petra. Turns out, Petra is one of the most impressive sites I visited my entire trip.

It is a historic and archaeological city (named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985) that was established some time around the 6th century BC. The site, nicknamed “The Rose-Red City” was unknown to the Western World until 1812, when it was rediscovered by a Swiss explorer. Today, while tourists flock to Petra, many parts of the rock city are still being excavated and discovered. I spent about seven hours one hot afternoon hiking through the UNESCO site and taking in the beautiful desert scenery. This photo was taken about a third of the way to the highest peak at Petra, from which you can see over 80 percent of the entire rock city.