Islamic Tourism: Ian Stalker: The ancient Nabataean city of Petra, which last year was thrust into the international spotlight when it was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, can be viewed in regional starlight by tourists, thanks to the Petra by Night show, which has nighttime visitors follow lighted candles through a gorge leading to a site that flourished thousands of years ago, only to be abandoned and then rediscovered by a Swiss explorer in the mid-19th century, who subsequently brought word of it to the outside world.
Petra by Night visitors emerge from the imposing gorge to find themselves immediately in front of The Treasury - arguably Petra's most dramatic structure and which frequently appears in Jordanian tourism brochures - also partially illuminated by candles and the starry sky overhead.
A Bedouin musician then performs somewhat haunting sounding music for onlookers seated on the ground, with that performance followed by a flutist emerging from a darkened Treasury and performing while walking between the candles.
The visitors are then told of Bedouin lifestyles and history, with Bedouins long having lived in the region.
And the show underscores one more way Jordan is capitalizing on the astonishing site of Petra, where visitors who work their way through the narrow gorge - just as Nabataeans, Romans and others did long ago -- will find structure after structure literally carved from rock faces with incredibly skilful precision.
Indeed, The Treasury's remarkable appearance prompted filmmaker George Lucas to use it as the last refuge of the knight guarding the Holy Grail in the blockbuster movie Indiana Jones and the Final Crusade, and the sprawling archeological site serves as a huge tourist draw for Jordan.
"Petra is the icon," declares Malia Asfour, director of the Jordanian Tourism Board North America.
But the Jordanian tourist guide Ibrahim Abdel-Haq says tourists who dream of viewing The Treasury shouldn't assume that it and other structures are laden with riches. "Petra was a cemetery," says Abdel-Haq, who adds that 90 per cent of its many structures were tombs or temples, with original area inhabitants actually living outside the boundaries of what is now the archeological site.
Among lodging options in the nearby town of Petra are two Movenpick Hotels & Resorts properties, one within easy walking distance of the archeological site; another hotel with the catchy name of the Cleopetra Hotel; and the Taybet Zaman, designed in a fashion "that will transport you back to 19th-century rural Jordan." The five-star Taybet Zaman is designed and decorated in a style recalling the Jordan of yesteryear but guests will find televisions and other amenities in their room, and the hotel has the likes of a restaurant, lounge, swimming pool, Turkish bath and shops. It can be reached by emailing reservation@taybetzaman.com.
Meanwhile, those who wish to view more of the Nabataeans' handiwork can also visit nearby Little Petra, which isn't quite as dramatic as its better-known cousin but still impressive nonetheless.
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