The City of Petra was hidden in the mountains of Jordan for thousands of years when a young Swiss explorer Johan Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered it in 1812.Temples, tombs, monasteries and other buildings are all carved out of the sandstone cliffs, which also gives it the name the “rose red city.” UNESCO has described it as “one of the most precious cultural properties of man’s cultural heritage.”
stone houses in Petra by: Zé Eduardo
You reach the ancient city of Petra by going through a narrow corridor in a mountain of rocks.This corridor is about a mile long and just wide enough to fit a small truck – although most people go through on horseback or on foot. When you emerge, you enter a little hidden valley, which is mountain-locked.
Continue reading ‘Exploring The Ancient Jordan’s City of Petra’
Meaning ‘suspended in air’ the name Meteora includes the entire rock community of 24 monasteries. There were no steps and the main access to the monasteries was by means of a net that was hitched over a hook and hoisted up by rope and a hand cranked windlass to winch towers overhanging the chasm. Monks descended in the nets or on retractable wooden ladders up to 40m long to the fertile valleys below to grow grapes, corn and potatoes.
Photo by: SBA73
Studies suggest that the pinnacles are formed about 60 million years ago during the Tertiary Period . Weathering and earthquakes then shaped them into their present shape.
Although it is unknown when Metéora was established, as early as the 11th century AD hermit monks were believed to be living among the caves and cutouts in the rocks.
Continue reading ‘Amazing Clifftop Monasteries of Meteora, Greece’
