Solo in Eilat, soaking up some sun away from wintry Jerusalem, I spotted a deal on a day trip to Petra. I didn’t know whether it could realistically be done in a day, but I couldn’t wait to try my best!

I boarded the bus while the morning was still dark, and took a quick tally of my travelling companions. Superb – only ten of us, and all in their khakis and hats ready for a good day’s sightseeing!

We drove just minutes out of Eilat to the flyblown border crossing. After a frustrating hour of waiting around for stamps to be stamped, we were let through and arrived at Petra’s entrance to start the amazing walk through ‘as-Siq’: the narrow gorge dotted with gargoyles that guarded the city in Nabatean times, and in Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade!

The ‘Siq’ emerged onto that classic Petra view of the ‘Treasury’, erroneously named by Swiss explorers, after which a broad, dusty trail led around to the next of a thousand archaeological treasures to be discovered, for as long as we could stand the desert heat.

Though occupied from around 1200 BCE, the site flourished under Roman rule in the late first century BCE because of its position on the spice routes. It was also well known for its technologically advanced hydraulic engineering systems including water conservation systems and dams to divert high spring waters, some of which were still visible.

Like Ephesus or Pompeii, Petra has been preserved (naturally, by the desert climate) as a complete city, with colonnaded streets, shop signs and layers of art and architecture from its different occupants. Though the best-known of its buildings are mausoleums, Petra has a real sense of life about it. I could picture the city on market day, full of spice merchants and pack donkeys!

The most beautiful views of Petra, that have stuck in my mind to this day, are those in which the elaborate red facades of the buildings blend into the rust-streaked sandstone walls of the canyon in which they sit. The loveliness of the city is in the way it blends perfectly with its surroundings.

As we left, the sun was just beginning to dip towards the desert horizon. It had been a wonderful day, but I instantly regretted not staying for the inevitably stunning sunset over the Rose Red City.