“The bathroom is in the back of the bus. Gentlemen, if you miss…you have to see me! Clean it up please!!”

‘Straight-to-the-point’ Douglas would be driving me and about 75 other passengers aboard a bus headed three hours southeast of Chicago to Indianapolis.

“Barring any traffic, we should be there on time, let’s just be safe. Indianapolis will be there,” he said during his slightly odd and slightly amusing pre-trip spiel.

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Petra is a place of myths, legends, and Indiana Jones fantasies. Except it’s real and not a movie set.

I hiked through this UNESCO World Heritage site in Jordan exactly two years ago. This historical city was mainly cut from the rock here around the 6^th Century BC.

“Petra by Night” may be touristy, but no less magical. There is something so quiet and surreal about sitting there in the pitch dark of the Middle Eastern desert listening to the haunting sounds of flute and gazing at the stone carvings by the  light of 1,800 candles.

To visit Petra during daylight is an awe-inspiring experience, to experience it at night is truly out-of-this-world. Walk through the Siq to the Khazneh following a candle-lit path and enjoy the haunting music of local Bedouin at the Treasury.

The Treasury
Petra, Jordan