PETRA, JORDAN — An eerie wind whistles through the pink rock canyon known as the Sig and brushes up against my face. Only I and Yosef, my guide, occupy the kilometre-long footpath that snakes up to the entrance of magical Petra.
I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic in the narrow, jagged sandstone ravine that looks like it’s been sliced open with a giant knife. The canyon's  23m-high walls tower above our heads and our whispered words echo off the walls like we’re in a great, empty cathedral.
Up ahead, through a sliver of silhouetted rock, I get my first glimpse of Petra’s iconic Treasury, the ancient site’s most photographed monument.
“Is this what you expected?” Yosef asks.
I answer with a gasp.
That brings a smile to the Jordanian’s dark, leathery face.
We step out of the shadows of the Sig and into the bright sunlight that almost always canopies this breathtaking UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“Most tourists arrive around 10 a.m., so we have at least an hour to explore Petra all on our own,” says Yosef.

Above: The rose-coloured facades of ancient Petra remind of us of the once mighty culture who lived here.

While the tourists have yet to arrive, the camel and horse owners,  who offer visitors rides around the vast site, and the souvenir sellers are already here, jockeying for spots outside the Treasury, which is known locally as al-Khazneh.
Few monuments in the world can equal the Treasury for its wow factor. It’s easy to see why it was chosen as the backdrop for  Harrison Ford’s blockbuster Hollywood film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
The Treasury is by far the most elaborate of the monuments and tombs that occupy this ancient City of Stone, which served as the Nabataeans’ capital from roughly 300BC to 100AD, after which the Romans claimed ownership of this area.
Six giant Corinthian columns guard the entrance of the Treasury, which is decorated with elaborate reliefs and stands 38.77m high.
The yawning entrance invites us inside but Yosef says “there’s nothing to see.”
Apparently, the Nabataeans were only interested in designing a building’s façade, not the interior. The small empty hall located behind the entrance, however, was believed to be once used as a tomb for Nabataean King Aretas III.
The buildings designed at Petra were, according to historians, influenced by what the Nabataeans saw in Alexandria, the greatest city in the region at the time. As proof, Yosef points to some of the Treasury’s architectural features, like the tholos (a circular building) on the upper level, a style which originated in Alexandria, he tells me.

Above: Camel drivers await outside the Treasury and offer visitors a chance to explore Petra on one of their beats.

The Treasury also features the bases of two obelisks, as well as bare-breasted goddesses — Egypt’s Isis and Tyche, the Greek Goddess of good fortune, among them. On the Treasury’s lower level stands the Greek twin gods Castor and Pollux, who protected travellers and the dead on their journeys.
There’s over 1,000 tombs scattered around Petra, which has been looted many times over the centuries by local tribesmen looking for building materials or a place to shelter their animals.
As a result, the empty tombs are void of the human remains, coins, pottery and inscriptions that archaeologists rely on to uncover the rituals and burial procedures of ancient civilizations, like the Nabataeans.
What’s left, though, is still very impressive.
An hour after our arrival, the square outside the Treasury is filling up quickly with fellow tourists. Yosef suggests we move deeper into Petra so we can see:

Above: A narrow canyon known as the Sig, left, connects Petra and its empty tombs to the outside world.

• The Obelisk Tomb and Bab as-Siq Triclinium, burial sites used between 40-70AD that feature two very different rock structures, even though they were built during the same period;
• The Qasr al-Bint, a religious temple and the best preserved free-standing structure on the site;
• Hadrian’s Gate, the large Greco-Roman ceremonial gates that stand at the end the Colonnaded Street;
• The stunning Garden Temple, whose purpose is unknown, but many surmise provided water for Petra’s burial rituals;
• The Colored Triclinium, the Nabatean funerary that dates back to 200BC;
• The Tomb of the Roman Soldier, whose façade equals the Treasury for architectural brilliance and remains one of the best preserved of Petra’s wonders;
• The Urn Tomb, believed to be the final resting place of Nabataean King Malchus II;
• The Palace Tomb, which at 49m wide and 46m tall is one of the largest in Petra;
• The Street of Façades, which is lined with tall, impressive tombs;
• And the Petra Garden and Pool Complex, an elaborate Nabataean garden structure that historians believe served as the city’s central market.
Afterwards, Yosef leads me up one of the hiking trails near the Treasury and the short walk rewards me with a panoramic view that is enhanced by the sun painting Petra a pinkish hue.
The Rose City, where ancient history is buried, is indeed alive and well.