After leaving Little Petra, we decided to go along on a tour of Petra by Night.  I was expecting to find an ancient pathway lit with giant blinding lights or rickety fluorescent tubes laid end to end along the trail but was pleasantly surprised to find the site lit by luminaries.  It was stunning!

We walked along the rocky path for quite a while.  As our eyes adjusted to the darkness the moonlight seemed to brighten, casting a milky glow on the surrounding rock faces.  It was absolutely surreal.  We continued walking and reached the entrance to the Siq, the narrow passageway leading to Petra.  After walking for a long time and not knowing how much farther we had to walk before reaching Petra’s famous Treasury, we reached a slight bend where suddenly visible from the glow of dozens of luminaries we saw it.

It was next to impossible to get a picture in the low lighting.  After many attempts balancing my camera I was able to get this shot (above).  As tourists filed in through the narrow passageway, people took seats on the ground in front of the Treasury.  Bedouin musicians played traditional instruments, and bats chirped and flapped overhead.  Despite my deep-seated and absolutely tremendous fear of bats, it was a really… dare I say it… magical experience.

Someone explained a little about the history of Petra and the Nabateans and then asked everyone to simultaneously snap a photo, allowing all of the camera flashes to illuminate the Treasury.

I wish I had taken video because it was surreal watching the rosy sandstone features flicker in the candlelight and emerge starkly in the flash of all the cameras.

Because it was late, and because I had no desire to trek around in the dark with all the bats swooping overhead, and because frankly we weren’t allowed to, we didn’t get to explore beyond the entrance to Petra that night.  Aside from images of the Sik and the Treasury, I knew very little about what else we would be seeing the next day and was excited to return.