Carved into the rock and protected by rugged mountains on all sides is Jordan’s most famous attraction, the ancient rose-red city of Petra, one of the world’s most spectacular ruins set within a deep canyon near the town of Wadi Musa.Today’s Petra forms a staggering landscape of rock-hewn monuments, amphitheatres, palaces, arched gateways, water channels and detailed carvings spread over a vast area, where dramatic tombs and temples unfold with each step further into the winding canyon and intricate facades cut into the soaring cliff faces dwarf the ubiquitous camel drivers, sellers and tourists to insignificance. Where the uppermost layers of the rock have eroded away, fantastic streaks of blue, red, yellow, purple and white cover the monuments in undulating patterns that challenge a sense of reality.