Illustrated travels: (2) the eighth wonder?

When it comes to Petra, and much else that I saw in a short visit to Jordan, I am not sure too many words are necessary. That is not the lazy man's way out - though I do have to fit these postings around a long day - and nor does it represent any unwarranted claim regarding the quality of his photography. But the glories of Petra - from the magnificent facades of the Treasury, Monastery and other structures carved into the rocky mountainside to the spellbinding beauty of the sun setting over distant hills - speak for themselves, even when they have to do their speaking through the lens of my little Lumix. Petra has a place in the second volume of the Seven Wonders of the World, as defined in a poll by the Swiss-based 7Wonders Foundation, which claimed more than 100 million votes cast on the internet or by phone. But the people of Jordan, friendly without exception among those I encountered (including even the Petra hotelier as we debated the merits of my room), go one step beyond. They simply call it the eighth wonder. And Wadi Rum - 80 miles or so south of Petra - isn't bad either...