Croatian president tours Petra

AMMAN — Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and an accompanying delegation visited the ancient city of Petra on Friday and toured its various sites.

Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority chairman Mohammad Nawafleh received the president at the ancient Nabataean city, some 235km south of Amman.

Grabar-Kitarovic's tour included the Siq, the Treasury, the Nabataean Amphitheatre, the Court and the Byzantine church, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

She was briefed on the history of the city, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and its importance for tourism.

The city’s inhabitants, Nabataean Arabs, carved structures into the soft sandstone more than two millennia ago.

The once bustling city was the capital of the Nabataeans, who controlled the trading routes that passed through Petra to Gaza in the west, Basra and Damascus in the north, Aqaba in the south, and across the desert to the Arabian Gulf.

The delegation also toured the Petra Visitor Centre, which is among tourists' major stops when visiting the city.

According to official figures, 215,970 tourists visited the Nabataean city in the January-June period in 2015, compared to 327,858 tourists in the same period of 2014.

Petra was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in an online vote in 2007, in which around 100 million voters from around the globe took part.

An estimated 22 million votes were cast for Petra, which is known for its dramatic tombs and temple facades, including one that served as a church during Byzantine times.

The rose-red rock city was forgotten for centuries until Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered it in 1812. The ancient city was hidden behind an almost impenetrable barrier of rugged mountains.