Petra, Jordan

 
Roses are red, violets are blue, Petra you said? I'm coming too.
On August 22, 1812, a disguised, 27-year-old Swiss adventurer named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt persuaded some Bedouin tribesmen to guide him through a narrow, winding gorge in a remote corner of the Arabian Desert -- home to a rumored “lost” city of the ancient world.

Found: Petra.

A couple centuries later, the magnificent ruins of Jordan’s “rose-red city” -- a sandstone-entombed, Nabatean metropolis dating back more than 2,000 years -- has welcomed a sirocco of archeologists, tour operators, "Indiana Jones" location scouts and more than half a million annual visitors who are awed by much more than pricey entrance fees. 

A UNESCO site with recently acquired "Wonder of the World" street cred, Jordan’s biggest tourist attraction celebrates its 200th anniversary of “rediscovery” by Burckhardt on August 22. More importantly, Petra may be the only city in the Middle East right now that can be placed on a “Top 10 List” without war breaking out over it. 

“There was a lull but right now [Jordan] is booking really strongly,” notes British adventure outfit, Explore Worldwide, Ltd., which runs trips to Petra. “It looks like 2012 is going to be a big one.”