Tour Ancient Jordan With Google Street View's Latest Project

If you can’t make it to the country of Jordan anytime soon, Google Maps will soon offer a virtual tour with its street view feature.

Starting Monday, more than 30 of the country’s historical sites — ancient cities, mountain ranges, and century old architecture — will be navigable via Street View, writes Queen Rania Al Abdullah in a guest post published on the company’s blog this week.

If seeing the Treasury in Petra — perhaps better known to you as the final hiding place of the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade — doesn’t make you want to get on a plane and rent a horse, then the world has broken you.

Indy. Right here.

Here’s Rania writing about her country’s best looks:

“With Google Street View, would-be visitors, or those just curious to learn more about our ancient lands, can explore Jordan’s unique historical heritage online. That’s one of the reasons I love this technology. Not only does it connect millions of people from all corners of the world, it provides a lens on the past. And when we understand more about each other’s stories and cultures and histories, we realize that we are more alike than we are different. That’s why we must preserve these treasures for future generations. They’re a doorway to our shared narrative.”

Queen Rania Al Abdullah finishes her pitch noting that Jordan remains a haven of peace and moderation in the Middle East where you can learn some Arabic and take a bath in the Dead Sea, which does sound incredibly soothing as winter descends across many parts of America, Asia, and Europe.

If you haven’t bought your Christmas gifts yet, this picture alone offers a real temptation to just use the budget on a plane ticket for yourself and go float in the salt water.