Sarkozy tours Jordan with girlfriend Carla Bruni

French President Nicolas Sarkozy toured the ancient Jordanian ruins of Petra today, hand-in-hand with his new girlfriend, supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni.

Sarkozy is on a private visit to Jordan but did meet King Abdullah II Friday at his residence in the port city of Aqaba and talked about the Middle East situation, including the peace process and the political deadlock in Lebanon.

The pair walked hand in hand, both wearing sunglasses. Bruni was dressed in a black skirt and jacket while Sarkozy had on a blue sweater and jeans and was carrying a young boy whose face Bruni covered with a scarf when photographers approached.

French press at the site identified the boy as Bruni’s son.

Sarkozy also signed autographs for several French tourists at the ancient site, which was carved out of the pink sandstone by the Nabatean Arabs 2,000 years ago during Roman times.

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

It become one of the new seven wonders of the world last July in a massive global online poll and phone campaign launched by the Swiss-based NewOpenWorld Foundation in which more than 100 million people chose the world’s top architectural marvels among 20 entries.

Sarkozy and Bruni then left Petra by helicopter for Wadi Rum in the south of the country.

Sarkozy’s visit to Jordan is his second to the region in 10 days. Last week, Sarkozy visited Egypt in the company of Bruni.

On the conclusion of his end-of-the-year Egyptian holiday, Sarkozy also held talks with President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.

Sarkozy and Bruni first surfaced as a couple in early December in French media on a visit to Disneyland Paris, two months after the French president’s divorce from his wife of 11 years, Cecilia.

Sarkozy’s marital problems became well known in May 2005 when Cecilia appeared at the Davos World Economic Forum, also in Jordan, at the side of event organiser Richard Attias.