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After about 5 weeks in East Asia, we arrived at Queen Alia airport in Amman, Jordan, via Bangkok. Our first thought upon stepping outside?

 Ahh, relief! It was about 40 degrees Farenheit  that morning and after sweating our butts off for so long, it sure was nice to need a sweater for a change. Although we were to eat those words very soon. (More on that later.)

It was a bit of a challenge to find a taxi driver who knew how to find our hotel that early in the morning, but we eventually made our way to downtown Amman. After checking into our hotel room we grabbed some quick street food for breakfast and headed back for a morning nap. Day one was spent seeing what minor sites were available in the city such as the citadel, museum, Roman amphitheater and the old souk by King Hussein Mosque.

Before heading south, we wanted to take a day trip north to see Jerash. It was highly recommended by some friends of ours who had been to Jordan previously. Jerash is an extremely well-preserved ancient Roman city north of Amman.

After an interesting problem solving session at the bus station we were on our way. Getting off the bus in the cold pouring rain with no place for shelter was a bit challenging, but we plodded along to the entrance and after an initial round of chilly ruin climbing and a break for lunch, we were rewarded with a full hour of clear skies to see the rest of the site and take some clear pictures. It’s a great site, not to be missed.

The return trip to Amman was cold and rainy with a fair bit of sleet and street flooding. This was the start of a major spring cold snap that would last for several days. Remember when I said we’d eat our words about enjoying a break from the heat? We would see ice and snowfall within 24 hours. Did I mention we had already shipped home all our cold weather/rain gear?

From Amman, we headed to Madaba to see the mosaics and surrounding sites. Apparently, Madaba has been a mosaic center for centuries, as the quality of their work demonstrates. For our day trip from Madaba, we hired a car to see Mount Nebo (place where Moses firs saw the promised land), Christ’s baptism site at the River Jordan and the Dead Sea.

Mount Nebo is well done as a tourist site and monument to the memory of Moses. There is a serene walking path to the top and a covered structure over the site of an ancient mosaics and church. There is also a viewing outlook where you can stand and see the view as he most likely did. Quite striking.

The River Jordan is a bit sad to see these days, as it is little more than a muddy trickle. It was once much grander, as you can clearly tell when you see the newly excavated baptism site, some distance from the current shores.

After a long day of site seeing, we enjoyed a relaxing fireside meal in Madaba and gathered our energy for the next day: Petra via Macherous and Kerak. Macherous is the archaeological site of one of the Herod castles, and the location where John the Baptist was imprisoned and executed. It’s a bit of a detour from the drive down to Petra, but the view is well worth it. The ruins themselves are rather minimal compared to the other remarkable sites in Jordan, but we had the whole place to ourselves and really got a chance to feel the history and the power of the commanding location of the former castle. Herod really knew how to pick ‘em.

Kerak is quite an impressive castle. Unfortunately, it was foggy and pouring down rain / sleet by the time we got there. We did however, manage to make a quick dive into the museum portion of it and grab a hot tea next door. We heard great reviews on this site from other travelers, so it’s definitely on our list for next time.

Next stop, Petra. David and I both agree that Petra is hands-down the most impressive thing we have seen, on this trip or any other. We had been wanting to go there for so long, it felt Christmas. When purchasing our tickets, we opted for the full three day pass and recommend that to anyone else planning to go as well. When you do this, your fourth day is free and with so many areas of Petra to enjoy, you’ll want to make sure you have adequate flexibility. For example, there was one rainy day, and one day at the end where we wanted time for a cliff-top picnic. The other two days we went full speed and still left not having seen all there was to see at this remarkable site. For a three day pass / four day agenda, we’d recommend the following program:

Day One: The low places and the monastery. Be at the entry gate as soon as the ticket office opens. When we were there, this was about 7:00 in the morning. (Note, if you get there early enough the day before you can get your ticket ahead of time and get in when the actual gate opens at 6:00. This will allow you to be at the end of the Siq in time for sunrise light at the treasury building - more on that in the program recommendation for day two.) If you enjoy walking, the stroll to and through the Siq (the dramatic narrow canyon made famous by all the Petra documentaries and Indiana Jones) is quite dramatic and awe-inspiring in its own right. Even before you reach the Siq entrance, you will be able to see a few ruins and caves, as well as some rather interesting rock formations. If you would generally prefer to save your energy for inside Petra, there are numerous horses, camels and  carriages for hire to take you to the treasury (the other location made famous by Indiana Jones). However, I’d recommend walking the Siq at least once, and on your first day, while the experience is still fresh and new. David and I really took our time an enjoyed the Siq on day one. The morning light is great, the vertical views dramatic, and the whole experience magical. Just when you begin to wonder when you will reach the entrance to Petra, you round a corner and there it is . . . the dramatic Nebatean treasury building right in front of you. It’s truly incredible. From here, it will take you the rest of the day to see the rest of what they refer to as the “low places”, the museums and the monastery. By the time you return to the treasury, expect it to be nearly sunset. Word to the wise? The monastery, in our opinion is worth the journey, but not for the faint of hear. On foot, it’s a butt-kicker and by donkey your life can and will flash before your eyes more than once. As much as Ahmed the donkey guide says “no problem” . . . it’s a problem.  However, the canyon views will blow your mind and the opportunities for candid people shots are fantastic. The people here were very comfortable with you taking their pictures, something I haven’t found in other countries in the region. So it was great to take some people pics.

Day Two: The high place, candid photo opportunities and pottery shard searching. Since you’ll already have your ticket at this point, we recommend getting to the entry gate as soon as it opens - around 6:00 a.m. Hardly any other tourists will be there yet, and you’ll have the photo opportunities nearly to yourself. When you reach the treasury entrance this time, you can either negotiate a guide and donkey to the high places or take your guide book and try it on your own. The first place we recommend searching for is the high altar of sacrifice. Why? It takes a fairly long time to get there, and you can work your way downward to see everything else afterward. The light is also really good there at this time of day, and the altar is in such a commanding location, you can almost hear the the sounds of crowds and tribal music, smell the incense and see the ceremonial flames around you. It’s really phenomenal. From there, you can work your way back down to the main road on the lower level, stopping to see numerous “high places” on the way down. We took the time after the high places tour to search for great candid people and animal photos, and to revisit some places we’d had to rush through the day before, like the blue chapel. We also had fun searching for pottery shards, and found several from the Nebatean period. It had recently rained at Petra, exposing loads of these its and pieces. It would be a fun family activity with children, as would the donkey and camel riding. At the end of day two, our Bedouin guide, Rosa, invited us home to have dinner with her family. Homemade chicken mansaf. Yum!!!

Day Three: If it hadn’t been raining, this would have been a great day to ride up to the tomb of Aaron, brother of Moses. This is a fairly lengthy journey apparently, even by camel. Several locals told us it should really combined with an overnight camping trip.

Day Four: For us, this was a day to enjoy the atmosphere, reflect upon our visit, meditate and enjoy a leisurely picnic in a secluded spot with a bottle of wine. We strolled in and said goodbye to some of the Bedouin friends we had made, and spent the entire rest of our day overlooking this magical place. If you’ve waited a long time to get to Petra and are unsure when you’ll be back again, it’s worth the time to say a proper goodbye.

From Petra, it was off to Aqaba to catch up on laundry catch a little beach time before heading out to our next major destination in Jordan - Wadi Rum. With its remote location and stark desert landscape dotted with Bedouin camps, Wadi Rum is an excellent place to go and experience some serious solitude. Point of information - it’s VERY rustic at some of these camps and water systems are sporadically filled at best. Bring lots of baby wipes, your own toilet paper, and get comfortable brushing your teeth out of a water bottle.  There are some really great rock formations and sunsets here, and ancient stone carvings as well as a couple of historical sites associated with Lawrence of Arabia. Oh yeah, and camels. Lots and lots of camels. Also of note was the food at Palm Camp where we stayed. Some of the best food we had in Jordan, and also what could quite probably be the best included breakfast we had on our entire trip.

After Wadi Rum, we headed back to Amman to stay with some friends of David’s family, who we really enjoyed and ended up arranging to come back and house sit for a few weeks later. As we prepared to head out for Israel, we spent time reflecting on our time in Jordan and both feel that it is one of our favorite countries world wide. The people are amazing, helpful and generous. The sites are incredible, the landscape varied and the food phenomenal. There were also many more things to see that we did not get to after all the time we spent there, so there is lots to come back for.

Posted on May 15th, 2007 by Myscha Theriault
Filed under: Trips and Destinations