Blogs from West, Jordan, Middle East - page 5

The Hotel was so quiet that the tours they often run to the Dead Sea weren't happening due to lack of numbers. So we had decided we would take the bus to Bethany and the Dead Sea, even though it seemed that this would be very tough. When we went to get a taxi to the bus station, we managed to reach an agreement with the driver to take us to both places and back, while waiting for us at each for 30 JD. This saved us a lot of hassle and I'm not sure if we ultimately could have done all we did that day with just public transport. The first stop was Bethany, the place where it is claimed that Jesus was baptised by John. The site itself is not all that impressive and ... read more

yesterday me and dad went to amman on a plane, first we flew to cairo and then on to amman (i decided not to write a blog that day as all we did was travel). today me and dad went to the dead sea and it was amazing, plus we met this really nice man called lev that came from north america, lived in egypt and had a russian name! lev traveled with us to the dead sea and came with us to the different locations in a cab that we had hired with a driver for the day (the drivers name was mahamid and was also quite nice) and we shared the cost. at the dead sea we went into salty water and floated really well infact you didn't even have to kick you just ... read more

Dear friends, Today we will visit the World Heritage Site Petra in Jordanie. After our breakfast we left the harbour of Aqaba by bus for a two and a half hour drive to Petra. The trip to Petra was great. Beautiful nature and mountains. What a fantastic country is Jordanie!!!!!!! To learn more about Petra: read the story below - Thanks to Wikipedea. Petra (Greek "πέτρα" (petra), meaning rock; Arabic: البتراء, Al-Batrāʾ) is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited tourist attraction. It lies on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among ... read more

For all those unfamiliar with the Muslim religion and their countries, the call for prayers can be quite a shock. Although I was semi aware, the shock at around 5am on our first morning in Jordan was similar to someone coming into the room and pressing play to AC/DC at full volume right up to your ear. We hadn’t a clue what was going on. I’m not 100% sure what is said to call people to prayer but a quick google search tells me that it says, Allah is great, there is only one Allah and come to pray. We sprung up in the bed awoken by the ghostly sounds coming from the nearby Mosque. In fact, I reckon we could hear every Mosque in the town it was that loud. This continued for few minutes ... read more

After having a late night yesterday Gary and I werent too fussed about heading out too early si we chilled for most of the morning chatting about music and our many other common interests, Gary cooked out ommellettes fit for a king (Abdellah II to be precise) and then we headed down to the huge Fitness First gym were Gary gave me a bit if a tour. Then we hooked up with Rana and set off to today's destinations, mount Nebo and Tve famous Dead Sea. It only took about an hour from Amman to drive to Mount Nebo and the road finished takes you most of the way so it's a doodle to get up to the top. Mount Nebo is traditionally believed to be the place where Moses died since the 4th century. He ... read more