Jordan

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We have just completed a whistle-stop tour of Jordan, but have seen all the main sites and had a brilliant few days. The thermometer is on the rise, it is well into the thirties now and only set to get hotter.

Our first stop was Amman, a great place to be based to explore the surrounding areas. One of the highlights had to be our excursion to the Dead Sea which is 390m below sea level, with about 30% salinity. It was awesome - you can literally float like you are on a lilo, it was really difficult to put your legs down, your body just kept bobbing back up. The water was quite warm but really salty, not something that you would want to get in your eyes and look out if you had any small cuts! After being in the Dead Sea we then jumped into the swimming pool and nearly sunk, our bodies felt so heavy and lethargic. From the Dead Sea, it was only a couple of kilometres to the West Bank and to Israel. While we were there, the World Rally Championship was on, we could see and hear the cars while floating around the sea.

After the Dead Sea we headed to Bethany, the site where they believe John the Baptist lived, preached and baptised Jesus in the early 1st century AD. The area was also blessed by the late Pope John Paul II in 2000, quite appropriate given that it was Good Friday. We visited the spring where they believe Jesus was baptised. Plenty of people filled up their water bottles from the River Jordan but there was an armed guard there to make sure people did not pop across the river to the West Bank, less than 5m across the river.

Another Biblical site, this time Mt Nebo, the site where they believe Moses died and saw the promised land. There was a lot of construction but we were able to see a couple of magnificent mosaics from the Basilica of Moses. There was a great view of the area and towards Israel and the West Bank but it was very hazy.

We then headed to the Greek Orthodox Church of St George in Madaba which houses the wonderful Holy Land mosaic. The church was built in 1884 over the remains of a Byzantine church. The map dates from around 560 AD and was made to cover the front section of the floor of the Byzantine church. Only part of the map has been preserved and it originally measured 16 x 6m, made with 2 million stone parts. They believe it took 6 years to put together. Clearly visible on the map are Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, the Jordan River, Jericho and Mt Sinai. The map is orientated to the east like the church itself and the sites have been positioned with remarkable geographical accuracy.

Our next stop was the amazing Petra. It was stinking hot and there were thousands of people but it was a huge site and there were plenty of secret places for a picnic lunch. Petra was created by the Nabataeans who originally came from the Arabain Peninsula 2200 years ago and settled in southern Jordan. Profits from the caravanning business enabled them to establish and organise a powerful kingdom and they created this magnificent place. The sheer size of these ruins is extraordinary. They never believed in national exclusiveness and were open to outside cultural influences and absorbed them. The architecture shows signs of classical, Egyptian and local styles. After the 14th century it was completely lost to the West and rediscovered in 1812 by a Swiss traveller named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.

The main entrance is through As-Siq, a 1200m long, deep and narrow gorge. Some of the cliffs are over 80m high, the swirling colours of red, white and yellow (iron, calcium and magnesium) are obvious in the rock formations. Just when you pop out from As-Siq, you stumble across the formidable Treasury (or Al-Khazneh) which is 30m wide and 43m high. It was carved in the first century from one stone as a tomb of an important Nabataean King. The other stunning site was the Ad-Deir (Monastery), up a flight of 800 stairs (it was miserable in the heat) but the walk was well worth it. The monastery was huge - 47m wide and 51m high, carved out of a single slab of stone in 85BC - 110 AD.

The best time to see Petra is before it gets hot and before the bus loads of tourists arrive, so we headed down the next morning (Easter Sunday) at 6.30am and had the place pretty much to ourselves. There are many high places where you can hike to get a great view of Petra so we decided to ascend to the High Place of Sacrifice. It was a big walk but the view from the top was amazing and there were only a couple of other people there. The area was an important venue of religious ceremonies honouring Nabataean gods and also perhaps for funeral rites.

Our next stop was Wadi Rum National Park, where we spent a night in the desert with the Bedouins. There was plenty to see on the way and we headed out in four wheel drives. Lawrence of Arabia is big out here, we visited the Seven Pillars of Wisdom (which he named) and his house. The area was also inhabited by the Nabataeans before they moved to Petra so we looked at a number of Nabataean inscriptions. We had a delicious meal, lots of sweet Bedouin tea and then we toasted marshmallows over the fire. My fear of bugs became apparent while eating dinner, huge beetles in the sand and they could fly. I spent most of the night trying to avoid them flying into our meal and crawling up my back!

Our last stop was Aqaba before catching the overnight ferry to Egypt, (which despite being the fast ferry was actually slower than the slow ferry and delayed by 4 hours) but we are now in Dahab relaxing by the pool, snorkelling and diving tomorrow.

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