Blogs from Jordan, Middle East
Day 1: Nothing Like Loneliness In A Foreign Country
Published: May 27th 2012Middle East » Jordan » North » Amman
May 24th 2012
The day was hard and long. How could it not be? I left San Antonio at 5:45pm (when my plane was supposed to leave at 4:56pm) on May 22nd and did not arrive in Amman, Jordan until 0312 on May 24th. In my transit to the Kingdom, I had watched 4 movies, slept 2 hours, and had a 6-hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany, which I took advantage of. I quickly left the airport and headed to the heart of Frankfurt just to walk around, catch some cheap dinner, and find free Wi-Fi to let my frantic mother know I was okay. After all was said and done in Germany, I was able to catch an hour nap due to our flight to Amman being delayed an hour and fifteen minutes. Yes, I only slept one hour ... read more
May 6th 2012
It is a journey of four days time from Salalah, Oman to the port of Aqaba, Jordan our next destination. To some that may seem like much too long, but I enjoy it. I like to think of Nautica as an ocean liner, not a cruise ship. This is the way people traveled around the world until air travel came along and made us impatient to get to where we want and do it as quickly as possible. Much is lost in the process. It really is the journey, not the destination that is most important, at least I think so. I am spending much time reclining in a deck chair on the deck five promenade looking out at the sea and thinking. Most of the time there is only the sea, the sky and the ... read more
April 12th 2012
Staying in the largely Christian town of Madeba not too far from Amman. Spent a few hours this morning looking at the sights of the town. It’s known for the late Roman and Byzantine mosaics that have been found under houses here in the town centre. Some lovely mosaics, the most well-known is a map of the area in the main St George’s church which shows biblical places on either side of the Jordan river, including the city of Jerusalem. They think that the congregation would have stood around the mosaic while the pastor read biblical with the pictorial map to help them see where the stories happened. In the afternoon we took our hire car out for its first trip, to the Dead Sea. It was a steep descent, up here the land is quite ... read more
April 12th 2012
Took the car on a much longer trip out to see the ‘Desert Castles’. Due to my lack of map reading ability and the poor signage our intention of driving to the North of Amman and starting our circuit East from there didn’t happen as we ended up after a number of U turns and a helpful police escort on the southern road to the East. Once we were safely on the main highway in that direction we had a good day! Drove towards the Saudi/ Syrian/ Iraqi borders in theNorth East and stopped at the ex-oasis town of Al Azraq. Not a pretty place, once a caravan stopover and now a big truck stop on dusty crossroads. Spent a while at the Wetland Reserve there and joined the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature. ... read more
April 8th 2012
Today we ventured across the red sand sea to visit Wadi Rum. Thamodians (pre Nabatians) are Bedouin and Nomadic tribes who crossed over from Saudi Arabia, roaming the desert in search of water and pasture. Eventually the Thamodians settled on Petra and built the Pink City. A 4 hour jeep tour took us through some spectacular scenery and we visited many sites said to have been significant to Lawrence of Arabia's campaigns against the Turks. The most interesting was the Khazzalah Siq (canyon) which was where sharp shooters were placed on the mountains, while the rest of the army climbed the mountain and circled back around behind the Turks to slaughter them. Last stop for the day before reaching our desert camp, was a massive sand dune embedded to the side of a mountain. It's funny ... read more
April 7th 2012
As soon as you enter the area of Wadi Run you can’t help but be impressed by the magnificent scenery. We had booked a 2 day one night 4WD tour with Rum Tours. We were met by our Bedouin guide Suliman at the visitors’ centre and spent the next two days with him in an old blue Pajero. We spent the first day driving around from one beautiful scene to another, getting out of the car for short walks up dunes or rocks for better views. Had a taste of history with ancient Nabatean writing guiding caravan traders on rocks and the adventures of T E Lawrence, who spent some time in the area in the Arab Revolt. Suliman made us an excellent lunch sitting in the shade enjoying the vista. The night was spent at ... read more
April 4th 2012
Began our holiday with a visit to the Roman amphitheatre in the old city. It seated 6,000 people and was used for musical performances. Nearby is the much smaller Odeon which seated a mere 500. Strolled around the downtown area of the old town following the guidebook’s walking tour, didn’t take long, up and down steps and sloping streets. Amman is set in a series of steep valleys so it looks attractive with sand coloured houses up the slopes but that means that all walking requires going up or down steep flights of stairs between buildings or walking along the less steep roads. Traffic is quite manic with lots of cars, honking horns and little application of the rules of the road. Shared a big pitta bread covered in goats cheese for lunch which we ate ... read more
April 4th 2012
Finally arriving somewhere that you have long wished to visit can put you a little on edge. We walked down the long siq towards the famous and much photographed canyon like entrance to Petra wondering could it be as impressive as the pictures and other people say. When we turned that final corner and came upon the gap with the rose coloured façade of the Treasury peeping through all our concerns vanished. Much as with other well photographed icons such as the Taj Mahal there is nothing to compare with being there and seeing it for yourself. The Treasury is truly impressive, carved out of the cliff face rising to a great height and in a beautiful soft colour is something very special. This of course is not all there is to Petra, it’s a huge ... read more
April 4th 2012
It was an early departure to start our Jordanian adventure outside of the capital. First stop was Mt Nebo, where Moses is said to have seen the promised land for the first time. Lucky for us it was a clear day, so we had views all the way to Israel. Our British travel companion got her way in the end and a stop to see St George Church in Madaba was included in our itinerary. The church boosts a mosaic map, covering a large section of the Church's floor. The map is of lands that are now known as Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Syria, Palestine and Iraq. Through earthquakes, parts of the mosaic have been damaged, but considering the map dates back to 6th century AD, it is quite impressive it is in as good condition as ... read more
April 3rd 2012
Welcome to Jordan! We made it - our Middle Eastern adventure has finally begun! 22 hours after take off we landed in the surprisingly cold city of Amman, Jordan. We decided to treat ourselves to a night of luxury at the Grand Hyatt before our jam packed adventure begins! This turned out to be a great decision as when we checked into our tours starting point hotel the following day, it wasn't exactly going to be topping any "best lists".We had read in lonely planet before leaving that there is this amazing local street cafe to eat at. So good, the Royal family even dines there! As always, Lonely Planet never lets down and it was an incredible meal. For about $1.50 each we feasted on felafel, hand cut fries, fuul (a delicious Fava bean dip) ... read more
