Goodbye Jordan, Hello Rick and Marcia!

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I am combining our last two days into one blog…Last of Jordan and an evening in Istanbul.

Friday was our last full day in Jordan, and time to head back to Amman to turn the car in and get ready to leave Saturday morning. As we packed up and left the Petra Marriott, dark clouds and lots of wind were starting to gather. We were grateful that the day before we had great weather and weren’t attempting to visit Petra in the wind and drizzle. As we drove the 3 hours to Amman, we had spurts of rain which didn’t look to be letting up.

Luckily the drive was easy, the car was dropped off and we were settled into the Amman Sheraton with a nice suite. We had thought of doing a dinner out, but the rain started to pour, and we decided it was a great time to hang in the hotel. So, we did the gym, finished a book, and generally did nothing. Not a bad thing, as the rain kept up the rest of the day.

Some reflections on our week in Jordan. First, the people. I don’t know that we have every felt more welcome in a genuine manner this entire week. Friendly, helpful, and being continuously told that they hoped we enjoyed their country…even the gas station guy wanted to make sure we were welcomed. The roads were good, navigating was generally easy (even when in tiny towns with tiny streets) and we loved seeing the Bedouins tending their sheep, with donkeys and camels keeping watch.

The food…fresh, healthy and tasty. What more can you want? We had excellent food, and who knew…great Jordanian wine. And to top it off, sites that were impressive, historical, and compelling. All in all, a great combination for a wonderful week. I know that I was pushing Ken out of his comfort zone, as we are so programmed about the safeness in this region. And, there are areas that we certainly need to avoid. But, not once did we feel unsafe and in fact, while we were traveling there were several shootings in the US. Sad when a US Walmart is more of a concern than other places in the world.

After a nice night at the Sheraton, we flew to Istanbul where we spent the night getting a taste of the massive, yet cool city. We were so happy to meet up with my brother Rick and sister-in-law Marcia who ended up being in town as well. Great timing! Having not seen them for a few years, it was another highlight of an already great trip.

As previously written, Rick and Marcia live in Beirut and were in Istanbul for a week on business. They led us to some of the big hits, Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sofia Mosque and the Blue Mosque. We got some great pics with the sun going down and were able to go in the Blue Mosque. In all my time in the Middle East, this was the first time I had been in a mosque, and this one was incredibly impressive with its beautiful ornate dome (even being under construction).

It was now time for some dinner, and we went to a wonderful café, that did great things with vegis in a clay pot, as well as other Turkish delicacies which we enjoyed while sitting on cushions on the floor. After some excellent food, we walked across the street for the “ice-cream experience”. It is more of a show than culinary, and the server did some fun things (some at Ken’s expense) before handing over the yummy ice-cream cone.

We continued to explore and ended at the spice market (also known as the Egyptian market) with shop after shop with bins of nuts, spices, candies and cheeses. Rick has a favorite shop and we had fun sampling the different nuts, candies and dried fruit. Of course, we ended up buying a bunch as we just couldn’t resist! All too soon it was time to call it a night, as Rick/Marcia had a good hour drive back to where they were staying. We sadly said goodbye, but were so grateful to be able to have seen them and have the personalized mini-tour of the amazing Istanbul. We will definitely be back!

I will wind up this trip by saying as much as we always love our travels, it is also nice to come home. And to arrive with the friendly Irish passport officer saying “welcome back” does bring a smile to my face.

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Photos

Mile Zero---first marker of distance from the 4th century
All roads actually lead to Constantinople (ancient Istanbul)...not Rome