JORDAN
This is where we traveled in Jordan:
15 Oct – We arrived in Amman at 2 A.M., got our Visa’s, picked up our luggage, cleared customs, and picked up our car. We did get lost for a while while I was figuring out how the GPS worked but finally, we got to our Hotel in downtown Amman in an hour or two, checked in and bagged five or six hours of much needed sleep.
We got up in late morning, had some coffee and set off for our first destination; Jerash. Jerash is located about 30 miles north of Amman. It is, by far, the most “in tact” Roman ruin we have seen in our travels. We wandered, looked, photographed for most of the day. We drove there experiencing the local traffic, scenery, and environment … WOW, we were in Jordan. Jerash is a very well presented ruin of an ancient civilization established around 100 BCE and destroyed around 800 CE by several earthquakes. Most of the ruins are left from the Roman culture that lived there last. There still is a Jerash, Jordan but it is a regular city, the remain or ruins is what you want to see … very interesting and a great deal of visible history. Back to Amman late in the day, dinner, and a good night’s sleep.
A bunch of pictures here, all from Jerash. Not many captions as most are just different ruins we found about the old city. Several pictures of wexplanations and maps. All can be expanded on your screen to be readable. Enjoy.
The Ancient Roman City of Jerash
16 Oct: – Checked out of our hotel in Amman and started South, destination Petra. Before getting seriously on our way to Petra we did a side trip to Mt Nebo where Moses is buried and is the sight of the location where Moses and the Israelites first saw the promised land. There were a couple interesting churches and museums in nearby Madaba that we stopped in at. If you want to know more details about these places I recommend Googling them and reading about them. That has to be more interesting and much more accurate than what I can write about. If we didn’t find them interesting, I usually don’t mention them.
MT NEBO
Mt Nebo is an elevated ridge in western Jordan that rises to about 2600 feet above sea level.It is a revered site in Abrahamic faiths as it is the biblical site where Moses viewed the Promised Land before his death. From the top there are panoramic views of the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea, and, on a clear day, Jerusalem.
PETRA
Many medieval fortresses left from the Crusades, numerous towns, and lots of people and local color. In spite of all the activity and things to see we still made it to Petra by late afternoon. Whew!! Driving is okay but requires close attention as the locals do not hesitate to walk into the rode, right of way rules are loosely interpreted, and road signs are sometimes obscure and often in a foreign language. I should clear up that it is safe and a little patience and a good GPS coupled with an expert navigator will get you where ever you want to go. Nancy is awesome with maps and frequently argues with the GPS. … and she is usually right!
PETRA
We arrived early enough in the afternoon to do some reconnoitering around Petra and found they had a special lighting ceremony in Petra that evening. We bought tickets, then went to our hotel, had dinner, and caught a taxi back to Petra (I wasn’t ready to do nighttime navigation yet!) If you get a chance to see the lighting ceremony I would recommend it. Any time you go into Petra you can walk or hire a horse, horse cart, or camel to ride in on. We walked … got the kinks out of our legs from driving all day. Great walk, wonderful show. I didn’t take many pictures due to the end of day light. Here’s a few.
17 Oct: Had a good breakfast and went to Petra. Petra is a very interesting place. An ancient civilization came out of the desert and carved many very impressive stone fronts to rooms, tops, temps, and government buildings into the face of sheer rock cliffs that formed a narrow canyon. The red rock, the depth and width of the canyon, and the size of the buildings are incredible. Again, not many captions. Mostly rock formations and self explanatory kind of things.
We spent the entire day at Petra and walked our tootsies off but had a great time. If you can, I recommend walking (make sure you have good hiking shoes) but anytime you get tired there is a dude near by ready to sell you a ride on a camel, cart, donkey, or horse. We made it all the way up to the Monastery which is a healthy climb, lots of steps and great views. Recommend the Philadelphia Beer at the rest center in the middle of Petra. Petra is a truly amazing place to see and spend some time at. If you are ever passing through Jordan, don’t pass it by. Get more details and pictures on Google.
WADI RUM
18 OCT: We left Petra and headed Southeast toward Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a large National Park in the desert that features huge rock outcrops, long stretches of desert, blowing sand dunes, camels, sheep, and history. It is quite large and you cannot drive around in it. We stopped at the entrance visitors center and booked a 2 to 3 hour guided tour in a four wheel drive pick-up truck driven by a local guide. Our guide was friendly, knowledgeable, and spoke very good English. We even got him to display a little sense of humor before we finished. Another “Don’t Miss’ and defiantly do a tour. We found the three hours was sufficiently long and had a great time. Longer, and shorter, tours are offered as well as groupies. Most people do not know that Wadi Rum was used for all the scenes on Mars for the Movie “The Martian” starring Matt Damon.
An exciting place to see. Caravans used to stop here on the way to Petra hundreds and hundreds of years ago. The colors, sand, rocks, and cliffs are astounding to see.
We left Wadi Rum and continued South to Aquba where we checked into our hotel and turned in our rental. The rental center was about mile away so we walked back. It was a pleasant afternoon, the street followed along the Red Sea’s edge. Our hotel was on the Red Sea so we spent the evening at the hotel having dinner and enjoying the evening watch the people on the beach, the sun setting, and people enjoying themselves. Our experience was very good in Jordan. A country many people do not get to see.
The next sub post covers our time in Israel.
