Travel Diary - Road trip through Jordan
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Amman
After our chaotic time in the Egyptian capital Cairo our arrival in Amman, Jordan felt like a relief. While in Cairo we had to wait in a long line in order to be able to leave the airport, Amman airport was surprisingly structured. While in Cairo we had to find our driver in between stinky and honking cars, in the Jordanian capital our driver was easy to find on a parking lot with almost only electric cars. The highlight of our arrival: singing along to the self-made cd of the favourite artist of our driver: Shakira. The biggest surprise of the night was our perfectly ready hotel room at the agreed time. The only thing that could ruin our mood was getting sick. And that is exactly what happened during our first night in Jordan.
Luckily it
was not as bad as expected, but it did make that Stef had to explore Amman on
his own during the first day. But I did manage to drag myself out of bed in the
afternoon to visit the Amman Citadel together. A bit of a waste of our time in
Amman, because it is a beautiful city and definitely worth a visit. A good
reason to come back one day.
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Let the road trip begin!
The next day was a better day. In the morning our rental car was waiting for our and our road trip could finally begin. While we had to drive through the busy city centre of Amman for the first 10 minutes, we quickly made it to the quiet and well made highway. On our way to the Dead Sea. But instead of going there directly we decided to make one extra stop. A stop for which we had to drive up an extremely steep road for about 30 minutes. Mount Nebo. The mountain om which, according to the Bible, Moses saw the Holy Land after forty years of wandering through the desert and thereafter died. We will probably never know whether all of that is true. But the view over the Dead Sea and Israel was there for sure. And visiting and admiring the church together with people from a Jewish, Christian and Islamic background made it very special.
Next we
drove down the mountain again. Off to the lowest point on earth. The shore of
the Dead Sea. After our arrival we immediately got reminded of the fact that we
were at a place 400 meters below sea level. It was extremely hot. Over 45
degrees. Nevertheless we decided to go explore the area at the hottest time of
the day, and swim (or well, float) in the evenly hot Dead Sea. Good idea? No,
not really. In less than 30 minutes our skin started burning and when we made
it back to our accommodation more dead than alive my face was purple. That is
why we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in our room with
air-conditioning.
Luckily our
accommodation was absolutely beautiful. We stayed at Mujib Chalets. A small
park founded by the nation organisation for nature conservation, with about
fifteen beautifully located white chalets. All with the same magical view over
the Dead Sea. By sunset we decided to leave our room again. The temperature got
much more bearable so we could finally really enjoy the feeling of the oily
water on our skins. And while floating on the Dead Sea we saw the sun set
behind the Israeli mountains on the other side of the lake.
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Car breakdown at the lowest point on earth
We had planned the next day well. We would get up early and start doing the Siq Trail at the Wadi Mujib Nature Reserve, thereafter we would go back to our chalet, have a shower, pack our bags and check out before driving further towards Wadi Musa, the town next to wonder of the world Petra. But, unfortunately, things did not go as planned. The visitor centre of the Wadi Mujib nature reserve was located across the street of our accommodation. But as it was a 200 meter walk uphill from our chalet, and it was hot, we decided to go by car. But right after we got there and parked our car we realized we had a gotten ourselves a flat tire during that 200 meter drive. So far our perfect itinerary. Although the rental company had brought us a new tire within two hours, we ended up walking the 200 meter uphill around four times in order to get our bags out of our chalet before noon. We immediately got punished for our laziness.
But, a few
hours later than expected, we still started off with the Siq Trail. The Wadi
Mujib nature reserve once was a simple rocky area, but in the course of
millions of years, the rocks got torn apart creating narrow passages in between.
Freshwater rivers have originated within these narrow passages. The Siq Trail
is a trail following such a river, in between two massive cliffs. Other than
outside the nature reserve, in between these cliffs the temperature is
surprisingly pleasant. During the hike you walk against the current of the
river, you swim, pull yourself forward with ropes, and climb waterfalls with
rope ladders. And that in the middle of beautiful surroundings. On the way back
you follow the same route. This means that all the waterfalls you have climbed
on the way up, nu spontaneously turned into waterslides. One of the most fun
and beautiful hikes we have ever done. This is how the lowest nature reserve on
earth turned into an absolute highlight of our trip to Jordan.
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After our
hike we immediately drove towards Wadi Musa. We drove on extremely steep
mountain roads in the middle of nowhere, with out phone range and while it was
over 40 degrees outside. Maybe we were lucky with the flat tire we got at a
parking lot next to a restaurant with aircon and toilets..? These roads also
made sure we continuously had the most beautiful view. By the time we made it
to our hotel the sun was already setting. We decided to immediately have dinner
on the rooftop of the hotel, and spontaneously decided to change our plans and
visit Petra by Night.
Petra by
Night is an event which is held three times a week. During this even the small
entryway (also called a Siq) towards the best known monument of Petra, the
treasury, is beautifully illuminated with thousands of candles. While it was
mesmerizing, the magic did get ruined by hundreds of other tourists who thought
it was a good idea to use their flashlights. Even though we were stirred to
tears because of the incredible beauty of the treasury, it might have been even
better if we skipped Petra by Night and had our first glance of the treasury
during the day, without hundreds of other tourists around us. The idea of Petra
by night is beautiful, the execution as well, but the reality is different.
Petra: One of the wonders of the world
Our very first full day in Wadi Musa started early, very early. So early, that we had to skip breakfast, which already started at 6. At 6 in the morning we had already completed the 20 minute walk through the Siq. With as a result the beautiful treasury of Petra all to ourselves. For a solid 5 minutes. But other than what most people think, Petra has much more to offer than just the treasury. Petra actually is a big city which once had over 25,000 inhabitants. So there was a lot more to see. After spending a few hours enjoying the treasury we continued walking toward beautiful places as the Roman theatre, the Hadrianus gate and the temple of the winged lions. Accompanied by many dogs, cats, camels and donkeys. And every now and then some other tourists.
Thereafter
we decided to do the ‘High Place of Sacrifice Trail’. I had seen a beautiful
picture of the ‘Garden Temple’ which could only be reached by doing this trail.
And when we saw guides looking for customers saying that it only was 40 to 60
minute climb, we decided to go for it, and started our journey. But
unfortunately we got it wrong. De 40 to 60 minute climb turned out to be the
climb of the steep stairway, carved out from the rocks, towards the highest
point. The high place of sacrifice. But that was only the beginning of the
trail. And that is how we ended up walking for over three hours through the
sand and over the rocks, in what had become over 30 degrees, with only seeing
other people once, on a path which was barely visible. At a certain point, when
we really got lost, we heard someone call us from a mountain. We had deviated
from the path considerably. But luckily we made it to the end, and the trail
actually was pretty cool! Absolutely exhausted we ended our day at the rooftop
pool of hour hotel. Feet up, enjoying the memories we had made on our first day
in Petra.
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The next
morning we woke up early again. Not as early as the day before, but we did have
breakfast at 6 o’clock sharp. And we weren’t the only ones, the breakfast area
was packed with adventurers. Today we planned to do another hike. After
completing the 20 minute walk through the Siq again, we ended up at the
treasury. The fourth time that we saw this building, but again it took our
breath away. What a piece of art. This time we immediately continued walking
along the Roman theatre and under the gate of Hadrianus. Off to another
highlight of Petra. The monastery. In order to be able to reach it we had to
climb over 900 scratchy steps, again carved from the rocks. It was quite a
climb again, but this time it was clearly indicated and we weren’t the only
ones.
When we
finally saw the monastery appear it took our breath away. Just like the
treasury had done. This building, carved from rocks, was incredibly well
preserved. And other than at the treasury, there were barely any other people
there. There was a small café, where we bought a can of coke and enjoyed the
priceless view. Wow!
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In two
days’ time we walked over 30 kilometres and climbed over 2000 steps. The second
of the seven wonders of the world could officially be crossed off. We had
some exhausting, but magical days!
Camping in the Wadi Rum desert
Still enjoying our time in Wadi Musa we drove off to a new adventure the following day. As if we hadn’t experienced enough already. This time towards the unique Wadi Rum desert. The place which has been inhabited since the prehistory and is mainly known from Lawrence of Arabia and the many other movies which have been filmed here. After having parked our rental car we got into a pick up truck with benches in the back, and drove into the desert.
During the
tour we got dropped off at several interesting places. We started off at ‘Lawrence
Spring’. A mountain in the middle of the desert with at the top a water spring
with beautiful green trees around it. Furthermore, we stopped at as massive
sand dune, which was very hard to climb, and two natural bridges created by erosion.
Also very special: petroglyphs from the prehistory. We ended our tour on a big
rock from which we had an incredible view of the sunset over the unaffected
landscape. Fantastic!
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In the dark
we drove off to our very last stop of the day. The camp where we were going to
stay the night. The camp existed out of several black Bedouin tents and one big
tent where we would eat together. The food was prepared in the original Bedouin
way. They dug a big whole in the sand and started off a small fire at the
bottom. A tray with all kinds of food will be put in, this will be covered with
a blanked and sand. Let it steam for a few hours and voilà, a delicious Bedouin
meal! We ended our day on a blanket on the look for the Milky way, but
unfortunately it was full moon. So we got in our Bedouin tents and fell asleep quickly,
being tired of the long day in the desert.
The underwater world of the Red Sea
After our night in the Wadi Rum desert we continued our trip to our last destination, the place where we handed in our rental car. Aqaba. A city on an hour drive from the desert, with a completely different view. The city is mainly known for its beautiful dive and snorkel spots in the Red Sea. And that is exactly what we came for. To go snorkelling together, Stef to do some dives, and me to relax at the pool and get myself a tan.
Besides the
beautiful coral and brightly coloured fish the Jordanian government added
something else in order to attract more tourists. They let a plane and tank
sink in order to create new dive spots. The tank is easily reachable from the
beach to snorkel at (wear flippers). Also the plane is swimmable, but as I
still panic as soon as I can’t see the bottom anymore I had to skip it.
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After three
days of snorkelling, relaxing and diving at the Red Sea we took a local bus
back to Amman, and had one more night in the historical city of Madaba, before
we flew back to Amsterdam. One last chance to buy delicious cookies and one last
oh so good Middle Eastern dinner. You see, even though the area often gets
skipped by travellers because of the continuing issues in surrounding
countries, the Middle East has so much to offer. And I would definitely recommend
everyone to visit Jordan!
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