Wassup from Jordan
Hello friends and greetings from Jordan. As I’m sure you can see if you read the Egypt post, we were all on an incredible high after our wonderful trip through that beautiful and historically rich country. It was time to say goodbye to Said and catch the ferry over to Jordan. Bye, Said, and thank you for such a memorable and unforgettable trip through your beautiful country. The 1.5 hour ferry ride turned into a 7 hour, all day process. Our arrival at the ferry terminal coincided with the afternoon prayer so we had to wait for the employees to finish before we could be processed. No problem. It’s actually kind of nice to see people take some time out of their busy day to give thanks. Once inside the terminal though there was no explanation about why the ferry was delayed so we all settled in for the long haul. Between playing cards, reading books, looking at pics, and even initiating an impromptu baseball type game, the hours passed quickly and before we knew it we were in Jordan.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Jordan, but I have to say that it delivered a wonderful and highly enjoyable experience. Upon arrival at the ferry terminal we were met by our Jordanian guide, Ibrahim, who whisked us through security and had our passports, complete with Jordanian immigration stamps in place within a matter of minutes. Three cheers for efficiency! It has certainly been a while since I’ve experienced such organization and I have to say that I loved it!
We were famished and couldn’t wait to get some dinner and drinks. Ibrahim picked a fantastic place in the heart of Aquaba, complete with delicious wine. Yippie! Everything was so fresh and tasty. Even the bread was good. We were all a bit sick of bread after Egypt where it is served for every single meal and in mass quantities. One morning we were given 7 pieces of bread for breakfast. No kidding! I actually counted them because the pile was so obscene. I like bread, but 7 pieces is a bit excessive for one meal. Anyway, enough about the bread. Jordan was off to a great start and we were all super excited to see more of the country.
We didn’t have to meet up until around 11 the next day so Shana and I took the opportunity to sleep in and have a leisurely morning. Ah, so luxurious. We had tons of early days while in Egypt and by early I mean 2 and 3 AM sometimes. These crazy hours were necessary though to allow us to get on the road and arrive at our destination before the psychotic, Hatshepsut type heat got started. I was more than happy to oblige if it meant I didn’t have to be outside when it was 48 degrees outside.
After a restful sleep we hit the road and set off for Wadi Rum. I had heard many wonderful things about Wadi Rum so I couldn’t wait to see this desert beauty for myself. Here is the entrance to our lovely Bedouin camp.
We were greeted with warm smiles, a refreshing welcome drink, and some relaxing local entertainment.
Keith is loving it and counting the minutes until he can break into song. We’re right there with you, Keith.
How about a little tour around the camp? This is the all important bar, serving us a refreshing respite from the desert heat.
And this is our hang out area where we spent most of our time when the sun went down.
You cannot imagine how stunning the stars were at night framed by these stunning rock formations. Gorgeous!
After our meal it was time to hop into our jeeps and head for the dunes. Woo hoo! Bring it, baby!
This landscape reminded us of scenes from Star Wars. Hoped I did to meet Yoda. Succeed, I did not. How’s that for Yoda speak? Hahaha!
I’d like to introduce you to one of our drivers, Hassan. He was awesome and entertained us with magic ticks, jokes, and stories from his childhood. I was a little bit obsessed with him, but how could I not be with his insanely adorable and sweet face?
We stopped at this huge dune that was perfect for climbing. Alex and Nick were first to hit the mountainous dune and the ladies followed shortly thereafter.
It’s actually much harder (insert sounds of one gasping for air) than one would think.
We eventually made it to the top and spent the next few minutes praising ourselves and gushing over the stunning views. Tatiana was awesome and grabbed my camera from the jeep so I’d have photographic memories of this psychotic dune. Thanks, T!
One of the jeeps bailed after the dune and the rest of us continued on to some more crazy rock formations.
Hassan hooked us up with a sweet photo shoot on top of this insane rock! We took about 25 shots in an attempt to get us all jumping. We didn’t quite succeed in everyone jumping at the same time, but these shots are still pretty great and we had a lot of fun making them.
We had to rush to make it to the perfect place to catch the sunset, but with Hassan at the wheel we had no problem making it in time. We even had time for a cup of tea.
So are you ready for some sunset shots or what?
How about some moon action too?
Gorgeous!
We arrived back at camp just in time to watch them unearth our dinner.
Yummy! I can’t wait to get my hands on all this meat!!!
After gorging ourselves on a scrumptious meal, it was time to kick back with some music, dancing, frosty beverages, and of course some sheesha. So fun!!!
So do you think I inhaled?
Totally! As if I’d miss out on this apple deliciousness.
We sat up late into the evening smoking sheesha with our new friend, Ahmed, and cracking ourselves up with stupid stories and jokes. Here’s my favorite quote of the evening from the one and only Keith. As you read this, insert an Irish accent…“in the immortal words of the beloved Virgin Mary….come again?” I don’t know where he comes up with this stuff, but he was slinging zingers like this all evening. It was so much fun.
After hours and hours of laughing our faces off Carrie suggested we go away from the camp enclosure to see a more vast sky with unobstructed views. Somehow this morphed into us searching for the secret sky, so you know we were all about it. We made a little field trip to the edge of our camp and laid in the sand admiring the secret sky. It was absolutely gorgeous. I adored it and stayed up admiring it until the wee hours of the morning.
The next morning we were given the option to take in an aerial view of Wadi Rum by an ultra light glider. You know I was all about it. Thanks, Freddi, for hooking me up with this pic.
The view from the sky was amazing! It felt wonderful to have the breeze in your face and look down and see the birds below. I adored everything about this experience and would absolutely recommend it if you get the chance. What a huge rush!
Now it’s time to get back in the bus and head to Petra!!! Here’s a pic of our super smiley and friendly driver, Abraham.
We made some stops along the way. Check out this view!
Before seeing Petra, we saw Little Petra, which is also quite impressive.
Many people believe this rock looks like the Virgin Mary. Yeah, I can see it. Of course when I look at this Keith’s ridiculous Virgin Mary quote fills my head. Come again? Hahaha! Keith, you freak! I’ll never be able to look at images of the Virgin Mary again without hearing your voice in my head.
And now…drum roll please…Petra! The colors were so rich and varied. I have never seen landscape like this before.
I know you are all waiting to see the Treasury (Al-Khazneh). Here’s your first glimpse.
Ok, that’s all you get.
Awesome, huh?
As if I’d deprive you of the full view. Come on, give me some credit here, folks. I’m here for you, right?
Insert theme song from Indiana Jones
Take a deep breath
Behold the Treasury…
Here’s my posse. Damn, we’re cute!
It is every bit as magnificent as one would hope! The labyrinthine journey through strange and towering rock formations known as the As-Siq adds to the mystique so when you finally come upon this incredibly detailed and perfectly executed carving it is awe-inspiring. It is in fantastic condition and hard to believe that was carved in the 1st century BC. Yes, BC! Wow!!!
There’s more to Petra than just the Treasury. It’s actually an ancient city carved into rock by the Nabataeans. Here are some tombs of the working class people.
I thought they looked pretty nice until I saw the royal tombs. Wow!!! This is the Urn Tomb, the largest of the royal tombs, believed to have been carved around 70 AD. It was altered in the mid-fifth century to serve as a Byzantine church.
Notice above the doorway the 3 chambers. A stone presumed to be a depiction of the man buried inside blocks the central chamber.
Check out the sizes of these tombs. They are magnificent!!!
This is the Palace Tomb. Not too shabby.
This is known as the Street of Facades and the Theatre. Initially it could seat 3,000 people, but it was later extended to finally hold about 7,000.
As I mentioned, the colors here are so rich and varied. It’s almost like the rocks have been painted, but it’s all natural.
Here’s the floor of the recently discovered Byzantine church. It’s in exceptional condition given it’s age.
Now it’s time to make the hike to the monastery. It’s about 800 stairs that are cut out of rock, but it’s totally worth the journey. Along the route are several Bedouin vendors selling their wares. This beautiful lady made jewelry and was kind enough to let me take her picture.
And now, I present to you the Ad-Deir (Monastery). It’s every bit as stunning as the Treasury.
The Deir used to be an important pilgrimage site, the way up the mountain serving as a processional route and the open area in front of the monument as a gathering place. Later, in Byzantine time, scholars think it was likely used as a church.
This guy has the best view.
It’s time for me to get a better view. Hmm, which way should I go?
It looks like I selected well. Check it out.
How about one last look at the Treasury? It’s later in the day so the pink color is much deeper. We all sat here for about 30 minutes just taking in the feeling of the place. It’s breathtaking and totally worth a visit if you can make it. It absolutely lives up to everything you hoped it would be.
Next stop is the Dead Sea! This trip is amazing, every day filled with something spectacular. I am fired up!
Here is our first glimpse of the Dead Sea. Check out the salt along the edges. That’s some serious salt, people.
And this is Israel! How cool to look across the sea and see Israel. I absolutely love it.
Now it’s time to take a little float in the Dead Sea.
Check me out, I’m floating!!!
Agnes remembered to bring a magazine so we could take this shot. Thanks, Agnes. Great call!
It’s so crazy to be in water and just float with zero effort. The water actually feels quite oily to one’s skin. I don’t know what I expected, but I definitely didn’t expect oily.
After a float in the sea we headed to the pool to relax in the shade.
Next stop on our fun-filled tour of Jordan is Madaba, which is famous for its mosaics. Here are some pics from St. George Church. The church was built in 1884 over the remains of a Byzantine church. The map, which dates to around 560 AD, was made to cover the front section of the floor of the Byzantine church.
Next we headed to Mount Nebo, the Memorial of Moses. It’s so hard to believe that I’m actually seeing these historic places in person. How special. I am not taking any of this for granted.
Yep, this is Israel. So cool!
Next it was time to visit a mosaic shop to see the craft in action by masters of the trade. It is such a stunning art form and I cannot believe the patience and meticulousness involved.
Next stop is our final destination in Jordan, Amman (sniffle, sniffle + sad face). The first shot is taken from Roman Theatre and Odeon, which also houses an interesting folklore museum.
The next shots are from the Amman Citadel and the Archaeological Museum.
This next shot might not look like much from the picture, but it provides a fantastic panoramic view of the city and at this moment we are being bathed in the call to prayer. What was unique about this particular call to prayer is that it came from one mosque and was sent by radio feed to the other neighboring mosques. The result was absolutely beautiful with the melodious song reverberating throughout the city. One couldn’t help but be taken in by the hypnotic sounds and peaceful energy. In other calls to prayer individual mosques do their own call to prayer and the resulting sounds seem chaotic and disconnected to someone like me who does not speak Arabic, but this one, unified call was absolutely beautiful. It was one of my favorite memories from the entire trip. A few of my fellow travelers took a video so I’m hoping they’ll send it to me (yes, Carrie and Wendy that means you!!!) so I can hear it again and again. It may sound silly, but it really felt like a magical moment and it’s something I will never forget.
Here’s the view from the other side.
Our final stop was to the ancient city of Jerash, which is one of the largest and most well preserved sites of Roman architecture outside of Italy. It is massive and in exceptional condition given its age.
This is the Hippodrome, which could seat 15,000 spectators to watch chariot races and others sports.
This is Hadrian’s Arch, which was built to commemorate the visit of Emperor Hadrian to Gerasa in 129 AD. It was intended to become the main southern gate to the city, but the expansion plans were never completed.
This is the North Theatre, which was built in 165 AD. While we were there, musicians playing bagpipes entertained us. Carrie and Agnes were so moved by the music that they needed to get up and twirl around and dance.
Here are some more scenes from Jerash.
Sadly, the trip has now come to an end. I have to say that these past 2+ weeks in Egypt and Jordan have been absolutely unforgettable and insanely fun. It’s definitely one of the highlights of my time on the road and I would absolutely recommend you add this to your list of places to visit. It was jam packed with history and culture, but also provided lots of rest and relaxation in stunning locations. What a perfect combination.
We ended the trip with a delicious dinner at a rooftop restaurant. Arun and I busted out our adorable, new bracelets for the occasion.
After dinner we whooped it up one last time with a party in Carrie and Arun’s huge room (thanks, gals). Of course no party is complete without a little game of truth or dare so after a few hours of that I feel like I know my new friends even better.
Thank you all for a fabulous trip. I adore each and every one of you and I truly hope that our paths cross again. Inshallah!
Next stop for me is Morocco so I’ll say goodbye for now and see you soon. Huge hugs from the Middle East.
