The Dead Sea

Jordan, dramatic landscapes, crusader castles, fantastic pink Petra, surprising green valleys, salty blue Dead Sea, flocks of sheep and goats everywhere even crossing the busy motorway, Bedouin campsites clinging to rocky hills and grassy slopes, crazy drivers, hot days and cool nights and welcoming friendly people.

“Where you from? “
“Welcome to Jordan.”

Little boys, grown men, shop keepers, school girls, everyone we met so welcoming, and helpful.

The downside is as with many of the countries we have traveled through in this area is the rubbish that spoils scenery and tourist sites. For a country that receives about 15% of their GDP from tourism, Jordanians need to pay more attention to the environment. The most important site of Petra is clean and tidy but the shores of the Dead Sea where there are no resorts the banks have been used for rubbish tips. The continuing growth of resorts along the salty shores will limit free public access but on the up side the unsightly rubbish should disappear.

Last Saturday we flew into Amman, the Monte Carlo rental car man was there waving his, “Alan Ward” sign. Quick inspection of the car… nothing to inspect as it was brand new. We were its first renters which made Alan and Brian nervous and even more nervous as we experienced the crazy drivers on our way to the Black Iris Hotel in Madaba. We followed the Monte Carlo guys to the Madaba turn off, we had one wrong turn but luckily they noticed and waved us down to renew the instructions. The little hand drawn map from the car guy got us to the Black Iris hotel in Madaba without any more wrong turns. Odeh the hotel manager got us settled and gave us some ideas for dinner. Within 2 hours of arriving in Jordan we had experienced the warm Jordanian hospitality that has stayed with us all week.

Madaba is a small town about 30k south of Amman, famous for the mosaic map of Palestine and the Holy Land which was made in 560AD, it takes up part of the floor of St Georges Orthodox church. From Madaba we started south on the Kings Highway which is the worlds oldest continuously used road. Our first stop was a lookout over Wadi Mujib, the grand canyon of Jordan. The desert scenery was stunning, the Wadi is about 1km deep and 4km wide. The Kings Highway crosses a large dam at the bottom before the road winds its way to the top.

At the lookout there was a small group of souvenir stalls, after our experiences with pushy Egyptians we were pleasantly surprised. No hard sell, in fact a little too laid back. Carpets draped over the stone walls added splashes of vibrant red, yellow and orange colours to the desert landscape. The elderly carpet seller spread out a long carpet on the ground, pointing out a missing chunk due to a mouse. His explanation was that mice love wool. As we got into the car to leave the carpet seller said almost as an after thought, “ do you want to buy a carpet?” The others were still setting out their wares and were too busy to even look in our direction.

As we climbed up the south side of Wadi Mujib we stopped for coffee at a roadside… probably best described as a small encampment, Sami’s. Sami has a WC with a fantastic view, comfy sofas from which to enjoy the view, drink excellent coffee, listen to his patter and get conned into paying far too much for necklaces, bangles and coffee. All done with a joke and a smile but later when we realized how much we had been conned it left a bitter sweet taste just like his coffee.

A piece of travel advice…. Don’t buy anything until about day 3 in a country when you have prices sussed. Hope we take our own advice next time!!

Crusader castles dot the desert in this part of the world, stretching from Aqaba in the south to Turkey in the north. Karak castle dominates the town and is 1000m above sea level. Built in the 12th century it was the place of many battles between the Crusaders and the Muslim army of Salah ad-Din. The thick walls and wide view over the surrounding desert that made the castles seemingly impenetrable were actually the downfall of the Crusaders as they were besieged by Salah ad Din so long that they swapped wives and families for bread. The families were returned as the Crusaders left as an acknowledgement of their bravery.

We ended our trip down the Kings Highway at Wadi Musa , for our visit to Petra. Petra is classed as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, supposedly about 5000 people a day visit the pink sandstone city. With the summer only just beginning and the unrest in the region tourist numbers are not high, so we had a pleasant crowd free visit. The first glimpse of the Treasury from the Siq was impressive but the highlight of the day was listening to the song of a German traveler reverberating around the inside of a huge tomb and spilling out into the desert air.

Petra is a magnificent archaeological site and shopping centre.

You want to buy?..........horse rides, donkey rides, camel rides, necklaces, guidebooks, expensive meals, photos with faux Roman soldiers, hats, postcards………

That last glimpse of the Treasury, is worth putting up with all those wanna buys. As we walked back down the Siq, the carved pillars are now a soft shade of pink in the afternoon light.

On Tuesday we turned north up the Kings Highway, we stopped at Shobak castle then turned off at Tafila to cross over to the Dead Sea. The road twisted and turned down hill through spectacular rock formations and views across the sea to Israel. From 1000m above Sea level we descended to the lowest point on earth, 400m below sea level. As we drove along the salty shores, fields of tomatoes, Bedouin camps and even more wandering sheep the quest was for a place to float in the salty brine. We found Amman beach, we could swim there for 10JD per person. $80NZ just for the 4 of us to swim and we still needed lunch. There were resorts too but they looked far to flash for our wallets, we found out later it was 15JD per person for the privilege of using their manicured beaches. There was no where for lunch either, we eventually found a shop for a lunch of sweet buns and ice cream, the dingy restaurant attached did not look inviting. We eventually found a free place for a swim , we parked by some family groups on a large empty section by the sea. A good spot for swimming and unfortunately rubbish dumping. Several family groups were having a swim and a group of woman were enjoying a gossipy afternoon listening to loud music under a shady umbrella. The water was clean so Alan and Brian decided to go for a floating swim. Marion and I dipped our feet, the salt water stinging a couple of scratches on my feet.
With the day disappearing we turned off the Dead Sea Highway and climbed up through more spectacular scenery, had a last glimpse of the Sea below and returned to Madaba and the friendly Black Iris Hotel.

50kms north of Amman is the city of Jerash, another ancient ruin, was I pushing my luck getting every one to another ruin? Jerash is an ancient Roman city, Gerasa as it was in the time of Alexander the Great, 333BC and onto about the 3rd Century AD. One look at the huge Hadrians Arch and the columns surrounding the unusual Oval Forum and we all agreed this was the best so far. Rivaling Ephesus in Turkey, in fact put the Ephesus Library at Jerash and then you would not need to visit any other Roman ruin. The extensive site has been excavated for 85 years and it is said that about 90% of the city is still unexcavated. The goats were enjoying the spring flowers covering those undiscovered treasures. The ruins are surrounded by the modern city of Jerash, the plain square dusty houses covered in satellite dishes are a harsh frame for marble columns, temples and chariot ruts sprinkled with daisies.

Jordan has been greener than I expected, until yesterday colder than I thought it would be. The nights have been quite cool, our hotel rooms at Petra was quite cold the heating was off but there was a nice wooly blanket in the cupboard. Amman is as busy as we had been told. So busy we got the Rental car man to meet us on the outskirts, he kindly drove us into our central city hotel. As we got closer to the centre and the traffic got busier we all agreed we had made a wise decision.

Amman is a busy dusty Middle East city what more can I say? Tomorrow we move on with good memories of a safe friendly Jordan.