Susannah having fun at nursery...

A couple of pictures of Susannah and her friends having fun at nursery. The weather is warming up but still not too hot to play outside.

Jordan Holiday

Day 1 – Arrival in Amman

Jordan is only a short 3 hour flight from Doha which was bliss compared to the long hauls we have been getting used to lately for travelling back to Australia.  Doha airport was surprisingly uncrowded on the way out, the kids were great on the flight, and we arrived in Amman fairly close to schedule.

On arrival, we were met by a representative of the tour company we used, Jordan Select tours http://www.select.jo/ (link included if you are thinking about planning a trip) who were fantastic for the whole journey.  Once escorted through immigration, our driver was waiting for us outside.  We had the same driver for the entire trip which was great and were transported around in a very comfortable van.

On the first night we stayed in Amman, we didn’t get to the hotel until around 6pm so there was not much time for investigating the area.  We just went out for dinner then back to the hotel for sleep in preparation for a big day.  The only thing we noticed on our short walk was quite a strong police presence on the streets, an onging result of the 2005 bombings of several hotels in Amman.

Day 2 – The King’s Highway to Petra

This was probably the biggest day of travelling of the trip but not the most tiring (that was climbing around Petra).  It started with an early pick up at the hotel and a relatively short drive up to Mt Nebo.  This is where Moses apparently saw the Promised Land which he was forbidden to enter.  It is also the area in which he is believed to have died and been buried.  It has a church and a few other monuments around and views across the Dead Sea to Israel and the West Bank (a bit hazy when we were there).

 

Next stop was Madaba, most famous for the Mosaic map found on the floor of St George’s church.  The map is the oldest existing of Palestine, crafted in AD560, and depicts all the significant biblical sites of the Middle East from Egypt to Palestine.  It was very impressive although we were a bit distracted by the kids trying to sneak under the rope and run across this priceless artefact (still amazingly accessible compared to many other places we have visited).  Madaba is also interesting in that the population is about 1/3 Christian with the remaining 2/3 being Muslim.  Apparently everyone gets along peacefully.

 

After Madaba it was quite a long drive to Karak.  One of the great parts of touring this way is that there is a chance for a nap in the car between sites, and no stress with navigating or traffic (driving in Jordan is somewhat erratic).  On the way to Kerak, we made a couple of short stops.  The first was at Wadi Mujib, a big valley that takes water down to the Dead Sea.  It is also known as the grand canyon of Jordan and is quite spectacular being about 4km wide, 1km deep and 70km long.  The King’s highway goes through the Wadi via many switchback turns on the road to get down to the dam, then the same again up the other side.  Below are a couple of snaps from the the stop we made at the lookout on the way down.  Susannah was there but fast asleep in the car.

 

Just after the drive up the other side of the Wadi, we made another short stop to see Black Irises, the national flower of Jordan.

Next stop was Karak for a late lunch followed by a walk around the castle, one of the most famous Crusader castles, built in AD 1142.  It was a very impressive ruin with many underground chambers to explore and a great view from the top.

 

After walking through the castle, it was time to head further south to Petra.  Our first hotel in Petra (hotel bookings in Petra were difficult as it is peak tourism time there so we had to stay in a different hotel each night) was the hotel Oscar, bizarrely built around an Academy Awards theme (the main entrance door is framed by two giant Oscar statuettes!

Day 3 – Petra

Probably the most famous place in Jordan (made even more so by featuring in one of the Indiana Jones movies), and possibly the most crowded with tourists.  It was packed near the entrance but once you get through “the Siq” (narrow canyon that forms the entrance to the city), it clears out a bit.  The city was built over 500 years from around the 6th century BC by the Nabataeans, much of it carved into the rock faces of the surrounding mountains.  The city was destroyed by earthquakes and it is estimated that about 80% of it remains covered.  The one day we had there was not enough to fully cover it – it would take two or three days to achieve that – but it was enough for the kids!  We utilised various modes of transport to get through the day which included a challenging climb for the kids to “The Place of High Sacrifice”.

As mentioned before, many modes of transport were used for the day.  Some required negotiation with members of the local Bedouin people.  The following photos provide an overview!

We had a great day in Petra and stayed much longer than we thought, emerging one and a half hours later than we told the driver we would be – we texted him to let him know of the delay.  One final photo is of the Treasury at the end of the day…

That night it was back to our second hotel in Petra, a quick buffet dinner in the hotel before we all fell into bed exhausted!

Day 4 – Petra to Aqaba via Wadi Rum

Early start with an 8am pick up from the hotel.  We started the day with a quick visit to little Petra which is more of the same of Petra, only littler!  It was then time to drive to Wadi Rum where we had a four hour 4WD excursion booked.  It was not quite what we were expecting when Kareem, a member of the local Bedouin turned up in his clapped out Ford Explorer (compared to the slick Land Cruiser tours offered in Qatar and UAE).  Wadi Rum was made famous by the writings of TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) where he hung out with the Bedouin for quite some time!!  It is an amazing landscape of mountains and desert.  We saw many other tourists on similar tours but it was amazing that most of the time we felt like we were the only people in the place.  We came across beautiful desert flowers, rock climbers, camels, donkeys, and Bedouin camps.  We got stuck once in sand that our Pajero would have had no problem with but poor Kareem’s Ford Explorer was no longer firing on all cylinders we suspect!  The day also included a short but challenging climb to get our photo on a rock bridge.

After the 4WD tour it was time to say good-bye to Kareem and continue heading south to Aqaba for our three night stay there.  Aqaba is in the far south of Jordan in a free trade zone (being the only port for the country) and it is on the Red Sea.  Our stay was at the Moevenpick Resort Tala Bay.  Four kilometres to the south was the border with Saudi Arabia and over the Red Sea we could see both Egypt and Israel!  Being in a free trade zone, we had to pass through the customs check point, machine guns were in a abundance…

Day 5 and 6 – Relaxing in Aqaba

This was the relaxing part of the holiday after all the running around of the previous four days.  The resort is quite new, having opened in November last year.  As a result, everything is still in good shape although from a service perspective you could tell they were still getting things worked out.  We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a family room so the kids had their own area to sleep which was great.  We spent most of our time in and around the many pools with a small excursion to the beach to dip our toes in the Red Sea (the beach was pretty poor by Aussie standards, very rocky).  The highlight for Johnathan was the water slide.  It was no Wild Wadi but he loved it and by our count, he managed 54 descents in the two days we were there!!

On the second day we took a cab up to the town of Aqaba where we found a play park for the kids.  There were many local school kids there and Monica was very popular with all the school girls who were keen to practice their English.

Day 7 – From the Red Sea to the Dead Sea

After two relaxing days in Aqaba, time for another early start for the long drive to the Dead Sea (about 4 hours all up).  This drive was along the Dead Sea highway which runs north close to the Jordan/Israel border.  There was noticeable security along this road with several checkpoints manned by armed soldiers.  Each stop was the same, a jovial greeting between our driver and the soldier in arabic followed by our driver saying “Australian”.  We were then waved on.  On the way we asked for a stop at “Bethany-Beyond-The-Jordan” which actually was further north than the Dead Sea.  This is where it is widely believed that Jesus Christ was baptised by John the Baptist in the waters of the Jordan river (and more recently, we discovered, where Rupert Murdoch had his youngest children baptised!!).

It was then off to the Dead Sea, another Moevenpick resort and this time we had a great surprise in store.  They had upgraded us to an executive suite, and according to the guy at the check in desk probably the best room in the hotel.  It had a massive outdoor terrace with fantastic views up and down the Dead Sea – this luck never normally happens to us!  Just a pity we were only staying one night.

After check in we headed down for our first dip in the sea.  The ritual is to rub Dead Sea mud all over, let it dry for a while, then hop into the water and bob around for a while in the extreme bouyancy.  Mon and David enjoyed it.  Johnathan enjoyed it for a short while before wanting to get out.  Susannah started screaming after about two minutes.  The high salt content can make even small cuts or sores sting very badly.  If you get it in your eyes, it can be agony and it tastes horrible.  But it is a unique feeling to float so easily.

After the beach, it was back up to enjoy the again fantastic resort pools and some time on our exclusive terrace!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 8 – Time to go home

After an amazing week, we reluctantly packed to go home.  Jordan is an incredible place, rich in history, a stunning landscape, and friendly and welcoming people.  We felt completely safe the entire time we were there despite the visible security presence in some areas.  We can only recommend that you go, and go soon as the tourist numbers are only going to increase.