Jordan – part 3: Day Tripping

From Wadi Rum, there is no easy way to get back to Amman. Our host, Zadane, suggested that we go to Aqaba, from which we can get a direct bus back to Amman. Sounds ok. Zadane “has a friend who runs a hotel”. How bad can it be?

Yet another taxi takes us to the hotel in Aqaba. Well….not really IN Aqaba. In all honesty, about 2 miles from the border with Saudi Arabia, and about 7 from town. It was billed as “on the beach” but was, actually, across a major highway from the beach. We decided to take our chances in town.

We made a few calls to places in Lonely Planet and found a couple of rooms. Back to town to check in. Well….this hotel wasn’t much better. Honestly, it was pretty nasty. Our room had a prominent wet spot in the rug just inside the door. CD pointed out that it matched the mineralized stalactite on our ceiling! Hoo boy!

We did some wandering in Aqaba, but there wasn’t much to excite us. It WANTS to be the Jordanian Sharm el Sheikh, but lacks the infrastructure and the investment. It was too over-run to be a quaint seaside town, but not built up enough to be a resort area.

Our hotel was one of the noisiest places I’ve stayed in a LONG time. Neither Jack nor I slept much, so we were ready to depart in the morning.

Arabic soap operas on the bus going back to Amman, but otherwise a quick and uneventful trip. We went back to the friend’s apartment where we’d stayed when we arrived. She wasn’t there, but had asked her landlord to let us in. It was VERY NICE to kick back in a familiar place and relax.

Our first outing from Amman was to the Dead Sea (7April). Taxis seem to be the way in Jordan, so we hired a taxi to take the three of us to one of the resorts on the Dead Sea Highway. Many of them allow paid entrance and use of their facilities.

As I’d heard from many before, once we got there and floated, there was not much else to do. Kinda cool. Glad I did it.

Dead Sea Pictures HERE

**NEW EDIT** for a very funny, albeit embarrassing, video of the difficulties of excessive buoyancy in the Dead Sea, click HERE 

Our second day adventure was to the ancient Roman city of Jerash, in the north of Jordan. We spent A LOT of time wandering in Jerash. The site is much larger than I’d been led to believe by the guide book. The ruins are well preserved and maintained. We did not pay the 20JD per person to see the chariot races, but better spent our time just enjoying and absorbing the atmosphere.

Jerash Pictures HERE

Our final evening was spent in lovely diversion as we went to Mt. Nebo to see the sunset and then dined in Madaba. I did not know that Mt. Nebo was where Moses was supposed to have viewed the Holy Land for the first time. We saw the lights come on in Jerusalem as the sun set on Easter Sunday evening. It was a lovely and moving experience.

Mt. Nebo Pictures HERE

Our driver treated us to tales of Moses as we drove to dinner. Did YOU KNOW that Moses was a 10 meter tall black man? Me either! Some day, perhaps, Jack or I will tell you ALL about it. 🙂

After dinner, we retired to the apartment to pack and get ready to go back to Cairo and work. Our spring break trip was marvelous, full of adventures and memories, and completely exhausting!

I’d call that an undeniable success!