I
love being able to visit another continent in only just a few hours. Amman,
Jordan, is a little less than a five hour flight away, meaning it didn't seem
like too much of a trek for our trip. We arrived under the cover of darkness
and were greeted at the airport by an executive from the travel agency who
helped us pick up our visas, and then handed us over to our driver/guide Ra-ed,
who was to accompany us throughout our stay in Jordan.
We
drove for about forty minutes away from the airport to the Hyatt Regency in New
Amman, past hundreds of green lights adorning minarets across the landscape to
let residents know where their nearest mosque is. The hotel was grand, but
waking up the next morning knowing it was still 5am back home was
tough! A buffet breakfast of mainly international cuisine with a few Arabic
dishes thrown in for good measure helped to perk us up, and then we were on our
way.
As
we passed beyond the city, one thing which I immediately noticed was the lack
of actual houses - almost all of Jordan that we were driving through consisted
of large apartment buildings, with the only houses we saw were of similar size
to the apartments and built for millionaires. We were told that the country had
boomed in the last twenty years, and this appeared to be a telltale sign.
Our
first stop was the Memorial of Moses at Mount Nebo, supposedly home to Moses'
death place. One thing which became very clear was just how important religion
and belief is to Jordanians, although they didn't seem to mind which religion
in spite of 90% of the population being Muslim, so long as God was involved, as
atop Mount Nebo was an Orthodox Church. As well as an ornate metal cross with a
serpent wrapped around it to one side, the church floor itself was covered in
the remains of mosaics which had been restored over the centuries.
We
continued our journey to Mataba to another church, this time St George's, famed
for a mosaic map representing much of the Middle East. I was surprised to see
that unlike the mosaic at Mount Nebo which had been protected under glass, St
George's had only a velvet rope which didn't stop people from stepping on its
edges.
Our
final en-route destination of the day was Karak Castle, perched atop a hill
meaning there were plenty of beautiful views across the surrounding desert
countryside. The castle was fairly vast, and offered us an hour of so of
entertainment as we wandered around by ourselves, with no route to follow as we
clambered up the battlements and underground rooms.
As
we were a more efficient tour group than Ra-ed had expected, we had gotten
through our attractions quicker than anticipated and so were offered a choice
for how to travel on to Petra - the highway, or the scenic Dead Sea Road. The
scenic route, I think! As the name suggests, this brought us down towards the
two parts of the Dead Sea (North & South) which rifted apart as the warming
climate dehydrated the lake. Much of the South is now mined for salt, so we
passed huge factories pumping not-so-nice gases into the air and creating a
hazy atmosphere.
Nonetheless,
the scenery was pleasant as we drove through hill and valley, stopping for an
Arabic coffee at the Why Not Cafe in seemingly the middle of nowhere - I wonder
how much trade they usually get in a day. I also caught my first glimpse of
camels as they stood around grazing on what little greenery there was or were
led across the plains by their owners. How exciting!
Our
efficiency led to another suggestion, that we visit 'Little Petra' on this day
rather than in two days time as planned. Ra-ed said that seeing it today would
be more impressive than seeing it after we had visited Petra, as to come from
'the big one' to the less impressive version would be disappointing. Instead,
going to Little Petra first and getting a glimpse of what was to come would
only help to build the excitement, and so we agreed.
Little
Petra did what it said on the tin, with two impressive buildings carved right
into the rock face and a number of smaller caves as well. Even though it was
small scale, I was still very much impressed, and the reddish-pink colour of
the rocks looked beautiful as the sun began to set. A good indication of what
was to come... stay tuned to read about it on the blog!
I hope you enjoyed today's travel blog! I'll be back with more very soon so make sure to stay tuned on my Twitter @CiarasCountry, and drop me a message in the comments below with any comments or questions you may have about my adventures - thanks for reading!
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