The Traveling Idiots-Where The Tuck Are They Now?: Three exceptional days in Jordan

The Monastery-Petra

Our Monday night stay at the Abraham Hostel was nice. The hostel is located on Jaffa Road which is a very vibrant pedestrian and street car only road through the heart of the city. The room was clean and comfortable and there was an added bonus. We booked our tour of Jordan through Abraham Tours which is a part of the hostel so we got a discount. We were very pleased with the hostel, very pleased with the tour and very, very pleased with the discount. If you're thinking of coming this way you might want to check them out. They offer everything from dorms with bunk beds and shared bathrooms (no thanks) to private rooms with their own bathrooms. Book early, the hostel is very popular and although it is quite large it fills up quickly. There were a number of young backpackers but also older couples and families making it a fun experience that we'd do again.
https://abrahamhostels.com/jerusalem/
https://abrahamtours.com/
We were up bright and early Tuesday morning for our three day/two night tour of Jordan. There were a total of nineteen (a full bus) in our group. We met up with another nineteen from the Abraham Tours out of Tel Aviv at the Jordanian border. Soon all 36 of us were on our way on a large, clean and comfortable bus to explore some of the highlights of Jordan. The border crossings getting into Jordan and then back into Israel are worthy of their own blog but I'm saving it until I get back to the US. Logistically it's complicated going both ways. I think you'll like the getting back into Israel story but that's for another time.
Our guide's name was pronounced E-mod. A very nice Jordanian fellow who looked to be in his mid-thirties. He was quite proud of his country for reasons we'd all come to appreciate as we learned and saw so many magnificent things in a relatively short time. One unique thing about him was that he was of the Christian faith (4% are Christian and 96% Muslim). The only reason I mention that is that although this wasn't a "Christian Heritage" tour he was able to share interesting things about biblical sites that are located in Jordan, such as where Jesus was baptized, where King Herod's port was located on the Dead Sea and where John the Baptist was beheaded.
Our first stop was Jaresh (sometimes spelled Jeresh). Over the past seventy years excavations here have uncovered ruins from the time of the Greek and Roman Empires. There is a coliseum that would seat 45,000 or more for horse races and the friendly sport of gladiators fighting to the death. The amphitheater is still used today for concerts and E-mod shared with us that Andre Bocelli performed there last year. Additionally, there are over 1,000 columns still standing and the Temple of Artemis that can be explored. The Roman Empire came after the Greek reign so most of the ruins are Roman. Roman or Greek, it doesn't matter, outside of Rome and Athens they're the best we've ever seen.

Jaresh

Still standing 2,000 years later

Entrance gate to Jaresh

From Jaresh it was on to Amman, the capital and largest city in Jordan (Approx. 4 million people). It was May 1 which is a national holiday in Jordan that sounds similar to Labor Day in the US. The modern, clean and very hilly city was fairly quiet. We stopped for a brief time at The Citadel which is a historical site at the center of downtown. It offered great views of the surrounding hillsides which let us get a 360 degree view from the middle.

Amman from the Citadel

We then had a fairly long drive along the Desert Highway to Petra where we would be spending our two nights. Along the way we learned some of the history as well as unique challenges Jordan faces.
First of all some of their neighbors don't always play nice (Syria, Iraq and Iran). Because of these neighbors tourism, which was becoming a major part of their economy has dipped in recent years. Unlike many of it's neighbors, Jordan has just a tiny bit of land on the sea and only one port, the Port of Aqaba. All goods entering and leaving the country by ship do so from here and all goods on their way to or from the port travel the Desert Road, so it's quite busy with trucks! We were amused to learn that Jordan is the Phosphate Capital of the World. The reason for our amusement of this is that Beth and I grew up in Mulberry, Florida which always billed itself as the "Phosphate Capital of the World". Somebody isn't telling the truth and if you want to research it feel free to do so but without looking it up just based on size, I'd put my money on Jordan. Heck, it's a country and Mulberry is just a small city in central Florida.
Our accommodations were quite unique. We stayed in a Bedouin Camp. Bedouin's are defined as nomadic Arabs of the desert. So yes, we slept in tents out in the desert! We weren't completely nomad's, we did have running hot water and electricity, at least until midnight when they turned off the generator. Oh yeah, I didn't have wifi either which is one reason this blog is getting so long. It was a fun experience, except our tent was located quite a distance from the bathroom which made for a long walk in the middle of the night.
http://www.sevenwondersbedouincamp.com/

Seven Wonders Bedouin Camp

The next morning we were off to Petra where we were fortunate enough to spend the entire day. Historical evidence shows Petra had been occupied since 9,000 BC. Around 2,000 years ago it was occupied by the Nabateaen's who carved amazing living areas, temples and tombs in the rocks of the gorges and passes. The most prominent structures that we visited were the Treasury and Monastery. The first glimpse of the Treasury is at the end of a narrow gorge and without being overly dramatic it's breathtaking. No wonder it's a UNESCO World Heritage Center site and listed as one of the "Seven Wonders of the World". By the end of the day we had logged over 10 miles and close to forty flights of stairs. As we headed for the exits we were deliriously happy for having experienced Petra.
http://visitpetra.jo/

Our first glimpse at the Treasury

The Treasury

Dwellings in Petra

Tombs within Petra

The Monastery-It was a tough uphill hike to reach it but well worth it!

Our last day in Jordan started with a visit to Wadi Rum, which in Arabic means Valley of Sand. It is also frequently referred to as Moon Valley because of it's unique look of sand and mountains. We did a jeep ride to an overlook where the movie "The Martian" with Matt Damon was filmed. It was also the backdrop for the movie Lawrence of Arabia and the actual home of one of his camps. Like so much we saw in our three days in Jordan, words just don't describe it adequately.
There was one more highlight as we made our way back to the Israel border and that was driving along the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. We're going to be visiting it tomorrow (from the Israel side) but seeing it and it's unique shoreline of dried salt and rock for the first time while still in Jordan was a fitting end to a great visit!