Border crossing between Syria and Jordan was my easiest and quickest yet since the start of my trip in July in China. It only took 1 hour, there were clean(ish) toilets, duty free shop and currency exchange that wasn't trying to rip you off. Impressive and civilized! And the first hours of driving in Jordan after crossing the border create the first immediate impression: there is much much less trash along the road than there was in Syria. So far, so good!
Here's my brief impressions and memories of the key places I visited in Jordan:
Jerash, located 48 km north of Amman, is one of the largest and most well preserved sites of Roman architecture in the world outside Italy. To this day, its paved and colonnaded streets, soaring hilltop temples, handsome theaters, spacious public squares and plazas, baths, fountains and city walls pierced by towers and gates remain in exceptional condition. The ancient city preserved today was the administrative, civic, commercial and cultural center of this community, while the majority of the city's citizens lived on the east side of Jerash Valley. Jerash was hit by the Persian invasion of 614 AD and the Muslim conquest of 636 AD. A series of earthquakes in 749 AD did serious damage to the city and hastened its decline, and its population sank to 4000. The Crusaders described Jerash as uninhabited, and it remained abandoned until its rediscovery in 1806, when Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, a German traveler, came across and recognized a small part of the ruins. The ancient city was buried in sand, which accounts for its remarkable preservation. It has been gradually revealed through a series of excavations, which started in 1925, and continue to this day. I was fortunate to visit the place at sunset which - yet again - made for some amazing photos.
Petra is without doubt Jordan’s most valuable treasure and greatest tourist attraction. It is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. The site remained unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was introduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was described as "a rose-red city half as old as time". UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage." Petra was chosen by the BBC as one of "the 40 places you have to see before you die". The long walk to the Treasury, among the amazing walls formed by red, white and yellow rocks is truly a unique view. Although quite crowded at this time of year, Petra is so big and spread out that you can easily find a less frequented hike where it's just you, the rocks and the amazing temples and monasteries carved in rock. You can easily spend a day wandering the various sites, getting lost on the hiking trails or just climbing a rock somewhere and sitting on it until sunset watching the people below... I absolutely recommend a visit to Petra at least once in everyone's life.
Petra is without doubt Jordan’s most valuable treasure and greatest tourist attraction. It is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. The site remained unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was introduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was described as "a rose-red city half as old as time". UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage." Petra was chosen by the BBC as one of "the 40 places you have to see before you die". The long walk to the Treasury, among the amazing walls formed by red, white and yellow rocks is truly a unique view. Although quite crowded at this time of year, Petra is so big and spread out that you can easily find a less frequented hike where it's just you, the rocks and the amazing temples and monasteries carved in rock. You can easily spend a day wandering the various sites, getting lost on the hiking trails or just climbing a rock somewhere and sitting on it until sunset watching the people below... I absolutely recommend a visit to Petra at least once in everyone's life.
Swimming (kind of) in the Dead Sea: Deep in the Jordan Valley and 55 km southeast of Amman, is the Dead Sea, one of the most spectacular natural and spiritual landscapes in the whole world. Dead Sea is actually not a sea at all, but a lake that's made up of about 30 percent salt. It is the lowest body of water on earth, the lowest point on earth and the world's richest source of natural salts, hiding wonderful treasures that accumulated throughout thousands of years. As its name evokes, the Dead Sea is devoid of life due to an extremely high content of salts and minerals which gives its waters the renowned curative powers, therapeutic qualities, and its buoyancy, recognized since the days of Herod the Great, more than 2000 years ago. And because the salt content is four times that of most world's oceans, you can float in the Dead Sea without even trying, which makes swimming here a truly unique experience not to be missed: here is the only place in the world where you can recline on the water to read a newspaper.There is no such thing as swimming in the Dead Sea. Your feet and shoulders rise and float above the water, no matter how hard you try to make them go under the water. They just refuse. And a tip for those of you who want to try "swimming" out here: do not shave at least two days before you plan to take a dunk in the Dead Sea, and be prepared if you have any open cuts or sores while you're swimming, as you will quickly learn the real meaning of putting salt in one's wound.
Wadi Rum desert: this absolutely breathtaking desert near Aqaba used to be a rest stop for all the caravans travelling between Asia and Europe. The sand in Wadi Rum has this amazing shade of darkish red (which - on the downside - gets absolutely everywhere, and I mean everywhere including your teeth and private bits. And there are no showers anywhere around so you learn to live with the sand for a while...). There are also rocks scattered picturesquely around the desert. Interesting fact: T.E. Lawrence, the famous British explorer also known as Lawrence of Arabia, was a big fan of Wadi Rum, used to live here around 1917. He described his adventures and love for this part of the world in a book called "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", the title of which comes from the name of one of the desert rocks in Wadi Rum. We spent several hours driving jeeps deep into the desert, climbing rocks and watching the sunset. And then we spent the night in a Beduin tent camp under the stars. Unforgettable...
Wadi Rum desert: this absolutely breathtaking desert near Aqaba used to be a rest stop for all the caravans travelling between Asia and Europe. The sand in Wadi Rum has this amazing shade of darkish red (which - on the downside - gets absolutely everywhere, and I mean everywhere including your teeth and private bits. And there are no showers anywhere around so you learn to live with the sand for a while...). There are also rocks scattered picturesquely around the desert. Interesting fact: T.E. Lawrence, the famous British explorer also known as Lawrence of Arabia, was a big fan of Wadi Rum, used to live here around 1917. He described his adventures and love for this part of the world in a book called "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", the title of which comes from the name of one of the desert rocks in Wadi Rum. We spent several hours driving jeeps deep into the desert, climbing rocks and watching the sunset. And then we spent the night in a Beduin tent camp under the stars. Unforgettable...
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