Follow us on our Journey…

After a bus ride from Sinai and a ferry ride over the red sea and lots of confusion about passports and visas, wed arrived in Jordan to be greeted by our Jordanian guide Omar.
Our fist night we stayed in a port town called Aqaba. It was a gorgeous town, it had a little castle there and we were surprised at how western this little Middle Eastern town was. We went out for dinner at a nearby restaurant and roamed the streets. We were greeted by locals who liked to spark up conversation, and then before you know it we were best friends hugging and kissing!!!!
The next day we travelled to Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is in the southern dessert and it is a spectacular landscape of dessert. It’s famous for the explorer and the movie Lawrence of Arabia and there are many monuments named after Lawrence. When we got there we watched a presentation about the dessert and the types of vegetation and animals found. We then went to a museum then hopped on the back of 4 wheelers and explored. There are beautiful rock cliffs made from granite and limestone, the most famous mountain being The Seven Pillars of Wisdom quoted by T E Lawrence “No man can live this life and emerge unchanged. He will carry, however faint, the imprint of the desert, the bind which marks the nomad; and he will have within him the yearning to return, weak or insistent according to his nature. For this cruel land can cast a spell which no temperature clime can match”. We stopped the vehicles and ran up the sand dunes. We took out shoes off and the sand was soft and silky between our toes. It was gorgeous. We stopped at a Bedouin tent to have a cup of tea; we were so pleased with the tea that we all bought a packet. The tea was a mixture of sage leaves, cinnamon bark, cardamom seeds and black tea, just delicious.
We found that in Jordan, Maroun was treated like a King. Before I go into that I must explain that Jordan has Kings and Queens, and the people of Jordan have the utmost respect for them. King Hussein was the father of the current King Abdullah. Everyone has pictures of both Kings in their shops and restaurants because they were great Kings helping the people of Jordan, especially the poor, providing housing and work. Back to King Maroun. It seems that Jordanians love Lebanese people. As soon as Maroun spoke a little Arabic, or mentioned he was Lebanese, we were treated differently. It’s not like we were treated badly to begin with, Jordan is lovely and the people are lovely, but they seemed to get more excited when speaking with Maroun!!!!
That evening we drove to Petra…….
On arrival to the Petra site I was so excited to be there. I have seen pictures of Petra as a child and it has always been a dream of mine to go. Now I was here and I was getting very excited. There was India Jones memorabilia everywhere as this is where parts of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade were filmed. We got to the site and walked a long way till we got to the East/West cliffs. You almost wouldn’t even know there was an entrance to this site here. We walked between the cliffs and you could see the way they were shaped that they were once joined many thousands of years ago. Along the way we could see draining systems, dams that were built, wild fig trees and a lot of Bedouin flying past us on horses. Then on exiting from the cliffs there was a large opening and the most magnificent carving of a palace I’ve ever seen. It’s funny, it’s a large grand palace carved from the rock face, but going through the door it is only a small room. Of course though that if there were more excavations there may be more to be found. No one really knows what these carved palaces were meant to be, but studies presume they could have been places of worship, or tombs. Petra was a trading city, trading between all the Arabian countries and evidence shows that there were even trades from China. People came in their caravans and camped out stocking up on oil and all sorts of items for business. It was a hidden city, yet a marvelous and mystical place. We wondered around and met the son of Marguerite Van ……. Who wrote the book “Married to Bedouin”. Bedouin is a Jordanian tribe predominantly from Petra who lived in the caves around the rocks of Petra. Marguerite was a Kiwi born traveller who came to Petra, met a man, fell in love and stayed here with him, had a family and settled into the Bedouin lifestyle. I purchased a signed copy of her book from her son, who has lived in both New Zealand and Australia and has an Aussie accent!!! We had a huge lunch then took the walk/climb up to the monastery. There is no monastery but it’s the highest point in Petra, and some years ago monks lived there. It took as an hour and a half to walk up there, but it was worth it, the view was amazing and there were more carved palaces along the way.
We took the famous Kings Highway all the way to Amman. This highway is of great historical and religious significances. It was been around for over 3000 years and has been traversed by the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt en route to the Promised Land, Nabateans to and from Petra, Christian pilgrims to Moses’ memorial at Mt Nebo, Crusaders to their castle fortifications and Muslim pilgrims heading to and from Mecca.
Along the highway we stopped at Dana Nature Reserve where we looked over the Wadi Mujib valley. There we stopped at a little local store where products are made by local women. This was an incentive that was run by Queen Nora in order to help the women in the communities make sweets, soaps and jewelry to sell in tourist shops and provide them with some work. Our next stop was in Karak and we visited a Crusaders castle which is a fortress that dominates the town. It has seen battles between the Crusaders and the Islamic armies. We then continued along and stopped to view a famous mosaic in St George’s Church in Madaba. The Church is a 19th-century Greek Orthodox Church. This famous mosaic is one of an original map of Jerusalem. This mosaic was lost over time due to earth quakes and whatever is left of it the current church has been built around it. The mosaic is estimated to have been constructed in 560AD.
Our final stop for the day was Mt Nebo the mountain where God showed Moses the Promised Land and where Moses died. “On that same day the LORD told Moses, “Go up into the Abrim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel” Deuteronomy 32:48-52. From this mountain we could see into Israel in the direction of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. We could also see the Dead Sea.
That evening we arrived in Amman, we cleaned up and went for a walk to a restaurant called Wild Jordan which overlooked the city and watched the sunset sipping tea. We then walked over to a local pizza place for dinner.
The next day we went to the ruins of Jerash. This ancient city rose to prominence from the time of Alexander the Great (333 BC). We entered the city through Hadrian’s Arch which is a Triumphal Arch. The highlight of this ancient city was the South Theatre. It was built between AD 81 and 96. It could seat 5000 spectators and now can hold around 3000. The ancient people who built this theatre were truly amazing; the acoustics that come from the theatre are astonishing. We could feel the acoustics from standing off centre and speaking normally, then standing in the centre and speaking, and feeling the echo and vibrations through the theatre.
We then headed off to the Dead Sea. This was an amazing experience. Firstly after arriving to a resort and getting comfortable on a lido, we walked down to the Sea. There was a man selling mineral mud, e we paid him 1 Dinar and we covered ourselves in black mud. This mud is full of minerals and very good for your skin. Once it dried we washed ourselves off in the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is very salty; you don’t want to get any water in your eyes. It makes all your bits feel tingly. Also the Dead Sea makes you buoyant, you just float, and you cannot sink. We bobbed around for a while then we had to get out because it’s very salty. We spent the rest of the day by the pool at the resort smoking shisha’s.
Our final day in Amman wasn’t very exciting. We were there during Ramadan and all the shops and cafes were closed which made it very hard to find food. We chilled out in our hotel till it was sunset then we went out for food.
Next stop Lebanon……

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