Jordan March 27

I have to admit flying isn't the thrill it used to be. Just checking in is a pain. The new automatic kiosk are designed by sadists. You have to put in your passport. The picture clearly shows photo up. After trying 4 machines I finally saw someone get in. I asked, and he showed me that it's photo down. I could almost hear the laughter of the gremlins in the machine.

The flight to Vienna was uneventful. One interesting point. The seat next to me was occupied by a dog...a real dog. There were actually two dogs on this flight. Another first for me.

There were several small children on the flight to Amman, from Vienna.

I preferred the dogs.

Once I arrived in Jordan everything went smoothly. I was at my hotel by 3 in the afternoon.

I spent the rest of the day wandering around Madaba, my first stop. It goes back to Biblical times, and was ruled by the Greeks, the Nabateans, the Romans, and finally Muslims.

It lay abandoned after 900 AD, until a small group of Christians, Greek Orthodox, and Catholic resettled it many hundreds of years later. The interesting fact is that the old, central part is almost 100% Christian, while the suburbs are all Muslim. They outnumber the Christians almost 10 to 1.

During an 900 year span, from 100 BC to 800 AD,  Madaba was the centre for making mosaics, and the main tourist attraction right now are the mosaics. The best known is a map of the entire area, covering Jordan, Israel, and parts of Egypt. The geographic accuracy is amazing. It shows all the gates of Jerusalem, as they are still today. It identifies 150 cities and towns, also the River Jordan and the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean

It was originally 16 by 6 meters, and consisted of over 2 million pieces. What is left still lies in the floor of St. George's church, where it was created in the 6th century.

I did a some walking, and it was interesting. The streets are dirty, lots of garbage, full of small shops. The largest supermarket I saw was about the size of a small 7-11 store.

The varieties of female fashion is great. The majority wear the full length dress, but I only saw a couple of cases where the face was fully hidden. Don't get me wrong, some of the long dresses are beautiful, and quite sexy. It's fun seeing a bunch of female students, some in jeans, some wearing the traditional dress.

Jordan March 28

There were two things I did not have expect, cold and rain. In less than 24 hours I have experienced both. Last night was only 8. My room has a radiator which didn't have any controls, so I went to bed cold. Fortunately I had brought a long sleeved Merino wool undershirt, and a pair of long underwear. I wore both to bed last night. This morning I discovered that the radiator was from days of yore, and I had an AC unit that had a remote control.

It also rained this morning, on and off, but heavy at times. That's what happens when you don't bring any rain gear.

I did not let the rain deter me, and I saw all the tourist sights in Madaba. As I mentioned there is a lot of history here, and a lot is documented by mosaics. I have seen a LOT of mosaics today, and I have visited a lot of churches.

The two best locations were an Archeological Park, which has a collection of mosaics from the area, nicely displayed. The other is a site which has the Church of the Virgin Mary, and the Hippolytus Hall, which was a private villa, with a beautiful mosaic floor. Both of the last two are in their original location, uncovered after more than a thousand years.

The main cathedral in Madaba is dedicated to the beheading of John the Baptist, another story you don't want to tell your kids at bed time. The church is situated at the highest point in the town. There are also 100 steps to get to the top of the bell tower. Lovely view.

I am quite fascinated by the way women are dressed here. The standard dress is at ankle length. Even though the dresses are loose, some are very stylish. Very few are just plain. Most women wear a scarf, and that can also be quite a fashion accessory. Make-up is also very noticeable on some of the women. There are a lot of stylish women.

A small minority wear the niqab, where the only thing visible are the eyes. I saw one woman, completely in black, only the eyes were visible. I noticed that when she lifted her dress, not to step in a puddle, she had a pair of very colourful leotards underneath.

It is funny to see such a woman driving a car. You don't know whether she is going to a mosque, or whether she is off to rob a bank.

My hotel is quite nice. The bed is great, it has a memory foam mattress. Heavenly. Breakfast is included, and it is a feast. Eggs, pancakes, fresh orange juice, even beans ( no, thank you). No bacon though. Those Muslims don't know what they are missing.

Jordan March 29

No rain today; and that's a good thing.

It was an up and down day, literally. 

I hired a car and driver to visit some of the famous spots in the area. Most of the biblical sites are in the middle of nowhere, and public transport is not an option, therefore the car and driver. 

We started out by driving up to Mount Nebo. This is the highest point in the area, at over 800 m, and it is the spot from where Moses, after wandering in the desert for 40 years, was able to see the promised land, and where he died. Bummer! It is high above the Jordan River, and you can see Jericho, in Israel. On a clear day, which today was not, Jerusalem can also be seen.

The biblical sites associated with Jesus, weren't noticed, until the 4th century. Before then this was part of the Roman Empire, and the state religion was pagan. After Constantine became emperor and made Christianity the state religion, there was a sudden interest in the sites associated with Jesus, and early Christians started to built churches at these sites. Earthquakes and the Muslim invasion put an end to Christian sites, so many were not rediscovered until the last two centuries.

In 1933 archeologists excavated at Mount Nebo, and discovered churches from the 5th century.

The view from Mount Nebo is striking; very desolate and aesthetic. The temperature in the morning was cool.

From Mount Nebo, we drove to Bethany, on the banks of the River Jordan, which is almost 400 m below sea level. This is the location where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Once again Christians started to make pilgrimages to this spot, in the 5th Century and various Christian churches have places of workshop there. Right now there are almost 10 small churches there, Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Coptic, Protestant, Armenian, to name a few. The baptism site is at a spring flowing into the Jordan River, a few meters away. We walked to the river, which is a mere creek. On the opposite side is Israel, and there were groups of tourists there, but they didn't get to the actual baptism site.

Because of the low elevation the temperature here was much warmer, mid 20's, humid, and the vegetation was lush.

From Bethany we drove a few km south to the Dead Sea. Floating in the Dead Sea was one of my ambitions, and it was an interesting experience . Sea water is about 4 % salt, the Dead Sea is 39% salt. You can't swim, all you can do is float. Another thing, the taste is terrible. 

I was surprised at the size of the lake, it's 50 km long, and 15 km wide, and, at 418 m below sea level, the lowest point on earth. There are a lot of spas on the lake, because the mud from the lake is said to be therapeutic. I did not participate.

After the Dead Sea adventure we drove back up to the Dead Sea Lookout. Quite spectacular. The scenery is very stark, no towns, just desert, not the sand type, just brown earth, rocks and stones. Very little vegetation. I was amazed at the number of goat and sheep herds that we saw during the day. The tribesmen are still nomadic, and live in large rectangular tents. This area gets very hot in the summer, so they move north or into the mountains. I'm amazed that there is enough grazing for the animals.

We returned to Madaba by 4; a long and interesting day.

Jordan March 30

Travel day today. I had a car and driver from Madaba to Petra. At one point, before I left I thought about renting a car; thankfully I didn't. The road signs are 99.9% Arabic only. It would have been Moses in the desert for 40 years, all over again .

There are two highways going from Madaba south, the King's Highway, and the Desert Highway. The first one is the old one that goes along the Dead Sea, and passes through all the towns and villages. The Desert Highway is new, and more direct, but less interesting. 

We took the one first, and it was much more scenic. We passes through Wadi Mujib, a spectacular canyon. (Wadi means valley or canyon). Wadi Mujib is 500 m deep, and 2,5 km across. It reminded me a lot of the American southwest. It took us over half an hour to go and back up, nothing but switchbacks, and great scenery. Very rugged country. In all the valleys there are springs or creeks and there are farms, and it is green.

We passed through a lot of villages and towns. 

Some observations. Garbage cleanup is a lost art in Jordan. You can tell when you get near a village, the garbage along the road increases linearly as you get closer. I saw a group of trees with large birds on them. It turned out to be black plastic bags blown there by the wind.

Sheep and goat herding is everywhere, from the outskirts of cities to the most remote mountain side, and right along the road. And they all had young kids herding them. This is not a dying profession, although my high school guidance teacher never mentioned it to me.

Back to the tourist bit.

One of the sites I wanted to see was the Crusader Castle at Karak. This was the largest of the Crusader castles in Jordan. It is on a peak, sharp drops on three sides, and overlooks the Dead Sea in the distance. It is large and was manned by 1000 soldiers, and sheltered 200 horses. It took Saladin several years before he finally starved out the defenders. After Saladin, the Ottoman and Muslims used the castle for several hundred years. 

I liked the well-equipped kitchen.

We also saw another, smaller castle, Shobak, on the way to Petra. This was also known as Montreal Castle.

I am very pleasantly surprised at my hotel in Petra. It's close to the entrance to Petra, and has all the anemities, even a fridge, and a safe.

Jordan March 31

I went to a presentation of "Petra by Night", last night. You walk about 2 km, of which about half is the Siq, which is the narrow canyon leading to the Treasury, the main attraction in Petra. The way is lit by candles along the walk. I brought a flashlight which helped greatly. The front of the Treasury is also lit by numerous candles. It is quite a magical setting. You are in an opening, almost the size of a football field, surrounded by sheer cliffs over a hundred feet high, towering above. The sky was clear, stars shining brightly.

An Arab started to play a beautiful melody on a flute. At the end they illuminated the facade of the Treasury.

It wasn't cheap, nothing in Jordan, and especially Petra is. The evening walk was 34$, entrance to Petra is 100$, for one day, 110$ for a two day pass. Those prices are for tourists that are staying in Jordan. For day visitors to Petra, mostly tour groups from Israel the fee is 180$, for a day visit.

Since the Syrian war tourism has taken a real hit. Tourism is one of the main sources of income for the country. In 2010 there were 8 million tourist visits, in 2015 it had dropped to 3.7 million.

My driver from Madaba told me that he used to drive this route 15 times a month, in high season, now it's 2 or 3 times.

Jordan is an interesting country of contrasts. You can drive for miles, and see nothing but uninhabited desert, then you come to a spring, or river, and suddenly everything is green.

This is one of the driest countries in the world. Water consumption, per capita, is one tenth of what it is in North America. One tenth, think about it, how often would you flush the toilet? I'm doing my bit, only one shower so far.

Jordan has a population of 9.5 million. This includes 2 million Palestine refugees, escaping from the West Bank, and 1.4 million Syrian refugees since 2010. It's laughable when we look at the fuss because Canada accepted 25000 this year.

I have decided on a day of rest today. I didn't get back from Petra till 11, and had a shower, did some laundry. I was thinking about going to visit Petra today, but it's a 5 am wake up, so I am going tomorrow; one of the nice thing about my flexible schedule. I was talking to some tourists at my hotel in Madaba, and they only had one day at Petra, and it was last Monday, and it was cold and rained all day. What a shame.

I did walk into town, Wadi Musa, nice hike, like walking from downtown Hamilton up the mountain. Fortunately the weather is nice, 21 and sunny.

Wadi Musa seems more conservative. In Madaba a lot of women were on the street. Here it's mostly men. There is no mixing of the sexes. The only time a man and a woman are seen together, it is a married couple. 

I did encounter my first beggar, a women in a black burka holding a baby. It could have been a doll, because there was no sound or movement. She was heading to the entrance to Petra. A lot of scams in this town.

Food is expensive, a medium pizza is 15$. 2 oranges and 2 small bananas, 4$. And that's at a local market.

Also, thanks for the feedbacks. Thanks to Carl I now know that, because I didn't become a shepherd, there are a lot of happier sheep out there. 

Jordan April 1

I am pleasantly surprised at how well I am feeling today. No aches and pains, no more than usual. I had a good nights sleep, woke up only once.

I did drink a lot of water yesterday, I took a 1.5 L bottle with me, which I finished on the walk, and then drank another 1.5L bottle within an hour of getting back to the hotel.

I have decided to stay another day at the hotel. Just relax and read. My hotel has a lovely rooftop patio.

When I started my walk the temperature was 11, by the time I got back it was 24, and very little shade.

Petra is has an amazing history. The area has been inhabitant end since 7000 BC. The city was started by the Nabateneas at about 300 BC, and reached its height at the time of Christ. It was on all the trade routes between Asia and Egypt, and the Mediterranean. The facades were carved at about this time.

Petra is at the bottom of a bowl, surrounded by mountains.

As impressive as the facades so is the system of water conduits they constructed to supply water to the city. Flash flooding was a serious and deadly danger, and the excavations discovered a sophisticated series of dams and cisterns. There are no streams, all the water had to be collected from springs and run-off. The conduits were lined with terra cotta tiles. There are mil s of these water channels.

After the Nabateans, Petra became part of the Roman Empire. By about 500 AD trade routes had changes, and a couple of major earthquakes caused the city to be abandoned.

When Petra was rediscovered by Europeans in the early 19th century there were Bedouins living there. Excavations showed a different city. In the Siq, which is more protected there was a 2 m layer of dirt and stones, which had accumulated over the years. When this was removed it uncovered parts of the original Roman road, and a water conduit running the entire length of the Siq. 

On the main site the original city was under 10 m of dirt and gravel. Excavations are still continuing.

In 1985 the Jordanian government came to an agreement with the local Bedouins to move from the historical site to newly built villages nearby. Part of the agreement allowed the locals a monopoly on all commerce on the site. All the kiosks, and there are many, restaurants, donkey, camel, and horse rides can only be run by locals, and they pay no rent or taxes. All the guides are also local tribesmen. At the moment there are still 20 Bedouin families living near the site.

Jordan April 2

I am pleasantly surprised at how well I am feeling today. No aches and pains, at least no more than usual. I had a good nights sleep, woke up only once.

I did drink a lot of water yesterday, I took a 1.5 L bottle with me, which I finished on the walk, and then drank another 1.5L bottle within an hour of getting back to the hotel.

I have decided to stay another day at the hotel. Just relax and read. My hotel has a lovely rooftop patio.

When I started my walk the temperature was 11, by the time I got back it was 24, and very little shade.

Petra is has an amazing history. The area has been inhabitanted since 7000 BC. The city was started by the Nabateneas at about 300 BC, and reached its height at the time of Christ. It was on all the trade routes between Asia and Egypt, and the Mediterranean. The facades were carved at about this time.

Petra is at the bottom of a bowl, surrounded by mountains.

As impressive as the facades so is the system of water conduits they constructed to supply water to the city. Flash flooding was a serious and deadly danger, and the excavations discovered a sophisticated series of dams and cisterns. There are no streams, all the water had to be collected from springs and run-off. The conduits were lined with terra cotta tiles. There are miles of these water channels.

After the Nabateans, Petra became part of the Roman Empire. By about 500 AD trade routes had changes, and a couple of major earthquakes caused the city to be abandoned.

When Petra was rediscovered by Europeans in the early 19th century there were Bedouins living there. Excavations showed a different city. In the Siq, which is more protected there was a 2 m layer of dirt and stones, which had accumulated over the years. When this was removed it uncovered parts of the original Roman road, and a water conduit running the entire length of the Siq. 

On the main site the original city was under 10 m of dirt and gravel. Excavations are still continuing.

In 1985 the Jordanian government came to an agreement with the local Bedouins to move from the historical site to newly built villages nearby. Part of the agreement allowed the locals a monopoly on all commerce on the site. All the kiosks, and there are many, restaurants, donkey, camel, and horse rides can only be run by locals, and they pay no rent or taxes. All the guides are also local tribesmen. At the moment there are still 20 Bedouin families living near the site.

Jordan April 3

It was off to Aqaba this morning. I had planned to take the bus, but I had to take a taxi to the bus station, about 2 km uphill. Not with my luggage. Once I got in the cab he convinced me to hire him to go to Aqaba. The cab fare to the bus would be 3JD, the bus 7JD, and then I would have to find my hotel. He offered to take me to my hotel for 20JD. Not a bad deal for a 120 km drive. He even bought me a tea, and a bag of fresh falafels, along the way. 
They like their tea, and everything very sweet. Bakeries have the most delectable displays. One of the desserts is Al-Hooh which consists of layers of phyllo pastry stuffed with nuts or dates. It is then fried in ghee and dipped in sugar syrup. Ghee is clarified butter. You won't find that on any WeightWatchers menu.
Coffee is also interesting. It is Arabic coffee, similar to Turkish coffee, only with an added cardamom flavour. Doesn't taste like coffee, but quite tasty. You get a small cup, and the bottom cm is coffee sludge. Small sips are the way to go.
Aqaba is at the most southerly point of Jordan, at the end of the Red Sea on the Bay of Aqaba. It is the only port in the country, and so has a lot of commercial importance. Even in ancient times it was at a crossroad of the trade routes between Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Today it is also a huge tourist spot, beautiful resorts and beaches. There are coral reefs, and scuba diving is a big attraction. It's where the Jordanians go in the winter, because of the mild weather.
Today the high reached 32, not something I'm used to. I walked for about four hours, and I was beat.
I am off on a boat trip to do some snorkelling tomorrow.
Interesting what you can do in the desert.

Jordan April 4

A mind is a wonderful thing to lose. I'm back to the basics, days of the week and time. My hotel, In Petra, informed me last Thursday that daylight savings time started that midnight. I thought that's a weird day to change the clocks, but I found out that weekends aren't Saturday and Sunday, but Friday and Saturday. There is no school Friday and Saturday, but there is Sunday to Thursday. Ever since I have to check my calendar to make sure I am making reservations on the right day.

I also thought that the time difference was 5 hours. I didn't realize that mistake until I woke up Sandy at 5 am, thinking it was 7am.

Aqaba is very different from Madaba and Wadi Musa. I didn't see a lot of tourists in either, which is funny, because Wadi Musa is only a kilometre or so from Petra. I did spend some time there, but didn't see any tourists. A lot of tourists do Petra on a day tour, arrive by tour bus, spend 4 hours at the site, and leave. There are several hotels close to the entrance, and that's where I stayed. There are also several large fancy hotels on the road from Aqaba. On my drive to Aqaba we met a dozen or so tour buses heading to Petra.

Aqaba is another story. Very westernized, I saw my first Big Mac in Jordan, and a lot more western tourists on the street. There are some fancy resorts on the beach. Israel's city of Eilat is right next door. It's like one city, with a border running down the middle. There are a lot of one or two day tours from Israel to Petra.

Aqaba at night is also very different. It's the first place with a nightlife. Last night was a pleasant evening and the place was busy. Lots of restaurants, and people walking along the promenade. Jordan is very liberal when it comes to alcohol. I was surprised to see quite a few liquor stores in Madaba. There was a little plaza across from the hotel where I was staying. It was the "Hangover Mini Market and Liquor Store". Good name, covers all the possibilities.

This afternoon I took a boat cruise on the Bay of Aqaba. This bay is at one end of the Red Sea, which connects to the Arabian Sea, great for shipping. There are four countries at this tip of the bay. Israel is on the west side, and has just enough room for Eilat. Immediately south is Egypt. On the east side Jordan has about 20 km of shoreline, and then borders Saudi Arabia. On our little trip we saw all four countries. Not that there was much to see. The only settlements are Aqaba and Eilat.

The Red Sea is know for coral reefs, and there are a lot of diving and snorkelling sites. Our tour was on a glass bottom boat, and we drifted over some of the coral. We were also able to get in the water and snorkel.

I have to admit this was a let-down. This is NOT the Great Barrier Reef. The only advantage was that the ride was very smooth. On the way back we had a very good dinner.

The scenery, especially on the way back was beautiful. Aqaba has a rugged mountain range right behind it and the evening sun hit it just right.

On the way back to my hotel I walked along the beach. It was very lively, all locals, families and groups of women and teens enjoying the swimming and gorgeous weather.

A lovely way to remember Aqaba.

Jordan April 5

Yesterday was a wonderful afternoon and evening.

Of the 30 or so people on the boat there were only 6 Westerners. It was interesting to see Arab families and couples up close. The first thing that struck me was that those long dresses hide a lot of bodily imperfections. There were only a couple of the women who were slim, the rest were on the plumb side. Almost all of the men smoked, even some of the women did. None of the women went in the water

The walk home was delightful. I was the only tourist along the 2 km of beach. You really saw the locals, and they were having fun, playing, swimming, going for a boat ride. There were a number of all-female groups having a great time. I remember an evening like this on the Asian side of Istanbul.

Guide books are not perfect. According to my Rough Guide to get to Wadi Rum you can get on a bus to Amman, the driver will let you off at the road to Wadi Rum, and from there you can hitch a ride in. Tomorrow I can get back to the junction, flag down a bus and continue to Amman. Very logical, except that when I went to the bus terminal I was told they make NO stops. The only way to get to Wadi Rum is on a tour or by taxi.

I put up a sign at the hotel desk, and asked if anyone would share a taxi to Wadi Rum. A couple from Lithuania replied, and we shared a cab there this morning. The other myth in the guide book was that there were lots of chances from the highway. We didn't see a single car along the road. It would have been a long wait.

Tomorrow I will have to hire another cab to take me back to Aqaba, for my bus to Amman.

I have to say that the public bus system in Jordan is one of the poorest I have come across. I have spent more time in taxis the last week than I have in my previous 75 years. No contest.

This is Lawrence of Arabia country. The movie was filmed here, where he spent time with the local Bedouins. We passed the original train station. 

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom are not a real place. Some enterprising local found a place where there are some natural stone columns, and it is now a tourist destiny.

The most popular thing to do is to go  for a jeep rider into the desert. A lot of people do this on a day trip from Aqaba or Petra. I wanted to stay overnight in a Bedouin camp, and do a hot air balloon ride tomorrow morning. Unless there is a problem with the weather, I'm scheduled to go.

The camp where I am staying is absolutely beautiful. It is large, in the middle of the desert, and like an oasis. There are concrete huts, and tents. I'm staying in a tent, but it's very comfortable. Real beds, even electrical outlets. No toilet or AC. There is a nice cliff behind the camp. Breakfast and dinner is included.

As an added bonus there is a swimming pool, and WiFi. And to think 100 years ago the only way to get around was by camel.

Jordan is really hurting for tourists. Petra is still a big attraction, but most of the tourists come on one or two day trips from Israel. I don't think there are more than 4or 5 groups at this camp. The War in Syria is the big reason. What a shame, Jordan is lovely, the people very friendly, I feel absolutely safe.

Overview of the camp