Weekend Getaway to Jordan

Ryan and I took a quick trip to Jordan over Thanksgiving weekend.  We were extremely lucky to get a guided tour of some of the country from our new friend Moayad.  He picked us up from the Amman airport in chilly (by Gulf standards) drizzling weather.  It was nice to see the rain for sure.  We drove the 3.5 hour drive to Petra, stopping along the way to get roadside Turkish coffee, see Roman ruins, and have a quick falafel sandwich.  The landscape changed dramatically from rocky sandy soil, to rolling hills, than mountains and sandstone canyons as we headed south.  It was so different from the Gulf landscape that we have gotten used to, and for the first time I felt like I was in the Middle East.  As we got closer to Petra the rain stopped and the sun began to shine right down on the valley where we were headed.

Moayad took us to Little Petra first which was a great warm up for what we would see the next day.  We hiked up a path to the ‘best view in the world’ and looked over the canyons striped in red and orange.  The shopper in me was highly disappointed that the bedouin stalls scattered among the rocks, were closed already.  By this time the sun was setting and we drove the last 3 km to our lodging that night.  We stayed sadly only one night, in the 7 Wonders Bedouin Camp, tucked behind a rocky mountain just down the road from Little Petra.  When we arrived it began to sprinkle again but we quickly got the tour of the campsite and show to our tent.  All that was inside was a bed, nightstand, candle, and a zippered window.  The generators would go off around 10:30pm so we would want to use the community restrooms beforehand most likely.

We had been up since 4 am but there was still so much planned for our day so we quickly dumped off our things and headed up to the main tent where a fire was roaring (at this time it was 6 degrees celsius outside).  We sat down and enjoyed some deliciously sweet tea with 2 other travelers from the Netherlands and as more people arrived we couldn’t wait for dinner. The men at the camp were certainly nomadic, as were so many of the people we saw in Jordan.  As we sat down for dinner I remembered it was Thanksgiving and took a quick photo of our traditional Bedouin feast.

After dinner we were off again with Moayad picking us up to see Petra at Night.  It is a 2 km hike into the city and in the dark it felt like a forever walk, but candle luminaries lit the way and made for a very romantic and dramatic first viewing of the ancient city.  I would recommend to time your first viewing of Petra at night!  By the time we got back to our camp it was 10:30pm and we were exhausted but we were heading out the next morning at 6:30 am so it was a quick rest.

After four and a half hours hiking through Petra the next day (see the movie below) we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to the Dead Sea.  The roads were so windy through the mountains I had to lay down for a bit but we stopped a few times to look out over the mountains at the Dead Sea Valley.  Moayad dropped us off for the final time at our resort and we hustled into our swimsuits to float in the Dead Sea.  You aren’t allowed to be in the water after sundown so we only had about 20 minutes, but I could only stay in for 5 max.  Even though the air was a bit chilly you didn’t feel the cold in the water as you watched the bromine film on the surface.  The bottom of the sea is rocky to begin with so we wore special shoes from the hotel to get in (it is suggested to go in backwards).  Every little scrape or cut you might have starts to burn and is not the best feeling in the world so I was glad to hop out and cover myself with healing Dead Sea mud.  We rinsed off and made our way to the spa for some local treatments.  We were so relaxed by the time we got back to the room we decided to order room service and just stay in for the night.  It was the first time in 3 days we could sleep in.

That was our whirlwind trip to Jordan and the next morning we set off for the airport driving past the baptism site and mountain where Moses was last seen.  Like every place you visit there is always more to see and I am sure that won’t be our last trip to Jordan.   Hope you enjoy the video!