Day 1: Wednesday
We started out our journey with thankfully the only real snafu that we had all week. We got to the Amman airport only to find that the rental car I had reserved online was actually at a different airport. We got in a taxi to go to the other airport, but the address given online didn't even exist, so we turned around after not having gone very far and decided instead to just rent a car there on the spot. This turned out to be a great decision because it allowed us to get to town just in time to see the Roman Amphitheater and the Citadel right before sundown - which proved to be the best lighting for pictures!
We ran around taking pictures for a while, got hit on by some guards and a few other random groups of men (something with which we become quite familiar by the end of the trip), and then made our way to the hotel. Amman was actually built on 7 hills, like Rome, so navigating those hills turned out to be a bit difficult, getting somewhat lost on the way to the hotel. As we had already found out, flirting gets you pretty far in Amman so we got directions from a couple of policemen on the side of the road. They looked trustworthy. Hotel was okay, but dinner was much better. We ate at the Blue Fig half way across town, again getting lost several times. And by lost I mean the roads on the map were closed or under construction and we were having a hard time following the directions given to us at the desk of the hotel. Regardless, we had a fun time, especially since it was Anne's 24th bday.Day 2: Thursday
We got up at about 6am to try to get an early start on the day because we had quite an itinerary ahead of us. We drove out of town, again getting lost, and headed towards the Dead Sea. Right before you get to the Sea you come upon the turnoff for Jesus' Baptism Site so we decided to take a detour. It turned out to be a long detour but it was well worth it because not only did we get to see the excavated site and surrounding remains of churches from the last 2 millenia, but we came within about 20 yards of Israel and I got a pretty good picture of Jericho. After the Baptism Site, we headed to the Dead Sea. Turns out floating there isn't all it's cracked up to be. The sensation of floating was pretty cool, but the salt was so intense that my skin itched like whoa for about 30 minutes afterwards and Anne got a rash on her face.
So after a brief break at the Dead Sea (and of course accompanying signature picture), we got back in the car and headed to Petra on the Dead Sea Highway. Little did we know that this road was incredibly windy and incredibly slow, so it took us at least twice as long as we thought to get to even Karak, where we decided to stop for lunch. This, again, turned out to be an excellent decision because Karak actually has one of the most popular and best preserved crusader castles in all of Jordan. And the best part is that you can go pretty much anywhere you can climb, crawl, or clamber to, which made some pretty sweet pictures. After an adventurous detour we once again hit the road and headed for Petra on a slightly faster but not so much straighter road, King's Highway. It was incredibly picturesque because it winds in and out of all these mountain towns and low valleys. We had plenty more flirtatious interactions with guards in both Karak and on the road at all the "checkpoints" along the highway. The second we dropped the word "American," they stopped the hard questioning and were extremely welcoming to us. I can't remember the last time I heard someone say they were Jordanian in America and having that solicit a very welcoming response... Anyway, the adventure continued on the road as we got stuck behind some weird sort of caravan of cars that was honking and driving slow and taking up all of the lane so we couldn't pass them. Of course the people behind me were honking at me to pass, so at one point, we were hurtling down the hill in the on-coming traffic lane trying to pass this group at about 60km/hour while going around a sharp turn. Somehow we made it, but it was by far the weirdest driving experience I've ever had (Anne can confirm that for herself and she's been to no less than 5 or 6 African countries!). We eventually made it to Petra by dark, had a small hotel mixup which put us much closer to the entrance to Petra in the end (only about 500m from the gate) and had a sub-par dinner.Day 3: Friday
We got up early yet again to head out the door early for Petra. This was, again, an EXCELLENT decision because we got the coveted picture of the famous treasury without tourists in it and we also beat the crowds up to the monastery on the top of the mountain. The views were indescribable, something pictures could never do justice to (although I certainly tried).
If you ever go to Petra, you can't pass up hiking the 900 steps (and then some) to the monastery, even if you're tired. It's simply stunning. We started our trip to Petra at 7am, and by 1pm we were completely exhausted. So we decided to get back in the car and headed off to Wadi Rum. As we were leaving we could see down to Petra from on top of a nearby mountain and could literally see the Siq (canyon) that we walked through to get the treasury. We could even see Aaron's Tomb from where we stopped to take pictures, which we could also see from the monastery. Several hours later, stopping to get gas in the middle of nowhere was an interesting experience. Nobody spoke English so we quickly learned that saying "beetrool" was the best way to get what we needed. We made it to Wadi Rum by about 4pm, which was just enough time to get to the Visitor's Center and figure out the plan for the next day, as well as take some pictures of the "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" of TE Lawrence fame. That night we ate at the little camp we stayed at, and crashed in our comfortable tent we had rented for the night.Day 4: Saturday
Unfortunately, we didn't wake up as early as we had hoped nor did we get moving as quickly as we should have, but we still had enough time to get in a short hike in Wadi Rum before hitting the road for Amman. We were walking through sand pretty much the whole way, which was beautifully red with random shrubs sticking up here and there. I think the highlight was this video of the poor camel trying to catch up with the herd that was far ahead of him. They tie the camels' feet together so they won't run off (because there are no fences), but that makes guys like this one a little disadvantaged. I almost died laughing. After about 3 hours of desert wandering, we got back in the car and headed to Amman. The boring nature of the Desert Highway, although fast, made me very happy that we had chosen to take the longer scenic route on the way down. We dropped the car off, had just enough time to catch some coffee and a little duty-free action, and we were back on the plane for home.
PS. The pics in this post are only a few of the MANY that I took over the weekend. The rest you can find in my Picasa Folder, following the link to the left of this blog.
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