Jordan
By Jaimy de Vries
From Israel we went on a day or multi-day trip to Jordan. We were in doubt in we wanted to do this. Last minute Jaron and I decided to go on a 2-day trip. It’s expensive, mainly because of all the border fees. We paid 400 euro per person for just 2 days. But it was worth it! It was an adventurous trip. We went on a 4×4 safari in Wadi Rum, slept in a Bedouin tent and went to one of seventh world wonders: Petra!
Jordan
From Eilat is Israel we went on a 2 day group tour to Jordan. Early in the morning we all meet up at the meeting point. First we were with a big group of people around 80 people. We had separate guides that helped us to cross the border at Eilat. More than 30 years ago it was not possible to cross the border from Israel to Jordan, until the peace treaty in 1994.After we crossed the border we got divided into smaller groups. We went into a smaller bus with 12 people, our guide was Methgal and Sehem our driver.
While driving to our destination we learned more about Jordan. Jordan is a monarchy with a king. There are 11 million people live here, 60% of it are refugees from Palestine, Iraq, Syrians, Lebanese and Egyptians. 94% of the Jordanians are Muslims, the rest are Christians. Our guide told us the people here are either poor (they earn around $ 600-700) or rich.
And the prices aren’t cheap here, they pay $1,50 for 1 liter of gas. There is a lot of corruption in the government. For example the charity money for the refugees, but only less than half of that money goes to them, the rest to the people in charge, the government.
First we went to Aqaba, the only coastal city of Jordan. It has some nice beaches and is located on the Red Sea. Lots of Jordans come here to enjoy the beach and for shopping because the prices here are cheaper. The tour company offered an early lunch for $20, but we wanted to explore the city by ourselves and eat our own lunch we bought with us. We had a nice picnic at the beach. It was a bit of a culture shock with Israel, because here in Jordan there are lots of Muslims and are more conservative in regarding to appearance. I was wearing shorts that day. So I put a scarf around my waist to cover my legs. At the beach I couldn’t go swimming, we only saw men swimming and women covered in clothing who where laying in the shadow and took care of the kids.
Wadi Rum
We drove through the Jordan up to Wadi Rum what took about two hours. We mostly saw dessert, mountains valleys and gorges. I was amazed by the colorful vertical lines in the mountains, representing all different kinds of minerals like Iron giving the stones a reddish color and coper giving it a greenish color. Our driver told us the main income in Jordan is the mining and oil business.
Wadi Rum is one of the highlights to do in Jordan. It’s a national park with a big dessert valley with big rock formations. It looked like mars. And I was not the only one thinking it looks like a place from another planet. They filmed a scene here from the movie Star Wars.
We explored this park by jeep. First we drove through the dessert valley, once surrounded by big rock formations we started to hike up some of these rock formations the get some nice views and good pictures J. Once the sun was setting down we reached our final hiking spot. We quickly climbed up to get a nice, cozy place for ourselves. We found a little cave. We had some drinks with us cheered and romantically enjoyed a pretty sunset.
Our first viewpoint
Look at those rocks!
Best picture!
Our romantic spot before sunset
After that we drove to our Bedouin camp where we would stay in luxury tents. It was a beautiful camp in the dessert. Lots of colorful lights made it very cozy. Our tent were more like luxury studios instead of tents, we had our own bathroom, electricity and even WIFI.
After setting in we had a Jordanian buffet with meat that they cooked under the ground. Afterwards we had some coffee and sat in the common lounge. There was some Arabic dancing too and everybody joined! We were quite tired after a long day. The bed was sooo comfy!!! We slept felt a sleep like a baby in just a couple of seconds.
It was possible to go on an hour camel ride through Wadi Rum early in the morning at 6:15 with sunrise. But we wanted some extra sleep and we heard they don’t take good care of camels in Jordan. I heard them mourning in the dessert the day before on our jeep safari. Most of our group went and had a good time. They thought the camels were well taken care of. It was definitely way better here in Wadi Rum than in Petra, that’s just animal abuse.
Leaving Wadi Rum
A Bedouin tent in Wadi Rum
Camels in Wadi Rum
The next morning we drove to Petra what took us more than an hour. Our guide explained us about all the trade routes in Jordan. There were lots of trading routes that go through Jordan. For example the silk route. These roads were also used by Pilgrims, the Christians used it to reach the baptism side, the Arabics for the road to Mekka.
Petra
Finally we reached Petra, one of the new seven world wonders, and the main reason we wanted to go to Jordan. Petra (Πέτρα) was the Greek name of the capital of the Nabataeans. The Nabataeans themselves called the city Raqmu. The place is located in a valle in the hills (Wadi Musa). As a result of tectonic activities, several fractures have occurred in the sandstone. Gorges have formed along some of these faults and the valley can only be reached through these gorges, making it easy to defend. In Wadi Musa it’s very dry, expect in the winter where there are lots of floodings. The city had an ingenious water supply system that provided enough water all year round. They carved watertanks and canals, build dams and build caves to control and save the water streams. The city is located on ancient trading routes between Arabia, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. Because of this, the location that made it easy to defend and the good watering system made this place grow to one of the most important trading hubs.
Finally we reached Petra, one of the new seven world wonders, and the main reason we wanted to go to Jordan. Petra (Πέτρα) was the Greek name of the capital of the Nabataeans. The Nabataeans themselves called the city Raqmu. The place is located in a valle in the hills (Wadi Musa). As a result of tectonic activities, several fractures have occurred in the sandstone. Gorges have formed along some of these faults and the valley can only be reached through these gorges, making it easy to defend. In Wadi Musa it’s very dry, expect in the winter where there are lots of floodings. The city had an ingenious water supply system that provided enough water all year round. They carved watertanks and canals, build dams and build caves to control and save the water streams. The city is located on ancient trading routes between Arabia, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. Because of this, the location that made it easy to defend and the good watering system made this place grow to one of the most important trading hubs.
Walking through the gorges
You could hear the echoing from these horse’s feet from miles away.
Old camel carvings
Finally we reached Petra, one of the new seven world wonders, and the main reason we wanted to go to Jordan. Petra (Πέτρα) was the Greek name of the capital of the Nabataeans. The Nabataeans themselves called the city Raqmu. The place is located in a valle in the hills (Wadi Musa). As a result of tectonic activities, several fractures have occurred in the sandstone. Gorges have formed along some of these faults and the valley can only be reached through these gorges, making it easy to defend. In Wadi Musa it’s very dry, expect in the winter where there are lots of floodings. The city had an ingenious water supply system that provided enough water all year round. They carved watertanks and canals, build dams and build caves to control and save the water streams. The city is located on ancient trading routes between Arabia, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. Because of this, the location that made it easy to defend and the good watering system made this place grow to one of the most important trading hubs.
Al-Khazneh
Look at those rainbow colors!
Monastery Trail
