Private Touring
to the
Most Intriguing Place
on Earth

One Week in Jordan.
  by Joyce Carta,  29 January - 5 February 2001

I’d read the books, seen the pictures but this was my opportunity to spend quality time in a country that’s so close and, in so many ways, so different from Egypt.  As always with these whirlwind orientation trips I knew the schedule would be tightly packed, mixing Antiquities with hotel visits, getting a good idea of distances and travel flow, and meeting with our Petra Moon ground operator representatives.   And seeing Petra…especially, seeing Petra.

29 Jan  Monday   
We left the comfortably friendly Nesima Resort in Dahab with regrets and anticipation…really the best way to take leave of a place.  My friend, Hoda, an Egyptologist and one of our talent pool of guides, was joining me for the first few days and I was pleased to have her company.  The transfer from Dahab to the Nuweiba ferry dock took exactly one hour traveling through more of South Sinai’s dramatic scenery.  No one had seemed completely sure of when the high speed catamaran would depart and since you needed to be there 2 hours in advance we played it safe time-wise…arriving at 10:30 AM and discovering the boat would depart at 3:00.  Oh well, “Insha’allah” – God’s Will.

Here’s the ferry boat procedure to follow:  when you arrive you first purchase your ticket…you need your passport for this and the ticket cost (as of 29 Jan 01) is $45…Egyptian pounds or U.S. dollars is fine. This price has increased in recent years, and we are able to prepurchase ferry tickets for you as part of your Egypt/Jordan land package.  Next you clear security…everything’s X-rayed and you then proceed to the departure building – turn left after security and it’s the biggest, longest structure on the dock.  Then you get yourself an Embarkation card (there are many people around more than willing to direct you, and yes, this is one of the many “baksheesh-able” services), complete it and proceed through the Immigration checkpoint.  And finally you’re admitted past the barrier to the waiting area for the Aqaba ferry.  Be prepared, it is not terribly clean, or comfortable and its duty free shop sells exclusively Chinese porcelains and other Far East merchandise (go figure!).

The high speed catamaran, as of this writing, departs daily at around 3:00 PM, but, like all things, this could be subject to change.  It is new, sleek and immaculate.  There are slow speed ferries…doing the trip in four hours…but no one with a choice would ever pick that.  Your $45 ticket entitles you to a seat in the mid-section…for another $8 you can upgrade to Business Class, enjoy slightly larger seats one level up but the view isn’t any different.  Perhaps the windows are a little cleaner.  Pick a seat on the port side and you can watch the “Egyptian Rivera” pass by…the tiny hotels that dot the shoreline from Nuweiba north to Taba.

Change a minimal amount of currency on board…I changed $50 and got .68 Jordanian dinar (JD) to the dollar.  The rates are much better at banks once you arrive…BUT you’ll need 10JD for your visa on arrival (again, as of this writing on 29 January 2001).

The trip takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes, very smooth sailing over 2-3 foot seas that zipped by unfelt.  As an extremely poor sailor I appreciated this!  There was no other water traffic EXCEPT for the slow ferry which departed 2 hours before our catamaran and with which we caught up about 45 minutes out! 

You can see Egypt’s Taba, next to Eilat in Israel and next to that the great Jordanian port city of Aqaba, which has grown in stature and size since the glory days of Lawrence of Arabia.  Wresting Aqaba from the Turks was one of his greatest triumphs.   Today Aqaba is updated, sparkling white and bustling with container ships…Jordan’s sole shipping outlet has a steady stream of inbound/outbound traffic.

We were met quickly and professionally by Eid, one of the principals of Petra Moon, who got our bags loaded and whisked us through Immigration and Customs.  Sometimes, but not often, they will visually inspect your bags but we were lucky.

Our first night was to be spent in Aqaba at the Mövenpick, only 10 months old, and glowing with newfound prestige as “the” business hotel in the city.  Washing up quickly we met to go to dinner at “Ali Baba” in the heart of Aqaba.  An excellent fish dinner followed:  all the usual, wonderful salads and appetizers, plus shrimp and fried calamari plus grilled snapper with lemon and garlic.  At dinner we discussed tourism in Aqaba which is mainly diving off the Jordanian reef.  Our clients are met at the dock and driven directly to Petra for their first night; we don’t sell Aqaba as a dive destination.  We reviewed various logistics, air options, a newly instituted catamaran service from Sharm to Aqaba (4 hours at high speed) but it only runs on Tuesdays.  The Nuweiba ferry dock experience may be a bit too “local” for some people and we’ll continue to search for other Sinai – Jordan transit options.  We’d love to see scheduled air service between the two cities and who knows, that may come to pass one day.   We made it an early night and fell gratefully, immediately to sleep.

30 Jan   Tuesday     
After probably the best buffet breakfast of the entire trip (smoked fish assortment, all sorts of tempting baked goodies, fluffy eggs anyway you like) we toured the Aqaba Mövenpick and its private beach complete with soft sand specially trucked in…which happens to be adjacent to one of the Royal Palaces.  The place is beautiful.  But we had miles to go and an agenda to keep.

On to Wadi Rum.  We took the main north-south Highway 15, branched off east and entered the Rum through a tiny outpost town.  “Vast and echoing and God-like” to quote T.E. Lawrence and in those 6 words he captured its spirit.  Spent the next 2 hours spinning and bumping following almost invisible tracks around rock formations that never seemed to get any closer…just larger and larger.  Eid’s 4WD Suzuki gripped the red sand as we worked our way around the famous “Seven Pillars” formation.  We stopped at Lawrence’s Spring, still in use by nomadic Bedouins, and then walked and climbed at a sliver in a rock canyon which hid a pool of fresh, cool water.  It’s impossible to capture the place with an auto focus pocket 35mm and I really didn’t even try.  Did get a few shots of some ancient petroglyphs of herders and camels…probably thousands of years old.   A vast dune of shifting sand greeted us behind the Pillars, on its inexorable, imperceptible mission to who knows where.

Camping trips into the Rum are possible and popular…by Jeep, camel or horse.  And I think that’s the best way to see it.  You sleep under large Bedouin tents, meals eaten under the stars and if you’re lucky enough to have a clear moon, you’re solitary, but never alone with the vast wind-carved mountains.  And by day you just wish your eyes had a larger range of vision because the rocks of the Rum are alive in the changing light.  Next time I’m here that’s exactly what I intend to do…Wadi Rum by Arabian horse plus Bedouin camping.

Continuing on to Petra, the sands changed from rose red to yellow, shot with purples, reds, greens and deep orange.…maybe altogether the Aqaba-Petra route takes 1-1/2 hours driving straight through.  With our Wadi Rum detour we arrived mid-afternoon, the rounded domes of Petra’s red rocks visible among the dunes.

Our first stop was the Petra Moon offices, scarcely ½ mile up the road from the site’s entrance.   It was wonderful to meet Wendy and the rest of the staff and we relaxed and laughed and talked travel shop.  Wendy told us there would be a special event in Petra that evening and of course we would attend.  So, with anticipation, we checked into the Petra Mövenpick, our home for the next 3 nights, grabbed a quick but excellent snack at the tiny “Red Cave” restaurant up the street, showered and changed.

The Mövenpick is exquisite.  It is definitely our 5 star hotel choice in Petra.  The ceiling detail is incredible, ornate, decorated, carved and gilded in the best Arabic design traditions.  Rooms are extremely large with bathrooms to match and of course all amenities you would expect.  We were greeted with a lovely fruit basket and plate of cookies along with a welcome note from the General Manager.  We felt very welcome.

So far we’re finding Jordan to be quite a contrast from Egypt.  I say “we” as this is Hoda’s first trip here and her thoughts on this, a neighboring country, are fascinating.  Jordan definitely has more wealth per capita, with a population of only around 4.7 million, it’s easier to provide essential services.   Jordan might have one of the youngest populations in the world…everyone seems to be below 35.  So, virtually all of these young people will have access to today’s technological achievements  Amazingly, a lot of this young population was born in tents and have grown up now using e-mail and cell phones.  Much of the construction in the country is new…built in the 80’s… so these homes are all equipped with electricity and plumbing.  Roads are mostly paved and paved well.  Tourism is the #1 income producer but Jordan is also a major supplier of produce and phosphates.  The people you see on the streets look healthy and well dressed and I understand that Jordan’s medical care is rated best in the Arab world.  Pictures of King Hussein and the new king, his son, Abdullah II, are everywhere.  They are truly and rightfully proud of the achievements of their Royal Family, both domestically and on the international peace front.  There’s a powerful connection between the Jordanian people and their King…virtually the entire population has Bedouin roots and the tribal allegiance runs deep and strong.

This night’s special event is a concert to be held in Petra’s Ancient Amphitheatre by the Copenhagen Chamber Ensemble.  They had gotten special permission to play in this acoustically ideal venue but the event wasn’t publicized.  So this was like a private welcome concert especially for us!  What conceit…but that’s exactly what it felt like.  We took our places on the rug-covered stone banquettes and listened to Bach and Vivaldi ring clear and true under the stars.

Deciding to walk back we enjoyed the flickering lights from the luminarias that lined the way…and when we reached the Treasury the impact was overwhelming.  We were seeing Petra as closely as possible to what it must have been like in its glory days.  “Petra By Night” is a walking tour that takes place on Mondays and Thursday evenings with luminarias and to the background music of a Bedouin flute.  We’ll be including this on all tours lucky enough to be in Petra over either night.

31 Jan   Wednesday   
In the morning we meet Ali, our guide for the first day in Petra and we set out walking.  The Mövenpick is located just at the site’s entrance and we strolled down the famous siq as Ali pointed out Nabatean, Roman and Greek features.   Jordanian guides are all licensed professionals and they train for an intensive 9 months. Not a tremendous amount is known about the civilization that built this place but you can infer a lot from their choice of chief god:  he was directly responsible for the protection of caravans (the city’s lifeblood trade) and was also the god of irrigation (the city’s lifeblood of survival).  

Just as fascinating as the rock-carved monuments are the rocks, themselves.  Petra is an erosion-created masterpiece…sandstone shot with minerals and various frosts that caused the minerals’ colors to burst in graphic circles, lines and designs.  Its hard to know in some places what’s manmade and what’s pure nature.

Because guidebook descriptions are so much more thoroughly descriptive I’ll omit copious details on the marvels of Petra.   What I will say is, don’t miss out meeting Marguerite, a New Zealand ex-pat who runs one of the Bedouin shops filled with beautiful jewelry and handcrafts made by local girls under the auspices of the Queen Noor project to aid rural women, and she offers delicious sage-flavored tea as a pick-me-up.   DO climb the 950 steps to view the “Monastery” as its massive edifice is a pure example of the best of the Nabatean architecture.   As a vantage point, the Monastery has perfect views of Wadi Arabia all around and, on a clear day, you can even see down into the Negev in Israel.

Some general notes…be prepared to hike and climb in Petra.  It’s about a 2/3 mile walk through the siq to the Treasury; it takes about 2-3 hours to make the Monastery climb at a reasonably, photo-snapping pace and I’m glad to be doing this all in a cool winter month.  Jordan has been known to get very cold on occasion and it’s even snowed here.  

Back at the Mövenpick I’m met by Wendy and Eid and we’re off to tour a truly unusual place, the Taybet Zaman, a 5 star hotel run by the Sofitel chain.  This was formerly a Bedouin stone village, slightly modified to suit hotel guest requirements with stunningly large rooms and Turkish bath facilities on premises.  The perfect antidote to a day of Petra climbing.  We had dinner at their restaurant:  “mannsaf” a traditional Jordanian meal of lamb, rice, paper thin bread and a yogurt mint dipping sauce…very tasty. 

1 Feb   Thursday    
This is my second day visiting Petra and I awoke with legs that reminded me acutely of the Monastery climb of the day before.  Oh well, once the blood gets pumping they’ll get better.   Today Ali is taking me to the High Place of Sacrifice (wonderful name).  This site is about 3,500 feet high and sacrifices were limited to the sheep and goats who could make the climb.  The Nabateans also sacrificed camels but down below in the main complex area…there was no way a camel could scale this.   We climbed up the back route and took the front route down, about 2 hours in total.  And, like the Monastery, the views are incredible, the altar setting dramatic and the experience profoundly unique.

I was able to see about 2/3 of the main sites in a day and a half of rapid fire touring…not a pace I’d recommend to anyone who could take more time.  Visitors have been known to spend 7 full days here…but I’d say the optimum for the interested traveler would be 2-1/2 touring days.  Be sure to take in the Museum and the Visitor’s Center, especially for the beautifully done crafts.  I purchased 2 cross-stitch vests, a local craft specialty and expertly done.

We made a brief visit to “Little Petra,” where incoming caravans had to stop until their toll was paid awaiting entrance into the main city.  This site is now used frequently for desert barbeque dinners and one was in the process of being set up for that evening, complete with luminarias to light the way through the tiny siq.  A real treat for me was a visit to the “Agricultural Village”…a settlement dated to between 6,000 and 6,500 BC, stone walls and foundations mark what must have been a thriving farm settlement.  Jordan is honeycombed with Neolithic settlements…it is, after all, probably the oldest continually settled and civilized land in the world.

Then it was time to visit more hotels.  First was the Nabatean Palace, recently taken over by Mövenpick and a lovely 4 star (almost a 5 star) hotel up high on a hill overlooking Petra.  Great rooms and facilities and they run a shuttle bus to Petra’s main gate.

Then we visited another converted Bedouin village hotel, also a Sofitel and slated to open in some months’ time.  This was similar in feel to Taybet Zaman and will probably be about on the same par.  This was Eid’s grandfather’s village but Eid confided that his grandfather probably would NOT have approved of turning his homestead into a hotel.

The Petra Palace is an excellent 3 star hotel, right next to Petra Moon offices and right up the street from Petra’s main gate.  3 star hotel standards are really much higher in Jordan than in Egypt.

Petra Guest House was the original hotel here in Petra and it’s recently been completely redone.  It’s a fine 3 star right AT Petra’s gate with a wonderful “Cave Bar” built into an enlarged Nabatean tomb.  Could you ask for anymore atmosphere than this?

The Petra Forum is a hotel we use frequently, a very high quality 4 star with unbelievably panoramic windows front and back.  The rooms are nice, large, especially in the new section.  We ate dinner here…the buffet offered good choices and everything was well prepared.

2 Feb   Friday    
It was time for Hoda to return to Egypt and time for me to move on from Petra.  Saying goodbye to a traveling buddy is never easy but our paths will cross again.  Eid and I set out on the north road and after about an hour we arrived at Shobak Crusader Castle.  This is one of 2 frequently visited castles built around the same period by the Arabs to fend off attacks by the invading European Crusaders.  Karak is the other castle but Shobak is definitely better preserved and with the reconstructions in progress you can get a feel for the enormity of the place.  Shobak was built to house 1,500 men and took decades to complete.  It’s hilltop vantage point was strategically and wisely chosen.

A half hour further north is Dhana Old Village…an “old village” of Bedouin stone structures in a nature reserve, established and protected by the Jordanian Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature.  They feature camping-type facilities, hiking trails and glorious views.   They also have a handicrafts shop with silver jewelry, pottery and very high quality handmade goods.  Prices are a bit steep but some of the proceeds goes to support the reserve.

From Dhana it’s about a 2 hour drive further north on the Kings Highway and then the Aqaba-Amman road to the Dead Sea.  You drive through mountains made from all the colors of the rainbow and plunge down to eventually the lowest spot on the planet, passing Bedouin tent villages and planted fields.  Much of Jordan is fertile and their apples, especially, are famous in the Middle East.

This was Friday, the week’s day off, and all of Jordan was out on the Dead Sea road playing and bathing in the hot springs along the route and at Wadi Mujib, the natural reserve we passed along the way.  Eid confided that he thought the Mövenpick Dead Sea Resort would be crowded, and he was absolutely correct.  It was packed…virtually all with Jordanian day visitors to the beach and spa.  My hopes of a restorative facial with Dead Sea mud faded fast…guess I’d just have to wear the travel worn face I came in with.

It’s a very nice resort, lovely rooms mimicking a Bedouin cave settlement.  Pool and beach throbbed with activity as little kids zoomed on those ubiquitous scooters.  Make a note:  we’ll never put guests here on a Friday…never.  And, if someone DID want to take advantage of the Zara Spa with all sorts of indulgent restorative treatments we’d be sure to make their reservations in advance.  My tour of the Spa left me regretting even more the fact that a Dead Sea mud mask would not be part of my program.  I had walked down to the beach to take a closer look at this lifeless, mineral-rich body of water and was generally more impressed with this viewing than I had been when I saw it from the other side at Ein Gedde in Israel.   From the Hotel’s “Sunset Amphitheatre” came selections from Verdi’s “Aida” as the sun set over the Dead Sea.   As the day-trippers slowly filed out, I could see how lovely the Movenpick resort really was.

We met some friends of Eid’s later for tea and sheesha (“narghiles” in Jordan); a Jordanian tour guide and his Spanish girlfriend who taught Spanish to adults in Amman…and their common language was English.  English is everywhere…sad but true, you really don’t need to learn to speak anything else, although if you even make a futile attempt at anything in Arabic you’ll win instant approval and admiration.

3 Feb   Saturday   
After a quick tour of the Movenpick, quick because I’d done all there was to do the day before, we made our way to the stops en route to Amman.   We passed the site, soon to be open, of Christ’s Baptism by St. John the Baptist in the River Jordan.  And then arrived in less than an hour at Mt. Nebo, Biblically famous as the high place from which Moses viewed the Promised Land.  There’s a wonderful excavation of 3^rd and 4^th Century Byzantine mosaics, a rebuilt chapel, a fine commemorative snake twined staff on the bluff overlooking Israel in the distance and a monument to mark Pope John Paul’s visit during the Holy Year of 2000.  Fascinating place.

Next stop was Madaba with its tiny but world famous Church of St. George, the church during whose construction the 6^th Century mosaic floor map of the world was discovered.  I regretted not having a guide to give me all the pertinent details, but our clients will have guides here.  And don’t miss the Archeological Site at the Tourist Office…take the first left down the road as you leave the Church…it’s open air, free and has a wonderful yet small collection.  For lunch we stopped at Haret Jdoudna, an excellent place (best lentil soup and most interesting kofta/potato/yogurt baked dish I’ve ever tasted) WITH a craft village.  It was here that I got a personal demonstration of exactly how mosaic pictures are created.

And finally we’re entering Amman.  The White City sprawling over 7 hills.  Clean, friendly, with a non-intimidating traffic flow.  Very modern, very “Western” and when I mentioned this last I wasn’t sure if it would be taken as a compliment but indeed it was.  Two fifths of Jordan’s population lives here and the city’s limits are impossible to see even from the Amra Forum, the hotel at its highest point.  This hotel was our first stop, an excellent 4 star facility with the aforementioned view, very good amenities and comfortable rooms…plus the Oriental a la carte restaurant on the top floor with this amazing view.

Next we visited the Carlton Hotel, formerly the site of the American Embassy, a fine 3 star facility with the warmth and management good will that’s so typical of the smaller hotels.  Personally, I’d rather stay in a small, friendly hotel that was long on character and charm.  The hallways lead to a rabbit warren of well appointed rooms and you could just imagine the high level doings that used to take place within them.

Right across the street from the Carlton is the Inter-Continental, an obviously 5 star hotel which completely measures up to Inter-Continental’s worldwide standards.  Amman’s crowning glory is the super deluxe Grand Hyatt Amman, as opulent and lavish as you would expect.

I stayed at the Amman International, a very good 4 star, and where the hotel management made every effort to see that I was comfortable and pampered.  It had been a long day and the huge lunch left me with no appetite for any more, so once I made arrangements to get CNN on my TV, I relaxed and wrote for the rest of the evening.

4 Feb  Sunday   
Today dawned windy, cold and rainy.  The temperature had been dropping all through Saturday and it rained during the night…the streets were slick and at breakfast the maitre d’ mentioned it might snow.  Well, since this is my last full day, and only day of less-than-perfect weather, I can handle this.  When I stuck my head out the door I quickly rethought my outer wardrobe and went back for my jacket.  It was cold and miserable.  And today we’re traveling to Jerash, the best preserved Roman provincial city…with lots of walking involved.  However Eid’s Suzuki had other ideas…it wasn’t moving no matter what.  Quickly he called Hertz for a back-up car and the episode gave me a chance to see just how well a “glitch” would be handled and I was pleased and impressed.

The car came with a driver and we played hide and seek with the sun during the 45 minute trip north to Jerash, which is only about 45 miles south of Jordan’s border with Syria.  It really is a compact, easily driven country.  The hard rain started just as we entered the site.  I had a guide who was eager to share every tiny fact, but this was about the 12^th Roman provincial city I’d seen and I didn’t want to risk getting sick for the trip home.  So we talked generalities…and he confided to me, “We love Americans, they have a special magic to make us happy just by talking with us.”  How can you not be completely captivated with this attitude?

To really see Jerash takes about 2-1/2 hours; the site covers acreage plus lots of ground that’s since been overbuilt with more modern housing.   Back at the Jerash Rest House we warmed up with some tea, got some excellent literature (Jordan does rate special mention for the quality of its descriptive literature), and drove back to Amman for lunch at one of the “typical” restaurants we use for clients on their last day in-country.  With still maybe 2 hours of daylight left and the rain tailing off, we took a whirlwind city tour just to get a flavor of Amman before returning to the Amman International for a few hours of sleep.

5 Feb  Monday   
The wake up call came promptly and by 1:00 AM we’re en route to Queen Alia Airport, about 19 miles outside of Amman (Amman and its environs were too hilly for an airport to be built closer to the city).  I WILL definitely recommend to departing clients that they take the final half-night hotel stay…even if you only get a few hours’ rest and a shower it puts you in a better traveling mood.

I was on the Lufthansa 3:35 AM.  We arrived at 1:30, the appropriate 2 hours in advance, check in took about an hour, found the right window and paid the 10JD departure tax (which has to be paid in dinars so you must remember to reserve this much per person).  Security was tight.  They seemed to be looking for someone, but a male someone.  However, my favorite traveling companion, my TravelSmith vest, with all it’s metal bells and whistles “beeped” the machine so I had my turn in the pat-down booth with an unsmiling Jordanian security gal.   I said my Goodbye’s and Thank You’s to Eid and proceeded to the gate, where there was more security.  Wising up, I sent the vest through the X-ray scanner with my hand luggage and this time passed through problem-free.  When I get home I’m going to recommend TravelSmith look into a plastic alternative for all the high quality metal gadgetry.

With typical Teutonic efficiency we took off at 3:35 AM, blessedly I had a whole row to myself and the luck continued with the Frankfurt to Chicago flight leg…another whole row to myself.  The decrease in travel to my favorite part of the world is meaning a lot of these flights are half full or less.  As much as I welcomed the space, I wasn’t happy with the obvious evidence of diminished tourism.  I had heard the same story everywhere in Jordan, as well as in Egypt…Tourists, especially Americans, just weren’t making the trip.

As I flew over the ocean I drafted an addendum to our Egypt Magic website.  There could not be a better time to visit either country than now.  There are no security/safety problems…you have the advantage of cool weather that’s perfect for touring and the overwhelming advantage of not having to share the sites with a lot of other travelers.  I decided to call the addendum:  The Time To Go Is NOW…

…and that’s the thought I’ll leave you, Reader of this diary, with:  Go Now.