Jordan Trip Report
Sally Jefferis and Jake - Jordan Trip May Half Term 2009
When the opportunity came up for me and my 12 year old son Jake to visit Jordan during the May half term, I had been a little apprehensive. I'd travelled to Middle Eastern Countries before but not as a single woman with a child so the draw of travelling with other families meant there was some security along with some company for us both whilst exploring the area. It was somewhere I'd certainly wanted to see for a long time, ancient temples, Roman cities, castle ruins, Petra and the Dead Sea awaited us, what an adventure.
We met our fellow travellers the Singer family (Mum and son, Rebecca and Gabrielle 7 years old and their friend Joanne) at Heathrow, on arrival at Jordan airport we were met by our tour guide for the week Khaled. We had a quick briefing on the forthcoming week on the way to the hotel; we were checked in quickly and went to bed excited about the next few days.
The Itinerary
- Day 1 - Fly to Amman
- Day 2 - Visit Jerash and Amman
- Day 3 - Drive via Mt.Nebo for bedouin camp in Wadi Rum.
- Day 4 - Camel trek and 4WD adventure. Drive to Petra.
- Day 5 - Full day visit to Petra; walks.
- Day 6 - Drive to Dead Sea via Kerak Crusader Castle.
- Day 7 - Float in Dead Sea and enjoy pools and waterslides.
- Day 8 - Fly to London
Amman and Jerash.
After breakfast we set out into the city of Amman. We first visited the Roman Amphitheatre where we practically had the whole place to ourselves. The boys quickly climbed the steps to the top and went exploring. Eventually I made it to the top and the views across to the temple of Hercules and the city below where amazing. We drove through the downtown area to the Temple of Hercules; this area is much older and more traditional. After a brief stop at the Temple and museum it was time to move onto Jerash. We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant, our first taste of Jordanian food a vast buffet lunch with plenty of choice, chicken, lamb, rice and vegetables and many different mezzes to choose from. Refuelled we were ready to go and see what Jerash had to offer. As we walked around the site Jerash revealed it's self, a fine example of a grand Roman city, comprising of paved and colonnaded streets, soaring hilltop temples, fantastic theatres, spacious public squares, plazas and city walls pierced by towers and gates. We marvelled at the impressive feats of construction that we saw in front of us. We stopped to watch the Roman Army and Chariot-race Experience, the display of the chariots racing around the arena, legionaries in full armour along with the gladiators "fighting to the death" brought the whole experience to life. It was a great first day.
Wadi Rum
The following day we set off on the longest drive of the week down to Wadi Rum, we had plenty of interesting stops along the way at Mt Nebo and Madaba to see the mosaics and then at the Crusaders castle at Kerak where, with torches in hand we explored dark underground mazes of stone-vaulted halls and endless passageways. The site is still being excavated, we saw rooms that had only been unearthed the week before, and it was incredible to know that we were amongst some of the first people to see these rediscovered rooms.
We continued our journey to Wadi Rum, and arrived mid afternoon. Our camp was situated against the backdrop of a fantastic rock formation and had wonderful desert views. We had the whole camp to ourselves so we choose our beds for the night and after a cup of sweet mint tea jumped in the back of the open 4x4 and headed out into the desert to watch the sunset. Being out in the desert was amazing watching the colours of the sand and rock change from pale yellow through to red it was unbelievable. We watched the sunset from a vantage point whilst the boys scrambled over the rocks, once the sun had disappeared behind the last mountain we got back in the 4x4 and found the biggest sand dune I'd ever seen, I don't think the boys could believe their eyes and couldn't wait to get out and play, so they quickly jumped out of the truck and climbed the dune, I think it was harder than they thought, they worked hard to go as far as they could, once Jake had reached the top he looked like a tiny ant it was that huge. When it was time to go they ran all the way back down without falling over, they enjoyed it so much they wanted to do it all over again, but it was time to get back to camp it was getting dark and time for dinner.
Back at the camp, we ate a special Bedouin meal cooked under the sand and then settled down for an evening of star gazing, the night sky was clear and the stars so bright. We all decided to sleep outside around the fire under this amazing blanket of stars which really made the day special. We woke early with the warm sun on our faces and had a good breakfast before setting out to really explore the area; we found ancient rock engravings, fossilised footprints, more sand dunes to play in and natural rock bridges to climb. We had a wonderful day.
After lunch it was time to go, so with a touch of sadness to be leaving this amazing place we were on the road again on our way to Petra, we arrived late afternoon and had time for a quick swim and a very welcome cool off in the hotel's pool, it was appreciated after the lack of water in the desert. An early evening meal and then off to bed, a long day ahead awaited us tomorrow.
Petra
An early start to beat the crowds and the heat was in order today, so by 7.30am we were on our way, we stayed at the Petra Palace Hotel which is only a short walking distance to the entrance of the site so we didn't have far to go. The Siq, is a narrow gorge, over 1 kilometre in length, which is flanked on either side by soaring, 80 metres high cliffs. Just walking through the Siq is an experience in itself, the colours and formations of the rocks are dazzling. As you reach the end of the Siq you then catch your first glimpse of The Treasury. This is an awe-inspiring experience. A massive facade, 30m wide and 43m high, carved out of the sheer, dusky pink, rock-face and dwarfing everything around it. There are plenty of steps, tombs and caves to climb and explore, which Jake took full advantage off. We continued through Petra's site and wound our way down to the Museum at the foot of the climb to the Monastery, after a quick packed lunch Joanne, Jake and I decided we'd like to see the Monastery but thought the climb would be very long and difficult so we opted to take the local donkeys to the top. It is 800 or so well trodden steps to the top, the donkeys found their way effortlessly up past the rest of the tourists with little trouble even when I thought the climb was too steep they just kept on going, sure footed and confidently they made it to the top in less than 20 minutes I know it would have taken us at least an hour. We still had a little way to go using our own legs, we continued on foot for the last 10 minutes rounding small ledges and tackling the well worn sandstone steps to finally reach the amazing sight of the Monastery it was just as spectacular as The Treasury and well worth the effort. After a well needed ice cold drink we made our way slowly back down the mountain stopping on route to admire the fantastic views and explore the numerous caves and temples carved in the hillside. I hadn't realised just how big the site was and we had barely scratched the surface, we were all thoroughly exhausted but totally in awe of this magnificent place.
Dead Sea
After the last few days of sight seeing we were really looking forward to our next couple of days relaxing at the Dead Sea, a chance to relax and soak up a little sun. The Dead Sea Spa resort is situated right on the banks of the Dead Sea and has a great little water park on site as well so we spent the last few days, floating effortlessly in the Dead Sea covering ourselves in mud and playing in the pools it was a fantastic way to end our trip.
Looking at the whole trip I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised round every corner. Jordan is a fabulous country to visit and extremely family friendly, Jordanians are very warm and welcoming, I need not have worried about travelling as a single woman with a child, there was no hassle and we felt perfectly safe walking around on our own. Our favourite part of the whole trip was our time in Wadi Rum closely followed by Petra, I'm glad we've experienced this wonderful country for ourselves and haven't stopped talking about it since we've been back.
Jake's Trip Report
Mum had said we were going to Wadi Rum whilst we were in Jordan and I wasn't too sure what to expect, but when she told me we were staying in an eco camp that had no showers I thought great that sounds like my kind of camp. I'd seen pictures of deserts with miles and miles of sand, and lots of camels and pictured myself riding Lawrence of Arabia style through the desert landscape, so we brought a headscarf and off we went. We arrived at the campsite and had the choice of 20 tents to sleep in; we had the whole place to ourselves so we picked our home for the night and moved in. No time to unpack we were off on the back of a 4x4 into the desert to see the sunset. The landscape was a lot more rocky than I had expected and we past large sand dunes that I was dying to run up and play in. We stopped at the view point and climbed over the rocks and waited for the sun to set. It was awesome. After this we went to another area with a huge sand dune which took me about 10 minutes to reach the top, I felt like I was on top of the world. It was getting dark and time to head back to our camp so I ran all the way down without falling over.
We got back to camp and it was very dark but the camp was lit by hundreds of candles and looked great. We had a special Bedouin camp dinner which was cooked in an old oil drum under the sand, I was a bit surprised when we were told dinner was ready, we all went outside the camp area and the cook started to dig in the sand with a shovel!! We helped move the sand away it was very hot, we ate chicken with rice and vegetables with baked potatoes they were a little gritty but tasty all the same.
After dinner the camp fire was lit and we sat on mattresses, talked and roasted marsh mellows over the fire. We lay on the mattresses and looked up at the stars; I have never seen so many stars in my whole life, we lay for ages looking at how bright they were and hoping to see a shooting star, but we weren't that lucky. When it was time to sleep we were given blankets and pillows and slept outside around the fire, this was amazing, I've been camping at home before but this was so different.
I woke early the next morning when the warm sun rose from behind the mountain. We got up and I went exploring looking for lizards, (I found two) we had breakfast and then we went out on the 4x4 again. We went exploring and found ancient rock engravings of camels that were probably thousands of years old; we also saw some fossilised footprints that were only discovered about a month ago. We climbed another enormous sand dune (and ran down again) and also climbed a rock bridge which I thought was great. On the way back to camp we got to ride camels so with my Lawrence of Arabia headgear on we set off into the sun. I was sad when our time in Wadi Rum was over, one day I would love to go back and do it all over again.