Jordan, with some of the marvels of the world
Four days of trekking through the desert of Jordan and the trail to reach Petra, one of the world’s seven wonders, what an experience.
Madaba to the Dead sea
The city of Madaba is culturally mixed; more than a third of the population is Christian. The town is famous as the City of Mosaics. Its history goes back to biblical times, but during the Byzantine time, the city expanded. The jewel of its mosaic history is found in the Greek Orthodox Church of St George. The so-called Madaba Map. The map portrays characteristics of the Eastern Byzantine world. The centerpiece is Jerusalem, and the special significance lies in the fact that it is det oldest surviving map of Palestine and its unprecedented scale.
After the morning spent in Madaba, we headed for the Dead Sea. Here vi had a nice lunch before we went down to the sea, and we were going to experience the tales we all remember from school, where you could sit in the water and read the newspaper. I did not bring anything to read, but the experience was exceptional. When we lay down in the water, we felt that our body popped up in the water, and smearing the mud all over our body before rinsing it off in the sea was a once in a life experience. We were on the Jordan side, and on the other side, we could see the West bank of Palestina.
Dana
Dana sits at the head of a magnificent wadi(Valley). Today, Dana is a delightful historic village dating from the 15th century. It consists of a collection of old stone houses at the cliff’s edge. We stayed in the Dana Star Hotel, made out of these houses, with an immense alternative atmosphere.
The Jordanian trail
Finally, we were ready to start the primary purpose of this trip. I joined one of my favorite travel companies Hvitserk to hike parts of the Jordanian trail to reach Petra. In addition, to having an excellent Norwegian guide, we had a local guide and a bedouin family that made our travel comfortable. On our hikes, we had two young guys with one mule each looking after us and carrying extra water if needed.
When we arrived at the camps, the family had put up the tents we would sleep in, plus a tent for shade and a kitchen. We got warm dinner served at night, and breakfast in the morning, plus food to make up for lunch during the hiking.
Little Petra
On day four of hiking, we reached Little Petra and left around 75 kilometers behind us. In the last hour, we had walked through a very narrow and rocky valley, and all of a sudden, we saw some balconies up in the mountain wall, and we could see “the Backdoor” to little Petra. Here we could buy a soft drink and plenty of souvenirs.
Petra and Wadi Rum
This trip’s primary goal was two significant UNESCO inheritances, and both met expectations. I will write two separate blogs about these places so that they will appear shortly. However, this was so impressive that it was difficult to find words. The top picture on this post is from the Monastery in Petra, and underneath is from Wadi rum in Jordan.
Aqaba
We spent the last night and day before heading awards Europe again in Aqaba. This is the only city with a port in Jordan. They hardly have any public beaches along the Red sea coast, but some private beaches where you can book a place and enjoy the lacy beach life with enervating music.
All in all, this was a dream come true for me. The excellent company on the hike. A dip in the Dead Sea. To see Petra and sleep under the stars in Wadi Rum. And I felt so safe in Jordan all the time, and I have no problem recommending this country and sites to everyone.
