Marhaba Jordan

So are you ready to hear about our trip to Jordan? This was my first experience in the Middle East and I had a totally different idea of what was waiting for me. For reasons I can't quite figure out, I imagined a lot of color, moorish architecture and souqs. WRONG! It surprised in other ways too. The impectably maintained roads for example. The little flocks of camels that graze right on the side of the highway and the the locals laughing at us as we snapped photos of something so mundane. The very relaxed attitude of its people. And that's just to name a few.



Before I go on, I'll mention that yes it was HOT. A dry heat but still. As luck would have it, NYC was going through a major heat wave at the same time so it was probably a bit more comfortable in Jordan sans humidity than it was at home. Its worth noting that Jordan does have seasons and we just happened to come during the summer. I'm sure it would be far more plesant in fall.

We started off in Amman. A bustling city that has everything from run down lanes to five star hotels to ancient Roman ruins. My favorite memory from Amman isn't something I can show you in a photograph but rather hearing the dawn call to prayer over the hills and leaking into our hotel room. Quite a pretty sound.




After sight seeing in Amman, we made our way out toward the Dead Sea. The area itself is essentially one big resort town - but the swimming or I should say floating in the waters definitely lived up to my imagination. Loved it.




We made some stops along the way - a Madaba church to appreciate some beautiful mosaics and the ubitiquous stop at a mosaic 'factory'. (No, didn't buy anything. Souvenirs are quite expensive here. )





After a day here we off to Jordan's most popular tourist site - Petra. One of the new seven wonders, seen in Indiana Jones, you get the idea. The site is huge and impressive. More on that and our night in the Wadi Rum desert in another post.