Dead Sea - Jordan

The Dead Sea – Jordan

Post published:12 June 2011
Post category:Jordan Middle East

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The Sea of Death, Lake Asphaltites

Jordan is not only about Petra, Wadi Rum Desert and its countless ancient cities and monuments. It has lots more to offer, certainly being one of the greatest assets the Dead Sea. Forming the border naturally with Israel just at the other coast and completely visible from Jordan, is one of these once in a lifetime, hopefully more, experience. And yes, what you have heard that the water is really pushing you up to float, it’s all true, no doubt. What I did not expect is that once you walk inside the water, when it covers your legs, then it’s hard to even keep standing up right. Just let yourself float and enjoy.

To reach the nearest beaches from Amman, you have a handful of bus lines from Mujaharin bus station to Rame, at the costs of just 1 JD. But first, once you are at that bus station, ask anyone to point you to the right bus to Rame. There are too many buses and it can get seriously confused but people over there is really friendly and will help you. Such buses leave once they are full and so on. The trip will take around 45 minutes, passing through great hill landscapes full of olive plantations. Once you are in Rame, a taxi to Amman Beach costs around 4JD. If you are planning to stay just for a while, then negotiate with the driver that he waits for you while you bath, and then drive you back to Rame. It will cost you around 6JD per person, 8 at max.

It is not much more to be said about this place, however I separate into another section few more notes to give you further important tips to seriously consider before going. For more information about the Dead Sea check Wikipedia site. Jordan’s currency is the Jordanian Dinar (JD). Please note that any price reference is true as from when this guide was created, therefore check prices in advance as with the time they change.

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Amman - Jordan

Amman – Jordan

Post published:10 June 2011
Post category:Jordan Middle East

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Greek and Roman Philadelphia

It’s been a long while since we had a great desire to visit Jordan. Unfortunately, the flight fares were always so high that we kept selecting any other destination instead. At the time we went there, the city and the country was not that open to the air traffic and the mass tourism as it is now of course. So thankfully to our benefit, Easyjet announced their new route to the capital, Amman. And what’s best, with any new route, they release some tickets at an introductory offer, and we managed three! Now that was the real deal.

Amman is a rapidly growing city, which basically kicked off some 80 years ago. It’s relatively a very new city, and the architecture you will find is rather ugly and tasteless. But in any case, it’s still worth the visit, not only for the enormous maze of little streets; very charming indeed, but also for the many nice mosques, and of course, the Roman great remains, specially at Citadel Hill, from where you will see the whole of Amman and beyond built on hill after hill.

Citadel Hill, known in Arabic as Jabal al-Qal’a, is what can be considered, the centre of the city. At the top you will find the remains of the Temple of Hercules, and plenty more. Also an Ottoman style mosque, and the most stunning view you can get of the city. Let’s not forget that although the city is very new, it sits atop many layers of different civilizations making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world at over 7500 years.

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