Jordan

Jordan

4161

3. August 2017

Jordan one of our most beautiful journeys and we made a new friend there

Despite of the situation in the neighbor countries Syria and Irak it was no problem to travel through Jordan. Quite the opposite, we had a lot fun and we were quite sad that the 10 days were running by so fast.

Not only the country was beautiful, but we also our tour guide had a special place in our heart right away, so that we decided to invite him to Germany and couple of weeks later he visited us for 10 days in Germany and we really had a fucking awesome time.

Our trip through Jordan is easy to make in one week.

By the way, maybe it is nice to know, when your landing in Aqaba you don’t have to pay for the visa but in Amman you have to.

We started our tour through Jordan 3 days after we reached the country. The first days we were spending at the sooo beautiful Mövenpick Tala Bay Hotel just for relaxing. From outside the hotel seems maybe a little bit ordinary but it was still very gorgeous. If the view is good you can see Egypt and Israel.

Aqaba is really a dream for divers, they have a great colourful underwater world with several kinds of fishes and even an old tank from the former wartime and also a very old wreck.

Our hotel offered diving and snorkeling courses and a day trip to Egypt. We booked a day trip to Egypt, but we weren’t enough people so that the trip couldn’t take place on this day.

Every evening we were enjoying a great drink and watched the beautiful shows with traditional belly dancers and old Arabic music on the huge terrace of the hotel. A lot of families from the northern part of Jordan and people from Saudi-Arabia just come for a weekend to Aqaba and enjoy the unique Mövenpick Tala Bay Hotel.

Khaleel our lovely guide was planning our tour through the whole country. The first stop was Wadi Rum. A historical desert landscape with a beautiful view at sunsets. We were driving cross-country through the desert and were listing to the great and loud local music.

The former kings are carved in the rocks, we could still recognize the first letter…really incredible! But the best thing was that the local people were so friendly and always in a good mood so we had a lot of fun with them.

Our Hillawi Camp where we stayed overnight was great and the atmosphere in the evening was really nice. Everybody was dancing, laughing and drinking a lot of wine. Our tents weren’t luxury but we still loved it.

Petra

The city is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system

and was one of the main reasons why we decided to travel to Jordan, because we wanted to see the famous treasury.

We took the historical Kings Road to Petra. On the top of the mountain it was quite cold, but it was a great route do drive.

Impressive rock faces were sticking up the ground around 250-300 meter high. A small trail was leading us to the famous treasury of Petra. The curiousness was getting more and more. It was like as we were walking through a tunnel but at the end of the trail it was getting brighter and suddenly we could see the treasury. Especially when the sun is very deep the rock is glowing in such a nice way and the view at the rock is really indescribable.

For us the treasury was much more nicer to see live than on all pictures in travel magazines, Instagram

DANA

We made a trip through the mountains and were enjoying the green nature so much. We spent a really funny day with a great picnic in the middle of the mountains. Our motto: singing -making funny things -laughing and just having fun.

Khaleel organized especially a local guide from Dana for us. The guide was great and he was walking with us through the landscape and was explaining us everything. He only spoke Arabic and “animal languages”, especially the noise of the goat, it was sooo funny. We were laughing so much that it was hurting. We keep this day as unforgettable memorial, that we will never forget.

Rummana Camp – Dana

The only way to get to the camp was by a shuttle. We were staying overnight in a tent again in really high mountain area. It was quite cold there but so nice. In the evening we were sitting with a big family from the neighbor country in front of the campfire with a cup of tea and roasted marshmallows, an incredible adventure.

The Dead Sea

Our hotel at the Dead Sea was not so great but for one night absolutely ok. The interesting fact about the Dead Sea hotel is, that the signing of the peace agreement between Jordan and Israel took place there.

The way to the beach was quite funny, everybody was totally coverded with mud and other people were reading the newspaper in the Dead Sea. We tried it of course as well, but it is not possible to swim because the water contains 33 percent salt. For us it was absolutely amazing that we were floating without swimming and it is not possible to drown in the Dead Sea even when you are not capable to swim.

Give it a try !!!!

!!!Caution, don’t jump into the water, it can hurt a lot!!

Do you now that the Dead Sea is the deepest point on the earth and we have been there. But the sad thing is, that the sea level is getting lower and lower every year.

Amman

The last day … we are heading to Amman

As we were entering the city camels were saying hello to us. Khaleel was telling us that the city was changing from year to year. We could see a lot of modern buildings but also old buildings with a lot of history. What was really surprising for us, was that we could see a grand mosque and right across on the other side of the street was a christian church.

Jordan is good example how peacefully different religions can live together. Althought 92 percent are sunnite muslims and only 6 percent christians. What we liked about Jordan is that everybody loves everybody and the people except each other how they are and it doesn’t matter to which religion you belong to. The people were very happy that we visited their country and that we’re also interested in their culture.

Conclusion of the journey: A very impressive journey! Jordan is really awesome country !

We became friends with our great guide Khaleel
In Jordan is education very important, especially for women it is getting better and better, because of the great Queen Rania
It is easy to travel around in Jordan, most of the people are speaking English
Great hospitality
Jordan is a great example in terms of religion that people are living peacefully together

Infobox

Hotels:

Mövenpick Hotel Tala Bay Resort Aqaba

Sand Rose Camp – Hillawi Camp (Wadi Rum)

Rummana Campsite Dana

Dead Sea Hotel ****

Visa:

No visa on arrival at the airport in Aqaba

But you need a visa again in Amman and cost 40 US Dollar, directly at the airport

Currency:

Jordan Dinar JOD

The current course you can look up at Oanda

Language:

Arabic
English

Local Time

You can read the local times here

High Season

The best time for the Oman here

Health:

The vaccination passport should be checked by a doctor and refresher courses such as tetanus, yellow fever and hepatitis A, B, C may be performed.

You can read more about this here.

Embassies:

For US Embassy: link

For UK Embassy: link

For AUS Embassy: link

Information about Khaleel Al Abbadi

Name:

Khaleel Al Abbadi

Languages available in:

Arabic

English

Contact:

khaleel_kas@hotmail.com

About Khaleel

Khaleel is a very funny and reliable cool tour guide! He is really a lovely guide and we became friends so fast.

We had an amazing and unforgettable time with him! We could really feel that he loves his country so much. He tried to satisfy every wish for us and he was trying to make everything possible. We laughed a lot with him danced and had so much fun!

Thank you sooo much Khaleel for the unforgettable tour throught the Jordan!

We are definetly coming back!

Saskia and Bastian and of course Barney

Jordan

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