Jordan day 4 - Red Sea diving

A slight sleep in was granted before we headed off on the next leg of our adventure. The mist was so thick the bus driver could barely see more than a meter in front of him, and Ayman said "now we are all driving the bus" since all eyes were anxiously on the road. We were supposed to stop at the top to see the gorge but with the mist there was no point. We were just so glad we managed to see Petra before this weather came in.

On the way we passed wadi rum and admired the beautiful desert scenery. The weather started to seriously improve. In total it took us two hours to reach Aqaba, entering the special economic zone, where items are sold tax free. Some Jordanians try to take goods out of Aqaba to sell elsewhere but they are not allowed and there are checkpoints to prevent this. As we drove in, we saw more and more palm trees, sandy coloured mountains and eventually the beautiful (blue) Red Sea. Eilat in Israel is directly opposite Aqaba, and the two towns face each other, both large, modern and gleaming white.

We were pretty impressed with the town - it was clean, modern and had a nice atmosphere. It felt like a typical seaside town, with a Jordanian influence... We checked into the Al Ra'ad hotel on the main hotel street, and were pleased with the large nicely furnished rooms and lovely lobby. After much debate, we had decided to go with the G Aventures boat trip, after Ayman assured us we would be best diving with them and that they would take us to good dive sites. The bus drove us through town to the jetty where our boat the "Blue Wave" was waiting for us.

We hopped on the spacious boat and met our dive master Khaled. We asked if we could do two dives, and if we could visit the "Cedar Pride" wreck and the Japanese garden, two of the best dives sites in this part of the world. He seemed a bit surprised that we wanted to do two dives but said he would make a plan... The plan, it turned out, was that we would do both dives on a single tank. He said the reason was that he didn't want us to pay twice. But the actual reason was that they only had 1 tank for each of us! He told us countless times to relax and try not to be oxygen thieves. He also promised us he had a surprise for us, and we may or may not like the surprise...

The boat headed off in semi sunshine and we checked out large container ships waiting for one of the most important ports in the region, and tourist resorts with lovely beaches. We reached our destination, kitted up and hopped into the water, it was about 23 degrees and we were wearing shorty wetsuits...

We started at the Japanese garden, initially the corals weren't that impressive but they really improved and we soon saw a huge Napoleon wrasse, which Khaled was pretty excited about. The fish life was good and the water very clear. We continued on, trying to conserve our air, and soon reached the wreck. It was once a cargo ship, which caught fire just outside the port of Aqaba. Two of the crew lost their lives but the ship remained afloat, despite a lot of damage. The burned ship remained a floating hulk in the port for three years, no one was willing to take responsibility for her mooring and harbour fees. The king of Jordan, a keen diver himself, decided to sink her, to make a premium dive site right outside Jordan's only seaside town. It was sunk in 1985 so now has thirty years of coral growth and has started to become a part of the reef.

We started on the bottom of the wreck, and swam around her engine. The top side was in great condition and it was fascinating to see all of the elements, with the fish and coral life totally integrated. Khaled headed inside the ship, and called us to him. He took our hands to lead us upwards. Suddenly we found our heads breaching the surface, Khaled took out his regs and spoke to us, saying "do you like my surprise?". We were very surprised to be breathing air and talking to each other 17 meters under water! It was awesome but the air was super stale so we put our regs back in quickly!

We swam further around, staying a bit shallower to conserve air, and saw many more amazing sights, the highlight being a number of tiny ghost pipefish - they were almost translucent, and seemed to appear and disappear from view. We also saw partner shrimp, clownfish, trumpet fish, lion fish, porcupine fish and an octopus. Khaled grabbed something off the ocean floor and then set it free. It was a type of jellyfish and it moved gently away from us.

About half way through the dive, we started to feel very cold. We finished back in the Japanese garden reef and then surfaced at the boat. Our friends on the boat later told us when they saw bubbles and movement they thought something exciting was under the water, and were very disappointed when it was just us! We tried to get dry and warm, but still felt chilled to the bone. The sun was unfortunately hiding behind the clouds. We were back just in time for a lunch of BBQed chicken, BBQed Vienna sausages (??), potato and veg bake, pita, hummus (of course!) and salad.

We tried to get some sun, and eventually started heading back to Aqaba. On the way, the crew got very excited when one of their fishing lines got a good bite. They started reeling it in, the one crew member helping by hand, and eventually pulled in a beautiful large electric blue tuna. They were very chuffed with their catch!

Back at the port, we went back to the hotel for some free time and made sure to sample what was supposedly the best coffee in Aqaba at Wisalak cafe. We both had headaches from the dive, probably from a build up of carbon dioxide, so we decided not to join the group for dinner. We checked tripadvisor for the #1 restaurant in Aqaba, and it sounded like a good option so off we went to Al-Shami.

It was a short walk from the hotel, and we found the sign downstairs, a guy led us to the upstairs part of the restaurant, we hoped we were in the right place but soon found out we were. It was a simple place, with plastic chairs and an outside balcony overlooking the sea. I couldn't believe we were able to comfortably sit outside when the rest of the time we had been freezing cold. The view over the twinkling lights of Eilat was nice. 

We ordered what the waiter recommended in his broken English: grilled fish. Couldn't get out of him what type of fish it would be though. He also convinced us to order a salad. Then he brought us a whole bunch of appetizers: hummus, baba ganoush and other dips, pickles and bread, and our salad which seemed to be spinach leaves, tomatoes, onions and an interesting red spice. Then the fish came, and we were not disappointed at all! It was a huge plate with grilled spiced fish, rice, chips, tomatoes, and rocket. The tomatoey spice on the fish was delicious, and just slightly charred/caramelised around the edges. The fish was super moist and yummy, and I couldn't even finish it all. We washed it all down with lemon and mint drink, one of our absolute favorites from this trip. 

We asked for the bill but the waiter insisted on bringing us complimentary Turkish coffee, which was also delicious. As we left the restaurant a woman in full burka approached us out of nowhere and uttered something incomprehensible and held out her hand for a donation, we were taken aback but decided to feign ignorance and moved away. We named her the burka beggar. After that we had a walk around the city, enjoyed not getting hassled at all, and then headed back to the hotel.

Jordan day 2 - Moses, Mosaics and Crusaders

Woke at 6:30 showered, dressed and hurriedly packed up and went for breakfast. By 8:00 we were on the bus heading south to Madaba. The weather was cool and sunny. During the drive Ayman told us stories from the Old Testament, the origin of the Moabites, Edomites and Ammonites, and of the tribes of Isreal. The site we would be visiting, mount Nebo is where Moses saw the holy land from a distance but was not allowed to enter it. 

Around 9:00 we pulled into the town of Madaba and a short while later stopped at the entrance of the church built on top of mount Nebo. It was now extremely windy and cool so we put on another jacket and wandered up the olive tree lined path leading out to the church. We stopped at a statue dedicated to those who donated to the restoration of the church. A little further on was a tent in which were the mosaics of the church floor, waiting for the church restoration to be completed before they would be returned. The church itself was not accessible to us during restoration, so Ayman lead us around the church to the vantage point on the west side overlooking the valley below. He pointed out Jericho and Jerusalem, the Jordan river and the Dead Sea. Standing here it really seems like one can see the entire holy land and imagine Moses standing there gazing over it. We snapped a couple of photos of views and the serpentine staff/cross erected nearby. Heading back we spent a few minutes in the museum learning a bit more about the site, the mosaics and the history associated with this place. 

On the way back to Madaba city we stopped at a mosaic factory and shop. The place employs many disabled and special needs people enabling them to make a living. We stepped inside and a lady started explaining the various techniques. Traditionally flour and water were mixed to form a glue, and the stone fragments then glued to a material cloth backing. Later the mosaics would be grouted. Another (cheaper) technique is to directly glue the mosaic pieces with superglue. Inside the shop the lady explained a bit more about the various mosaics. She showed us a big ostrich egg and joked that it was a Jordanian camel egg, no one on our group fell for it but apparently people on other tours do. The eggs were decorated with the finest mosaic work, each finely crushed coloured stone was individually stuck to the egg in intricate patterns. We spent some time browsing the shop and admiring the work. Ayman suggested there would be better prices in Amman, so we didn't buy.

We headed into Madaba and our next stop was the Greek Orthodox Church of St George which is famous as it is on the pilgramige route and contains a beautiful mosaic map of the holy land and Egypt. Ayman again pointed out the significant sites, Dead Sea, mount Nebo, Jericho, Jerusalem, Hebron, the baptism site of Jesus. He also explained where the tribes of Amon, Moab and Edom had lived.  We had a bit of time to explore the beatiful church and enjoyed the intricate mosaics and artworks of the life of Christ. 

We had some free time to wonder around the shops to buy souvenirs such as mosaics, carvings, tshirts and so forth. Afterwards we had lunch at a restaurant called Ayola after which we were back on the road again.

Some time later we arrived in Karak, a crusader castle, perched high up on a steep mountain. It was extemely windy and cool as we huddled around Aymam to listen to his speech. This was an extremely important strategic castle throughout history, to the Persians, Greeks, Romans and then the Crusaders and Saracens, then ottomans who used it as a jail. All these civilizations wanted to control the kings road or trade route that ran nearby. The crusaders merely built upon and reused much of the stone frUom earlier structures. The main entrance to the castle was constructed at 90 degrees from the causeway that crossed the ditch in front of the massive wall, in order to prevent the use of battering rams. We proceeded inside the castle an into a long high underground passage which Ayman explained was the stables. Only a few narrow arrow slits threw light into the darkness apart from the open entrance we had come through.

Ayman explained a bit of the history of the crusades. In 1095 the pope Urban II decreed the crusades to reclaim the holy land from the Muslims, although other motives such as politics and economics may also have played a role. Nine crusades followed, some ending in failure before even reaching the holy land, before they finally managed to occupy Jerusalem and extended area of Palestine in 1099AD. In addition to Karak the crusaders also built another fort called Montreal near Petra. 

A wild brave Frenchman called Raynald de Chatillon and his wife Stephanie, moved into the castle and used to stop Muslims doing their pilgrimage to steal from them and throw them off the castle. Because of his behavior, Saladin the most respected Muslim leader decided to kill him. Raynald prepared an army to meet Saladin but Saladin got there first - Raynald's army was too tired so Saladin triumphed and cut off Raynald's head. Saladin went back to the castle and held it in siege for 8 months but they could not break in. Eventually they stopped the water supply, and that ended the siege. Saladin then attacked Jerusalem and liberated it from the crusaders.

Walking through the massive fort, Ayman pointed out many interesting things, such as the very low doorways (actually designed that way for defence), a kitchen where bread would have been baked and dishes washed, the water reservoir, the jail, the crusader church, four rooms which were initially used as living quarters by Raynald and Stephanie, one of which was later converted by the mumluk Muslims into a small mosque since it faced Mecca. The rooms used by Raynald had no roof in the central reception hall, this was the style at the time. We explored further in our free time, climbing stairs and crumbling walls for better views of the castle and surrounding area. Then we got back in the bus for a long ride to Wadi Musa - which means valley of Moses, it is the town next to Petra.

We arrived in Petra and checked into the "Silk road" hotel. It was a really basic hotel, selected because of its fantastic location close to the entrance to Petra. The room was all purple, even the ceiling, but it was clean, comfortable and they left us a huge plate of fresh fruit which was nice. We headed for a quick dinner in the hotel restaurant, Ayman had promised this would be the best meal so far. He was quite excited to show us the food and explain what it was. The star of the show was a lamb dish called Mansaf, which is a Bedouin dish and also the national dish of Jordan. The lamb was cooked on the bone in fermented yogurt, served on a large flatbread with rice, roasted almonds and lots of yoghurt sauce. They also had maklouba or upside down chicken - a rice casserole which is cooked with the meat at the bottom and then the entire dish is turned upside down to serve. It was all genuinely delicious and the meat was so tender!

At 8:30 we headed out to do "Petra by night" an optional extra we had paid 17 dinar for (R340). Ayman recommended we wait until there were no or less tourists in sight, and then enjoy the walk to Petra's most famous monument, the treasury. We walked with some of our friends, the path illuminated with only candles in paper bags. It created a beautiful romantic atmosphere. We entered the siq - the shaft/gorge and main entrance to the ancient city, the high walls only slightly illuminated. The walk was far and it took us at least 15 to 20 minutes. As we rounded the last corner, we saw hundreds of candles in the sand below the amazing treasury, a huge rock cut monument in the rose red stone. 

We arrived just in time to take our seats around the candles, while some music started playing.

It was a flute, playing traditional music. We all sat in silence, enjoying the atmosphere. Soon the flute player walked out into the candles and close to the crowd, then sat down in the centre and started playing another instrument with a single string, he also started singing Bedouin songs. Another guy came around with cups of sweet mint tea for everyone. The end of the show was the "guide" giving his "speech". It went along the lines of "someone spoke to me and I asked her to identify herself, she said she was my mother but my mother was the winds and the earth and the mountain. She said her name was Petra and asked me to tell the visitors to take care of her and enjoy her..." Blah blah blah, Ayman wasn't joking when he said this was the low point of the experience :)

After that we tried to take photos in the dim light and then walked the long road back to the hotel, preparing for an early wake up the next morning for our big day.

Jordan day 1 - Roman cities and Dead Sea floating

We enjoyed a bit more of a sleep in and then headed down for breakfast at 7:30, where we met our G Adventures CEO Ayman (rhymes with Simon). The breakfast was excellent, no more Egyptian cold boiled eggs, bread and cream cheese, here we had a great selection and enjoyed omlettes and excellent coffee with Steve. By 8:00 we were in the bus with our new group.

We headed to the Roman city of Jerash, or Gerasa, about 45 mins North of Amman. It was first a Greek city (4th century BC - 1st century BC), and then when the Romans came in, they razed the Greek city and built their Roman city on top (1st century BC - 4th century AD). This was preceded by the Persian period, and followed by the Byzantine period (4th - 7th century) where Christianity took hold, the capital of the Byzantine era was Constantinople. Then there was an Islamic period from 7th century with Islamic dynasties (last were the Ottomans) and then in 1917 the Ottomans were expelled and Jordan became the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan, ruled by the Hashemite kings. 

The Greeks built what was known as the decapolis, the ten cities. Gerasa was one of them and there are four more in Jordan. Amman is actually the ancient city of Philedelphia. Gerasa was the biggest, and extremely important because it was right in the middle of all of them. The Greek period was a very happy period, because the Greeks taught people their culture. The Roman period was a very wealthy period, but the people were a lot less happy, because the Romans forced their culture on people. 

We passed many olive trees on the way, and Ayman explained how important olive oil was to Jordanian people, they even start their day by drinking a shot of it. The best olive oil in the world is from the West Bank of the Jordan (Palestine), the second best is from Jordan. Only 6% of Jordan is fertile land, mostly in the regions of Gerasa and Madaba. Ayman also told us how water poor Jordan was. People are given water tanks by the government which are placed on top of their houses or buildings. They have to make the water last a week, or they need to purchase more water. In Jordan, water is more precious than oil.

At Gerasa, we started at Hadrian's arch or gate, which was outside the city and built for emperor Hadrian, who was known to tour all the cities of the Roman world. It contained impressive Corinthian columns, and niches which would have contained statues of gods Jupiter and Diana. Inside this gate, we could see where the Greek stones were replaced by Roman stones. Further in, we found the hippodrome, where chariot races would be held. The hippodrome had seating overlooking it, some of which had been destroyed. We also saw where there would have been shops just outside the hippodrome, where people would have bought snacks before going to the races.

We continued walking and finally reached the south gate, or Philadelphia gate, which faces the direction of Amman (Philedelphia). This gate was smaller and less impressive than the Hadrian gate. 

We continued in to the oval Forum, which was in an oval shape and surrounded by columns. This is where the people would meet and shop. 

We headed up the hill to the Jupiter temple, but did not go in. Jupiter was also known as Zeus by the Greeks. Next to the temple was one of the two amphitheaters. We went in and had a seat while Ayman explained. He showed us the special seats that were reserved for royalty and nobility/VIPs. The difference between Greek and Roman amphitheaters is that the Greek ones were one, and the Roman ones closed fully, with a stage. 

Next, a band started playing some music so we could hear the fantastic acoustics of the amphitheater. It was a bagpipe and drum, and the musicians were dressed in traditional Bedouin dress. The songs were very familiar and we questioned the authenticity thereof. Ayman explained that the British had colonized Jordan for a time, and thus some British music had been accepted as part of Jordan culture. He explained the Bedouin dress, which consisted of a red and white head scarf, the bedouins used to wear plain white but the British wanted to differentiate between Palestinian bedouins and Jordanian, so they made them wear black and white, and red and white. They also wear a head band over the scarf which represented the loss of Spain by the Muslims. Bedouins also typically have a dagger and gun, and do not draw it unless they genuinely plan to use it.

Ayman spoke briefly about the baptism site if Jesus in the Jordan River, which is the border between Israel and Jordan. He assured us that the town of Bethany is definitely on the Jordan side of the river, but Israelis would insist it is on the Israel side. What we do know is that it was 12 km (7 Roman miles) east from Jericho, which does equate to the Jordan side. Regardless of the exact location, it is a very important pilgrimage site for Christians.

We walked further, to three churches that were built next to each other, during the Byzantine period. The churches were basilicas and had impressive mosaic work.  

From here Ayman showed us the Cardo Maximus - the most important road in any Roman city, which runs north - south, as well as the decumanis which runs perpendicular to it. The crossing point ("traffic light") was called tetrapil. Gerasa was such an important and wealthy city, because all caravans traveling the spice and silk route would go through this city, and it was part of the Kings way, so they would pay taxes for passing through. Ayman also explained that only 25% of the Roman city had been excavated, but all excavations had stopped since anything further would required demolition of houses in the new city.

We continued further to the temple of Diana/Artemis, which was quite badly damaged but still had some pillars in place. From here, we entered another amphitheater which was also used as a consul and there are theories that they would have held animal fights which seemed unlikely considering the small size. Black marks in the niches were created by olive oil lamps that were burnt. 

Ayman explained the difference between the Arab world and the Muslim world. The four gates to the Arab world are Iraq to the East, Syria to the North, Morocco to the west and Somalia to the south. All countries in between are ethnically similar and speak the same language. But the influence of Islam spreads much further than this.

Next we walked back along Cardo Maximus, until we reached the most beautiful part of the city - the nymphaeum, a beautiful fountain. It would have had pottery pots spilling water into a huge central granite bowl, and 6 niches containing statues. It would have been covered by granite and had six lion heads spitting water. Ayman later showed us artists impressions of what it would have looked like before being damaged, as well as other parts of the city.

We then had some free time to take pictures and then headed back to the bus. We drove almost 2 hours through some traffic and accidents to reach the Dead Sea. We entered a resort called "Amman beach" where we had a quick buffet lunch of hummus, bread, chicken, rice, aubergines and horrible dessert.

The point of the trip there was not eating, so we ate quickly and then changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the beach. It was a pleasantly warm day, but still winter so it felt a little strange to be planning to swim... The beach was slightly strange yellowish sand, we wondered if it had been imported. On the edge of the sea were incredible salt deposits, white and hard to the touch. 

We headed into the water and reached an area where it got a little deeper. Suddenly, when we tried to swim, we found we could not, and our bodies were suddenly so light and buoyant that we could barely get in the water. People around us laughed at our reaction, as they had obviously had a similar one. We laughed and floated around, it truly was something that needed to be experienced to be believed! The below photos are genuinely just floating, no effort required, no holding onto anything!

We hung around with the group, floating and taking pictures. Some of us accidentally or purposefully tasted the water - it was incredibly foul, not just salty but bitter. Werner got some in his eye and it burned like crazy.  We watched some tourists paying to get covered in the  therapeutic mud, and others just trying to get mud for the banks and rub it on their bodies. 

After two showers to try and get the salt off, we changed and then relaxed by the pool for a while, the pool water was too cold to swim. The sun started setting and we got some great pics, then got back in the bus back to Amman. An hour later, we were back.

Ayman gave us a briefing on the optional extras we could do on the tour, then walked us 15-20 minutes downtown to a restaurant called Jafra. It was a really cool place, filled with locals enjoying the live music, food and shisha. The place smelled of Apple tobacco which was actually quite pleasant. We tried the lamb Sagiiyh - cubes of lamb cooked in a clay dish with onions and peppers, served on a plate over hot coals, with pita bread, it was delicious and we washed it down with Turkish coffee.

We left the restaurant around 10:00pm but Ayman was not ready for bed yet, so he took us to a bar on rainbow street called "Q". It was a cool place but we were the only people in there. We tried the local beer, "Carakale" which came in two variants - pale ale and blonde ale. We tried the blonde it was nice but a little bitter. At 15JOD (R300) for two, I think it was definitely the most expensive beer we have ever drunk. Ayman then treated us to blue Hawaii shots, before we had a longish walk home and hit the sack.