Jordan. The country.

[This trip happened in 2017. I am way behind.]

Just on the other side of the Arabian Desert, nestled between Palestine, Israel, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is only a three hour flight from Abu Dhabi.  We were greeted with smiles at passport control (and everywhere else we went), after which we walked out into a perfect spring day, met our driver, Hatem, and set out on our way to the capital city of Amman.  Hatem related some historical and social tidbits as we drove, but he was a low-talker and much of what he said was overridden by Q coaching Jenn through some imaginary situation dialogue in the back seat.  The countryside around Amman is arid, but significantly greener than Abu Dhabi, with a surprising amount of agriculture visible on the rocky hillsides.  White sandstone from the southern part of the country covered the outside of most homes, and it was oddly refreshing to visit a place where the size and opulence of structures is limited.

Once we entered the city of Amman, I was glad we had hired a car and driver.  Compared to Cairo (see our earlier post), it was subdued and orderly.  But it was bumper-to-bumper on narrow streets marked only in Arabic, and each intersection was governed entirely by negotiation and a collective preference to avoid collision.  With one exception (keep reading), I was thankful every day that we were not driving ourselves.  It was mid-day, so we hit a couple of must-see spots before heading to our hotel.

The Citadel sits atop one of the seven hills (jabals) that make up old downtown Amman, and despite the traffic and surrounding city, it was peacefully quiet during our visit.  We declined the guided tour option and spent an hour or two wandering among the ruins.  There were no "keep off" signs and only minimal fencing around some of the more hazardous areas, so we were free to explore nearly every part of the site.

Next, we cruised down the hill to the Roman theater.  Having gotten a taste for climbing on ancient wonders at the Citadel, Q quickly led us all the way up to the cheap seats. The steps were worn smooth and the cavea (a word I just learned) was steep enough that a fall would have almost certainly ended near the stage and with multiple fractures.  As a result, getting back down was both slower and more. . . exciting. Since it was literally next door, we also visited the Odeon theater before finding Hatem and heading for the hotel.

At the check-in desk, we were informed that they did not yet have a room for us, but that they were arranging a "surprise." With an excessive amount of smiling and winking, we were led to the lounge to await both the surprise and happy hour.  A little while later, we were shown to our room, which turned out to be the largest suite in the building.  It had a guest bath.  And a separate kitchen.  With a servants entrance.  It did not have butt sprayers.  If you're wondering what these are or why I'm disappointed at their absence, look for an upcoming post about what has become by favorite bathroom technology, or, if you're feeling brave, google it.  On second thought, don't.  I think they're actually called "hand-held bidets."

We left Amman early the next morning and headed north toward the city of Jerash.  We were some of the first visitors through the gates and had the place almost entirely to ourselves.  Again, there was almost no signage and very few prohibited areas, and again we opted for the self-guided tour.  Although settlement here dates back much further, the Roman ruins are amazingly well preserved due to their being buried in dirt until fairly recently.  It was not difficult to imagine what the city might have looked and felt like during the first century A.D.

After a couple hundred photos and several miles of wandering through sandstone columns and ancient temples, we made our way back to the car and headed south toward our next over night stop: Petra.  Along the way, we stopped at two castles and one place where our driver apparently really liked to eat lunch.

The first stop was Kerak castle.  As we wound our way up the hill and entered the castle walls, we were met with the local traffic of al-Karak and, once again, I was grateful for our driver.  After 20 minutes of inching through a seemingly irreparable jumble of cars all caused by one vehicle trying to make a left turn, we arrived at the entrance to the castle itself.  It was after 1 PM and we were hungry, so we ate lunch at the nearest restaurant before exploring the castle.  20 minutes into our explorations and nature begins to call Q, urgently.  There are no facilities.  You can guess where this is going.  Once again, we enjoyed the lack of signage and prohibited areas.  We left a little more than footprints behind in Kerak castle.

The castle was a maze of underground tunnels and chambers and we were really only bounded by our own senses of self-preservation.  I'm not sure what triggered it, but somewhere along the way Q started saying "Imagine if my bedroom was in here!" as he explored and discovered each of the underground chambers.  This hypothetical stuck with us the rest of the trip.

It was mid-afternoon when we left al-Kerak and, as a result of several hours of exploring ruins, a solid lunch, and twice defiling a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Q fell asleep within a few minutes. Just when we settled in for the next few hours of driving through desert, our driver pulled into the parking lot of a single, lonely building.  He smiled and asked us if we wanted to eat an authentic Jordanian-style meal.  Since we had just eaten lunch, we declined and then waited, somewhat confused, while Hatem joined the driver of the only other car in the lot at a small table inside the building.  It was too hot to sit in the car, so we woke up Q and went inside to look around.  It was not a restaurant, but a souvenir shop, and we were, for the next 30 minutes, a captive set of potential customers.  We managed to keep Q from breaking anything and explained repeatedly why he could not have a dagger of his own.  Hatem finished his lunch and we left, a little irritated, but thankful that it was not a high-pressure sales establishment, by Jordanian standards.  More on that later.

Because of this stop, the gates of Shobak castle were already closed when we got there, but Hatem bribed the guard to let us in for a quick look around.  We made a quick circuit of the castle wall, enjoying the last rays of sunlight and watching the shadows lengthen across the rocky, barren hills.

The sun set as we made our way down the hill and into the town of Wadi Musa ("valley of Moses"), where we would stay the next two nights while we explored the ancient city of Petra.

The next morning, we met our ride (our driver was double booked, so he called a friend to transport us the few miles between our hotel and the park gates), bought water, and set off into the park.  Ten steps past the gate, we declined the first of what would be hundreds of offers for horseback, buggy, and donkey rides.  Most of these offers had to be declined repeatedly. In many instances, the bedouin guys would push for (or sometimes just declare) a verbal commitment to take a ride "later" and then, if they saw you again, remind you of your "promise."  We spent the next 9 hours turning down donkey rides, but, in the end, we broke down and rode the damn donkeys.

From the park gates, it's a flat, dusty half mile to the entrance of the Siq.  This canyon meanders through sheer, rosy sandstone walls and takes you from the desert outside (relatively) modern Wadi Musa thousands of years back in time and into the city of Petra.  The very first thing you see is the most iconic part of the city, called the Treasury (even though it was a tomb), which you probably remember as the place where Indiana Jones found the Holy Grail.

The effect of the approach is dampened somewhat by the throngs of tourists, donkeys, donkey wallahs, and makeshift booths selling, among other things, wide-brim felt fedoras, but the place is still amazing.

Although the Treasury gets most of the imagery associations with Petra, the city is quite extensive, stretching more than a mile down the valley, deep into the adjoining canyons, and high into the surrounding cliffs. We meandered down the valley, exploring the accessible tombs and other assorted carve-outs. Bedouin-run market tents occupied many of the flat spots near the main path on both sides of the wadi. Further back, and higher up on the canyon walls, blankets replaced tents as the standard salesroom. There were even some without blankets, using small ledges carved into the stone instead. Niche markets. (Fair warning: everything after this was written more than a year after the actual experience. I might make up some stuff.)

We scrambled around a bit, climbing from one tomb to another and imagining what it would be like if they were our bedrooms. We found a few filled with trash. One had a couple of donkeys inside. These were the larger tombs, most of which were closer to the wadi floor. There were many, many more double and single sarcophagus-sized carve-outs higher up on the walls. A kilometer or so further down the wadi opened into a wide confluence of valleys, ringed by steep cliffs and filled with low rocky hills. And donkey wallahs. So many donkey wallahs.

It really ties the room together.

Geologists don't want you to know what these patterns mean.

We no-thankyou'd our way to what was left of one of the few remaining free-standing structures from the ancient city. The Great Temple... was a place we visited in 2017, and while I probably had some witty observations at the time, I have forgotten them. In the interest of ever blogging again, and with apologies to you faithful readers, the remainder of this post's text will be in picture captions.
 
 

Trying to remember. ....nope.

The Monastery.

Verdict: not a great bedroom.

I know the sign said "High Place" but I didn't think ther'd be this much uphill.

Not pictured: lady who tried to sell Q a dagger right next to this ancient ritual sacrifice fixture.

Just think how tired we'll be when we get back down there.

They got us. It took all day, but they wore us down. The donkey wallahs got us. Length of ride: <1km.

 Little Petra, little siq.

Like Petra, but smaller

I could fit so many beds in here!

So, I do remember this part. We left Wadi Musa on a Friday morning with plans to stop at Little Petra before driving on to our hotel by the Dead Sea. We stopped at Little Petra. We didn't stay long because...we had just seen, like, so much Petra already. We head for the Dead Sea. Hatem was driving noticeably faster than usual, taking curves in the wrong lane, passing everyone. Normal driving for the region. We start our journey winding through scrubby hills, loose rock scattered in places near the cut away cliffs. Maximum viable speed is 35-40 mph and we are doing it. Then we hit the flat land on the valley floor. I couldn't see the speedometer, but we went above whatever the speed limit was for the next hour and a half. We went airborne at one point (really) and no one spoke a word. We sped past archeological and natural wonders. Hatem dropped us at our hotel and left. Professionally obligated to not rush our visit to Little Petra, but sufficiently obligated to attend Jumu'ah, he risked all our lives on the way. Tour companies: Don't make your drivers work on their holy days. It creates an un-resolvable conflict for drivers, and can put everyone in an awkward, or even dangerous situation. Hatem went back to driving safely the next day, but it was never the same after that.

Jesus was here.

The next day was filled with Biblical wonders. We visited Christ's baptismal site on the Jordan. We waved at the visitors on the other side of the river, flanked by dudes with body armor and assault weapons. We visited Moses's grave, atop a rugged, windy ridge. We haggled over and bought a mosaic. Hatem bought us street food. It was good.

Jordan River. (map linked)

And then we chilled by the Dead Sea for a day. Man that water is salty. Also, Q befriended the bodyguard/buddy of the prince (by vomiting hotdogs onto the pool deck directly in front of their chairs, whilst swimming, and then proceeding to flirt with his girlfriend) and then we all (us, the cousin, the prince, and his entourage) painted ourselves in Dead Sea mud together. It was wild.

You can't see the mud, but it's down there. Also, Jerusalem is just over those hills in the background.

Riding the Rails...Third Stop - Prague

When we last left you, we were about to embark on the third leg of our journey, bound for Prague. We arrived and headed to our hotel on foot, much to Q's chagrin, for some reason he really loves taking taxis. (You can take the boy out of Abu Dhabi, but you cannot take the Abu Dhabi out of the boy...)

Enjoying the passing scenery...in his dreams

Catching some Zs in anticipation

Upon our arrival, we dropped our things and immediately headed out to Old Town Square where the annual Christmas Market was still going strong. While enjoying the local music, we fortified ourselves against the cold with hot wine and local fare. Let me just say now that the hot wine/hot mead will become a recurring theme during our time in this beautiful city.

The centerpiece of the Christmas Market

Old Town Square at night

A short aside before getting into more about our time in Prague. Since we decided to embark on this journey, all Quintus has been able to focus on is seeing, playing in, and eating snow (emphasis on the eating). As you can see by all of our pictures to date, we have yet to encounter any snow, at any of our destinations. This, too, will feature prevalently during our time here in Prague. Now let's continue.

The next morning, we bundled up against the cold (or so we thought) and headed out to explore. For those who have been to Prague, you will know that there is much to see and for those who have not, just trust us. What we did not realize is that we were nowhere close to being dressed well enough to guard against the frigid temperatures. (To be fair, for those who live in these climes, it was not that cold, but for those of us who have grown soft, it was almost more than we could bear.) So, after an hour of walking through Old Town and making it snow (flurries really) with our wishes, we found a great little spot, La Bottega di Finestra, to stop in for a hot drink and warm our bodies for a few minutes. If you are ever in Prague, check this place out, it was amazing. Let's just say, we lamented the fact that we had already eaten breakfast...

All jokes aside about Prague having the best hot chocolate,
this was seriously the best hot chocolate, complete
with separate bowl of freshly whipped cream.

How good is he making this look?!

Once we were sufficiently warmed, we headed back out to continue exploring. We arrived at the Charles Bridge early enough so that we could enjoy it before it was mobbed with tourists.

The square on the east side of the Charles Bridge

Looking out across to the far side of the Charles Bridge

Love locks on the bridge. Amazing how many people
get custom made locks to place on this fence.

The river was teeming with ducks and swans.

We made it to the other side of the bridge and were greeted by a vendor selling hot wine, so how could we say no? With provisions in hand, we made our way up the hill to the Prague Castle. The Castle, with two guards standing sentry watch, was quite a sight to behold. Since the line to get in circled the square, we opted to behold only its external beauties, as waiting in line, outside, for hours was not really in our plans for the day. The two guards standing watch were the props in countless tourist photos, a reminder of the guards standing watch at Buckingham Palace.

 

Following our tour of the Castle Square and the surrounding area, we made our way back down the hill to find some lunch and John Lennon's wall. We managed to find both. A brief note about our lunch. No, this is not a food blog, but I would be remiss to not at least mention how absolutely delicious the sauerkraut is in Prague. It is nothing, I repeat nothing, like what we get in the United States. It is so fresh and the flavors are light and just delicious. If you ever find yourself here, do yourself a favor and try it, you will not regret it.

The Lennon Wall has a very interesting history that I will not recount here, but if you are interested in learning more, check out the link. Having just been in Berlin and spending time at the East Side Gallery, this site was a unique continuation of this time in history.

 

We eventually made our way back to the hotel for an afternoon nap to gear up for our final evening in Prague, which did not disappoint. We had one last meal at the Christmas Market and then headed out on a horse and carriage ride through Old Town. Now, this is not something Stan and I would normally go for, but Quintus REALLY wanted to go for a horse and carriage ride, so we did. His sheer joy at the experience made it completely worthwhile.

Mid-ride...it is REALLY difficult to take a photo when
in a carriage riding over cobblestone streets.

Post-ride photo-op with the horses.

The next morning, we packed up to head out to our next destination, Budapest. See you there!