We have been stationed in Amman since the 21st and Michel has spent most of the last 3 days in bed. He seems to be getting over the cold but has an ear ache so we have put him on antibiotics just in case. Our main goal is to get him better before Turkey - 3 more days.
Amman is oh, so different than Petra or Wadi Rum. Amman is a thriving metropolis of 2.5 million people. Tourists stick out way more here! We are definitely stared at much more and everyone thinks that Michel is either from South Africa or Saudi Arabia.
I have been killing time by wandering the streets and absorbing the sights and sounds. Today I think I will break down and go to the Citadel. I think Michel may join me - we'll see when he wakes up.
Second Stop: Dana Nature Reserve. We actually just stopped by a road side turnout and took some pictures of the reserve. I had asked to go to the Visitors’ Centre but Michel thinks the taxi driver just didn’t understand. I had an ulterior motive – the Visitors’ Centre has an organic café in it and I wanted to get Michel some fresh fruit/vegetable juice to help his cold. The whole drive from Petra to Amman was lovely with lots of very panoramic views - lots of beige sand though!
Third Stop: Tafila wasn’t actually a stop but a drive through as we didn’t really want to stop. However, the main street was a buzz with activity as it was Friday so everyone was off work, school, etc and they were all out. It was my first encounter with a butcher shop and I thought it was neat.
Fourth Stop: Karak Castle is another crusader castle that is much bigger and better preserved. It is right inside the town of Karak which is interesting because it (the town not the castle) is mentioned several times in the Bible as Kir, Kir Moab and Kir Heres.
Fifth and Favorite Stop: The Dead Sea was very nice. It is very costly to get into though. The public beach cost us $46 Cdn for Michel and I just to get in. This did give us access to change rooms, showers (very important), pools (not salty), restaurants and the Dead Sea itself. It is usually very hard to get Michel into water but on this day there was no problem. We played in the water for about ½ hour, took some photos and then showered. If you don’t shower after, as you dry, you become salt encrusted – not very comfortable! We were much relaxed and it was 4:30 in the afternoon so we skipped Mt. Nebo (where Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land) and Madaba (a small town south of Amman with great mosaics).
We are now staying at the Farah Hotel where is costs us all of $28Cdn a night to have a room with a double bed and shared bathroom (picture to come) but it is still better than the hostel in London that had mold growing on the wall. Yesterday, I went out and bought cleaning supplies and cleaned the bathroom before showering - it was not really gross or anything but it made me feel better about showering.
Amman is oh, so different than Petra or Wadi Rum. Amman is a thriving metropolis of 2.5 million people. Tourists stick out way more here! We are definitely stared at much more and everyone thinks that Michel is either from South Africa or Saudi Arabia.
I have been killing time by wandering the streets and absorbing the sights and sounds. Today I think I will break down and go to the Citadel. I think Michel may join me - we'll see when he wakes up.
The trip up to Amman was relaxing as we decided to hire a
taxi and to stop at some of the sites along the way.
First Stop: Shobak Castle was built in the
1100s by a crusader named Baldwin I.
There is a “secret” passage way (I am sure it was secret in the time of
Baldwin I but not now) that takes you from the castle (at the top of a hill) to
a spring at the base of the hill. It consists of 375 stairs and we were offered
a guided tour down (we were the only ones at the castle) but I didn’t think
that Michel should try with the way he was feeling and the passage gave me
the creeps. The guide didn't speak great English but we had lots of fun with him.
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| My warrior! |
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| Pretty ruins |
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Scary passage to spring. That point of light in the middle
is the latern that the guide held up so Michel could see his
way down about 30-40 steps and then turn around and take
a picture looking back up at us!!
|
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| Just call me Xena!!! |
Second Stop: Dana Nature Reserve. We actually just stopped by a road side turnout and took some pictures of the reserve. I had asked to go to the Visitors’ Centre but Michel thinks the taxi driver just didn’t understand. I had an ulterior motive – the Visitors’ Centre has an organic café in it and I wanted to get Michel some fresh fruit/vegetable juice to help his cold. The whole drive from Petra to Amman was lovely with lots of very panoramic views - lots of beige sand though!
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| That's Dana Reserve behind us. More interesting though, the bits of green to the right are crops grown to feed the sheep. |
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| This is not Dana but in the middle of all the beigeness, this massive black rock appears - any geologist out there care to explain? |
Third Stop: Tafila wasn’t actually a stop but a drive through as we didn’t really want to stop. However, the main street was a buzz with activity as it was Friday so everyone was off work, school, etc and they were all out. It was my first encounter with a butcher shop and I thought it was neat.
 |
| I believe we need to be more connected with where our food comes from but someone tell me - is someone going to eat that cow's head???? |
Fourth Stop: Karak Castle is another crusader castle that is much bigger and better preserved. It is right inside the town of Karak which is interesting because it (the town not the castle) is mentioned several times in the Bible as Kir, Kir Moab and Kir Heres.
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| Random photo of landscape - Look how green it is! If you saw nothing else, I don't think you would believe you were in the middle of a desert! |
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| Karak Castle at the top of the hill |
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| My warrior standing beside a stone relief of a Nabatean warrior - apparently when the Christians built the castle, they reused stones from other structures hence why a Nabatean warrior shows up in a crusader castle. |
Fifth and Favorite Stop: The Dead Sea was very nice. It is very costly to get into though. The public beach cost us $46 Cdn for Michel and I just to get in. This did give us access to change rooms, showers (very important), pools (not salty), restaurants and the Dead Sea itself. It is usually very hard to get Michel into water but on this day there was no problem. We played in the water for about ½ hour, took some photos and then showered. If you don’t shower after, as you dry, you become salt encrusted – not very comfortable! We were much relaxed and it was 4:30 in the afternoon so we skipped Mt. Nebo (where Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land) and Madaba (a small town south of Amman with great mosaics).
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| Floaty Girl |
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| Floaty Boy! |
We are now staying at the Farah Hotel where is costs us all of $28Cdn a night to have a room with a double bed and shared bathroom (picture to come) but it is still better than the hostel in London that had mold growing on the wall. Yesterday, I went out and bought cleaning supplies and cleaned the bathroom before showering - it was not really gross or anything but it made me feel better about showering.
I have become used to the call to prayer from the mosques
and actually find them quite beautiful to listen to. However, the ones at 5am are a tiny bit
harder to appreciate. Amman seems to have figured out something that they hadn't in Petra. In Petra, all the mosques would broadcast the call to prayers at the same time and there would be this cacophany of call to prayers - a little hard on the ears. However, in Amman, it seems like there is only one mosque broadcasting in each major area as I hear no overlap - makes it much more lovely to listen to.
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