Someone had asked me a while back, how do you decide which country you want to visit? My response was “I don’t know”. A country would pop into my head and it will stay there until I visit. This is how Jordan started.
In my previous post, I blogged how my initial trip was supposed to be all about Jordan but then it was changed to include two other countries. As I was working on the itinerary, I decided two days was enough for me to get a “taste” and then make the decision to revisit at a later time. And boy did I get what I wanted.
Amman
Visa
After the harrowing episode leaving Cairo, we made it to Amman. For U.S. citizens, you do need to have a visa before entering Amman. The good news is that you can get it upon arrival for $60. The process is seamless. Once you get the visa, you go through passport control. Viola! Welcome to Amman!
Accommodations
Amman is a mixture of old and new. Depending on your taste, you can pick either area.
We decided to stay at Marriott Amman in a new area of the city. The hotels in the Middle East are different than all other hotels in other parts of the world. One word — Security. Cars go through screening before entering the property. Everyone has to go through a metal detector to enter the hotel. No exception!
Currency
The currency is Jordanian Dinar (jod). 1 jod is equal to 1.41 u.s. Jordan is pricey. I had to stop doing the conversion in my head.
Points of Interest
The Amman is typically a layover to either the Dead Sea and/or Petra. However, there are a couple of things to see in Amman such as:
Citadel
Roman Theatre
There is more like the downtown area, Rainbow street (shopping and restaurants) and King Abdulla Mosque. My recommendation is to arrive early in Amman, explore a little and then dip.
Petra
Petra is the main place that I wanted to visit. It is a UNESCO site and one of the seven wonders of the world. I told the ladies that this was for ME. Therefore, I organized a one day tour from Amman.
The guide confirmed pick up at 0630 am. Guess what, my girls showed up and showed out. Petra, originally known to the Nabataeans as Raqmu, is a historical and archaeological city in southern Jordan. The city is a famous forits rock-cut architecture and water conduit system.
From Amman to Petra is about a three-hour drive. The drive is not bad but I don’t like road trips. When we got there it was time to explore with our guide. Below are some of the pictures from Petra.
After Petra, we drove another hour and a half to Wadi Rum.
Wadi Rum
Wadi Rum is famous for its stunning desert landscape, spectacular sandstone mountains, desert valleys, canyons, dunes, arches. It is also known as the Valley of the Moon. Wadi Rum has been used as a filming location in ‘Lawrence of Arabia ‘Prometheus’, ‘The Martian ‘ and many other movies.
