Madaba

Image credit: www.triptojordan.com

A corrupted SD card was not the reason for not having this image but it was why I have no pictures from Madaba at all. Famous for its mosaics, we found a decent enough place to wash off all the salt and sand, and started the next day with dead sea beauty products, "sitting outside in the sun" with carrot juice and a so-called cappuccino, and the drive-thru of the hustle and bustle on a Saturday (Sunday) morning.

Petra

The Rose-Red City was much rosier without the blaring sun. Although admission was steep no matter which living standard you apply, the sheer scale of that place and the size of the rock cut architecture was even more impressive than imagined.

For most parts of the day Petra is a very happening place with lots of tourists, camels, donkeys, horses, carriages, cafes, souvenirs shops, stalls, tourist police, toilets. While some were impressed by the Siq or by the water conduits system, I enjoyed the walk up to the finale monastery so much that it felt like it was roughly 20 minutes, but apparently that was not how it was generally perceived.

Al Disa

...welcomed into a real home to spend time with these adorable kids (drank tea too, of course).

Wadi Rum

   

   

After many villages down the King's highway including Al Karak with its Crusades castle, we asked for directions for one last time, which brought us straight to Mousa. Mousa was very passionate about couch-surfing and had lots of troubles with his "jeep". Like a real Bedouin, he prefers to live alone in the desert without electricity and running water. The moon was bright, fire came and go, tea was heavier sugared like everywhere else, and unlike real Bedouins, we thought it was too cold to sleep outside the tent but we got up bright and early for the sunrise, the sand valleys, the inscriptions and the very beaten tracks.

Dead Sea

Tranquil, serene and calm with its rim of white and a touch of surrealism, the Dead Sea was indeed, as they said, very salty. It looked as if a twirl of syrup was stirred into the water. Best to spare everyone from those typical look-I-am-floating-and-reading-at-the-same-time photos but I can reassure you that we took plenty, and it's true that you really won't sink.

This was our first stop with the 30JD/day rental car (automatic with no GPS), after getting out of Amman traffic (special thanks to the city of Brussels for the foundation training), being impressed by an average bakery and how warm and helpful Jordanians were even on the side of the road.

Amman

As if all buildings, old or new, were required to adhere to a certain colour palette, what we saw in Amman was hills and hills of sandstone. After the bird's-eye view of Beirut stretching over the sea with glittering claws and experiencing real–life simulation of sleeping in a fridge, we woke up to the music from the LPG truck which almost sounded like ice-cream. Tareq started us with a table full of hummus and falafel, and the sweet “Egyptian” tea, which later proved to be first of the many.

There were the many "welcome”s as you walk down the street, the citadel with the call for prayer/Scottish pipes/birds remix, the “sitting outside in the sun” at the Roman theatre, the lime and mint on the balcony, sampling seafood with locals, crossing anywhere and everywhere and cars actually stop, and the very pleasant evening walk alongside the many windows with inspiration for interior design.