The Kingdom of Jordan

Just around the corner from Lebanon is Jordan. Four quick days, a rental car and you can experience a lot. I traveled with friends Haitham and Ben...

Amman:
Population 2.5 million. Pretty much the place to fly into, sleep, eat Falafel and leave. The city is a mess of hills and valleys with roads and buildings wrapping and clinging on. Not the best place to get lost in, and not the best place to walk.

Petra:
They say it takes 3 hours from Amman. Make time for 5...especially if you are taking the Kings Highway (speed bump!). Its all worth it of course, Petra being right out of film and fantasy...experiencing it hardly makes it any more real. Those Nabataeans were crafty little people. We caught the sunset on the Treasury, and the early morning light on the hundreds of other ruins and tombs...( I really did try to edit my photos!)

The Dead Sea:
A mad dash out of Petra to get to the Dead Sea in time for some last minute sunlight. Up the Dead Sea Highway and into the oily-feeling Sea. You do float, You can't swim...and that cut on your hand...oh, close your eyes too... ("ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch" - Ben).

Jerash:
The Roman city, once of 20,000 still stands in amazement. Located an hour north of Amman this 2000 something year old place is...big.


Umm Al-Jimal:
The last stop on our whirl-wind adventure led us out east on the Iraqi highway. The city of Umm Al-Jimal was founded in the 1st century BC by again those crafty Nabataeans. The place is constructed out of black basalt rock...and was completely empty except for us...along with the rains rolling in, it felt like we were walking in on some post-apocoliptic war zone.