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Jordan
If you love
history, nature reserves, gourmet restaurants, and welcoming and
friendly people, then Jordan should be your next destination. The best
thing? No one hassles you like they do in Egypt and Morocco, you are
left free to browse.
It’s
possible to visit all of Jordan’s main sights from your base at one of
the many 5* hotels in the tourist areas. The major hotel chains are
well represented, but the Royal Amman and the Intercontinental in Amman
really do stand out, and the Swiss Mövenpick chain hotels in Aqaba, on
the Dead Sea, and in Wadi Musa, the town just outside Petra, are
superb. Rooftop bars add to the charm and the Dead Sea Mud Spa
treatments available in all 5* establishments are superb.
 You can’t come to Jordan without visiting the Rose
Red City of Petra, hidden from the outside world until its rediscovery
in 1812 by Swiss explorer Louis Burckhardt. A long winding walk takes
you through the 1200m. chasm of the Siq which suddenly opens on to a
square dominated by the stunning Treasury temple façade, carved out of
the pinkish-red sandstone, 3000 years ago. Caves and tombs, a Roman
theatre and votive niches are to be seen if you walk the 3 miles from
here to “downtown Petra” but there are horses, donkeys and camels for
hire if you find the distance daunting.
Amman has rich history too, and settlements from
1200 B.C. dot Citadel Hill, one of seven on which the city is built.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are housed in a Museum on the Hill and restoration
of a temple to Hercules and a vast forum is currently being undertaken.
From here you can look across to the pale-coloured buildings of downtown
Amman (by law, all houses must be built of the local limestone).
Downtown there is a magnificent colonnaded Roman street and a Roman
Theatre through which people pass without noticing the sacred stones on
which they walk.
For a meal fit for the gods that will include an
array of aromatic breads, salads, savouries and mansaf, Jordan’s
traditional dish of lamb, yogurt sauce and rice served on a bed of rice
and pine nuts, you should visit the typical Jordanian restaurant Reem
Albawadi (Gazelle of the Desert) Tel: 5515419.
Divers
will head straight to the Red Sea port of Aqaba, its indigo-coloured
waters teeming with colourful marine life, and its coral reefs
considered to be the most pristine on the Red Sea. They are well
catered for at five PADI diving centres, the best being The Royal
Diving Club, which has wreck diving, a beachside freshwater swimming
pool, changing rooms and restaurant. Snorkellers can get up close and
personal with an amazing variety of colourful marine life.
Set in a palm-fringed, sandy bay backed by purple
coloured mountains, Aqaba boasts several seafood restaurants, one of the
best of which is Romero at the Royal Yacht Club. A meal on the terrace
of the Club which looks across the Gulf to the twinkling lights of Eilat
in Israel, with a glass or two from the excellent wine list, is
something you’ll remember for a long time.
 But for me, the unmissable destination in Jordan is
Wadi Rum,.where gigantic red rocks surge out of the sands and 2000 year
old graffiti still scars the rocks. Familiar to moviegoers from the
film Lawrence of Arabia, it was one of the principal encampments during
World War I for the attack on the Ottaman Empire. A night under the
star-studded sky of Wadi Rum as the sunset deepens the shadows and
colours the rocks, to wake at first light to see them change again from
brown to reddish-pink, is a life-affirming event you will never forget
And if you want to get Biblical, you can check out
the cave where Lot was seduced by his daughters, Mount Nebo where God
showed Moses the promised Land, Joktheel where he struck the rock to
produce water, and Bethany beyond the Jordan.
But you don’t need to do any of this. You can just
relax in a great hotel, eat some wonderful food, and lap up the
sunshine. The traditional hospitality of the Jordanians will ensure a
truly fabulous stay in their country. |
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