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Place of High Sacrafice Petra
1 Review Very much worth the hike. We climbed up the "winding staircase" on a rainy/cloudy day and had this site at the top of the valley to our selves for nearly an hour. Amazing view! Check out the locals...
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monastery Petra
1 Review I mean it, it is 1,000 steps - not a bad idea to mount a mule for this climb as it is long and tiring. You get the feeling along the way that you are on a pilgrimmage of some sort as the people going...
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The Wadi al Mujib is a deep (about 1000 mt) canyon on the national road going south from Amman to El Kerak, a few kms after Madaba. The views are really breathtaking and the road goes down and then up again steep and with very sharp windings. At the bottom of the Wadi the temperature is some 15 C higher than at the top and it's very quiet. There is no village or anything, except for a post office in the middle of nothing (?!?).
Azraq is a dull town east of Amman, not far from the Iraqi border. There is an impressive old fortress, made of dark stone. It was built about 1600 years ago. Last century Lord Lawrence Headquarters were based here. It is now much ruined and it's not worth to travel 'til here for it, unless you're a fanatic of old ruined fortresses. (I am not, but I did it anyway...)
Qasr al-Azraq is another desert castle located east of Amman, and more precisely on the highway that leads to Iraq. It's a large black basalt fortress built at the beginning of the 13th century. it's fame is linked to one of its inhabitants: Lawrence of Arabia, who used it as his headquarters during the winter of 1917, at th times of the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Among the rest you can visit Lawrence's chamber and see an interesting collection of his photographs in various locations of Jordan
Qasr al-Harraneh is a well-preserved castle located 55 kilometers east of Amman. Of the three I visited it's the mot imposing one, with thick solid walls and some delicate ornaments created by using bricks unlevelled against the rest of the wall (bad descritpion I know, but my english fails me)The reason for this fortress to exist is very unclear: some say it was a defensive fort, others believe it was a simple caravanserail for passing camel trains. Another theory, which is more like a legend, is that Qasr al-Harraneh served as a retreat for Umayyad leaders to discuss affairs of state. Whatever the real reason is, it doesn't detract from its charm
Qusayr 'Amra is not exactly a castle but, rather, a Calif "country" (well, desert) house. The architecture looks superficially straight out of a Star Trek movie (no relations with the film, however) but it's inside that one sees the true beauty of this castle: there are three long vaulted halls decorated with colorful and well-preserved frescoes. Some depict human figures, which are not allowed in Islamic Art, which basically brings us the notion that this prohibition is not an historical one, but a recently-imposed one.
Ajlun Castle (Qualm er-Rabad) is an interesting Islamic fortress about 20 minutes south of it. It was built in 1184 by Amir 'Izz al-Din Usama, who accidentally was the nephew of the great Salaheddin (Saladin), : today it's craggy and broken outside, but its interior hasn't lost its old charm: it's a maze of little passages and corridors and dark dungeons. Since it lies on top of a hill on a clear day there are great views over the surrounding countryside
it's possible to visit this israeli nursery farmcaught between very north of jordania with very south of golan,near tiberiade lake...photo is taken since jordania side,other yarmouk valley side is golan...
south jordaniafacing to israel,egypt (as in this pic facing taba) and not very far from saoudi arabia...you may cross the israeli border between 8 am and 6 pm excepted alot of days as friday,saturday and sunday....(religious days)+public holidays on both sides!
an old site with a succession of inhabitants:greeks,seleucides,jewish,romans,byzantines,abbassides,mamelouks,...we can imagine the splendor of this ancient city (and also the heat!)in the back stage,jordan river and israel
we are in umm qais (or gadara) in the very northfrom the belvedere we see:tiberiade lake,yarmouk valley,golan and jordan river...or israel,siria,jordania...it's a military district with frequent check points...
Petra Movenpick Petra
10 Reviews and 581 Opinions Called one of the most notable hotels in the Middle East. Lovely hotel, lobby and lounge areas, and...
Four Seasons Hotel Amman Amman
4 Reviews and 172 Opinions We stayed overnight at the Four Seasons, on our return trip home to Australia. We were warmly...
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Wadi Rum Zeltcamps Wadi Rum
2 Opinions
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Q: I am considering booking a Thomas Cook trip to Aqaba jan 7th. The main purpose of the trip is sunbathing, but we also would like...
A: Personally, I would miss out the Dead Sea and do both Wadi Rum and Petra. However, if you are set on the Dead Sea, then Petra is the other choice. I cannot see that...
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