Exploring Amman & beyond. A visit to the Dead Sea, Jerash and Amman’s Citadel. The perfect introductory to visiting Jordan.
Visiting Jordan was everything we hoped it would be and so much more.
We were blown away by our entire experience. By far one of our favourite countries to travel through! We kicked off our 10 day trip in the capital, Amman. On leaving the airport, we jumped onto an airport bus and were dropped off at the 5th circle. From there, we took a taxi to our downtown hotel/hostel – Sydney Hotel. It was one of those hotel/hostels we liked from the moment we walked in; clean, friendly and helpful staff.
We were looking forward to exploring Amman & beyond. Floating in the Dead Sea was high on our list of this to do. By far the easiest way to get there was to book a seat in a car through our hostel. Trying to arrange a visit independently seemed like a logistical mess, which could have left us stranded. Although it was expensive, we bit the bullet and booked a 1/2 day trip for the following day. There were other people from the hostel also booked onto the trip, so we all split the cost of the driver and van. With this
The Dead Sea
Our group of about 10, headed off early the following morning. We made a stop at Madaba, a town is known for its ancient mosaic ruins. It is also home to St Georges church, famous for its mosaic flooring. We quickly popped into the Madaba Archaeological Museum, to see old mosaic exhibits. Then, after a quick visit to the Church, we moved onto Mount Nebo.
Ordinarily the views from Mount Nebo would have been really nice. But unfortunately, there was no view due to the thick wall of
The banks of the sea were hard and salty, hard to walk on at times. And there was an option to cover ourselves in a ‘dead sea mud mask’. It’s believed that the mud has purifying properties, however, we weren’t convinced! After a shower and a quick swim in the pool, we headed back to Amman before enjoying a local lunch of koftas and kebabs with the group.
Jerash
The next day, we along with two ladies who we visited the dead sea with, caught a bus out to Jerash. This ancient site is considered to be one of the best preserved Roman cities in the world. With inside its walls, the city spans an area of around 800,000²m, consisting of temples, plazas and an amphitheatre. In all honesty, Jerash really blew us away and we spent hours wandering through this amazing ancient city. We had only allowed a couple of hours to explore the ruins, however you could easily spend half a day there.
Amman Citadel
On our return to Amman, we said goodbye to our friends who were travelling onto Wadi Musa. We then headed to the Citadel in the late afternoon. Perched on the highest hill in Amman, the citadel offered great views over the city. It was another example of Jordan’s incredible history. Inside the citadel walls are ruins of temples, halls, courtyards and a royal palace. We really loved the Citadel and the views over Amman from the walls inside. We stayed until after sunset taking an abundance of photos, before walking back into town for dinner.
That evening, we indulged heavily on falafels, koftas and
We absolutely love exploring Amman & beyond. Not usually lovers of big cities, Amman had a great vibe and friendly people. Travel was easy, the sights were incredible and the food was amazing! All things that we later learnt were consistent throughout all of Jordan!
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