Dana, the Kings Highway, the Dead Sea, and Amman
Between Petra and Amman, we made a few stops that were well worthwhile. We spent a day hiking at the Dana Nature Reserve, wandered around Karak castle, floated in the Dead Sea and went up to Mount Nebu before arriving in Amman, our last stop in Jordan.
We packed a lunch and hiked into the canyon at Dana, enjoying the change of scenery. Unlike Wadi Rum and Petra, we were treated to a good amount of greenery, rock formations similar to that of Zion Natl Park, and views. Unfortunately, we had the pleasure of watching a local take out the trash upon finishing our hike, which was a little old lady, walking down the road with a huge bucket of trash and throwing it over the edge of the canyon into the wind. Though shockingly hilarious to watch (as some of it blew back into her face), it was sad as well to think about the affect on the environment.
Unlike our previous stops in Jordan where it had be extremely warm and sunny, we had to take out our hats and scarves to stay warm in the AM and at night in Dana. A think fog, not unlike that in San Francisco, covered the canyon in the AM so that you could barely see the start of the path. When the sun went down, the wind picked up and it got pretty chilly and was the perfect time to hideaway in our cozy hostel, the Tower Hotel, which is worth mentioning because it was a kitsch-collectors heaven. Every inch of wall space , along with whatever hanging space that could be created in mid-air, was covered with magazine cut outs, brochures, posters, ribbon, trinkets, key chains, tshirts,underwear, lace, plastic flowers, toys – anything you could find at a flea market was on these walls. Any free space without something hanging from it had writing all over it – poems, jokes, “deep thoughts”, love letters, etc. Our room was named the “Ali-Baba Room”, which was next to the “Camel’s Crib” and faced the “Dana Dungeon”.
The next day we hired a car and driver, left the wonderful world of kitsch and took a day to drive up to Amman, stopping at various sites, the first being Karak castle. Karak is the most famous Crusader castle in Jordan, situated 1000m above sea level where we spent few hours climbing among the ruins exploring. Actually, the most interesting sight was a school field trip of middle school girls. It was great watching them as they brought along a drum and were singing and dancing to the beat of the drum pretty much wherever they went within the ruins – a really heart-warming sight to see. After Karak we made our way up King’s Highway, apparently the most beautiful drive in Jordan.
From Karak, we slowly made our way north to the Dead Sea, which (WARNING: dork facts ahead) the lowest point in the world situated at about 400m below sea level. This lake salinity of the water is 30%, which is apparently 10 times that of ocean water. All in all, it lets you experience boyancy like you never imagined and it makes for some super novel swimming and bathing. Unlike ocean or fresh water, the water feels very greasy and almost viscous and inflicts pain that you can’t even imagine on any scratch, cut or open wound you have and make you aware of some that you didn’t know that you had. The most novel part was definitely floating in the Dead Sea – no matter how hard you try, you can’t stand up straight or touch the bottom. The tiniest alteration to your balance and the water kicks your feet up so that you float horizontally – it’s the craziest thing! We topped off our Dead Sea experience with our own personal spa treatment of Dead Sea mud which is apparently rich in minerals that make it great for your skin, that we found close to shore – best spa treatment ever. Not only is the mud great for your skin, but there is significantly reduced UV on and around the dead sea as the cloud that has formed above it from the water evaporating filters out harmful rays.
After cleaning off the salt and mud, we made our way up to Mount Nebu believed to be the burial site of Moses. From there we arrived in Amman, the country’s capital. According to the Rough Guide for Jordan that we acquired in Egypt, Amman was supposed to be a “city that is underrated and appreciated by many travelers”….i.e. somewhere one should definitely check out. Not unlike many other backpackers we’ve met, we are religious Lonely Planet users. For all intensive and even peripheral purposes, the Lonely Planet has been a reliable and dependable source of information – not just for logistics but also for providing a pretty accurate view of what to expect when visiting somewhere. Lonely Planet didn’t have much to say about Amman and neither did many other people we met that had been there previously, but given that the Rough Guide gave it kudos, we decided to give Rough Guide a chance and hoped for the best.
We spent a day wandering around the city, visited the Roman Theater, Amman’s most famous ruin and poked our heads into random alleyways alike. We also took a day trip to see Jerash, the most magnificent and best preserved Roman cities in Jordan and spent the day poking around this incredible city. Actually, what we loved about Amman was the street food and our waistlines are fit to prove it. Right across the street from our hostel was a 24 hour falafel cafe that was always hopping and crowded and only served 4 things: Fuul (mashed beans and spices), hummus, falafel, and fries and they did it well. Down the next alley was a local sweets shop, which always had a line to the street, which served these great Middle Eastern sweets, also always had a line out the door and to the street and people standing outside eating their sweets with plastic forkes and styrofoam plates.
Needless to say, Amman wasn’t the “hidden gem” that the Rough Guide made it out to be, but to it’s credit it had a fair share of ruins right in the city, good food, and walkable areas good for wandering around. But I will say that I won’t be taking the Rough Guide’s word much in the future.
For more pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanlovesphotos/sets/72057594119919510/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanlovesphotos/sets/72057594119916988/
Best Eats:
Hummus – best hummus we’ve ever had, served with extra olive oil and chopped up chili peppers
Kalakand – a baked cheese dessert, topped with a thin layer of a cornmeal like cake, served hot and drenched in hot sugary syrup
Kataife – Shredded wheat combined with nuts, butter, sugar, served hot and drenched in sugary syrup
Baklava variation with cheese – Don’t know the name, but its baklava stuffed with sweet ricotta cheese , served warm its heaven
-Shan
Tags: Dead Sea, Jordan, Middle East, Travel
Shan
May 13th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Many, Many, different names. Great menory to write all this new words. What a love for each other. Martha
May 17th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
Interesting to read your thoughts. I just happenned accross your blog as it was in the history of the computer I’m using (in Hama, Syria), and noticed it in trying to access my own blog. We’ve done almost the exact same things as you, even staying at some of the same hotels.
Also, I found that I did have the balance to stand straight up in the Dead Sea, which was off unto itself, because I would just bob there with my head and shoulders out of the water.
November 22nd, 2007 at 1:33 am
hi , im from amman , i was lookin in google for pictucers for my english class presntion and i found this site ! u r right abt some things u said bt can u tell me wut hotel did u stay in !! and i know that amman is a bit dissapointin , bt if u have spened more time in it u would have loved it and some of the info u said i have never heard of ! i went to the whole middle east ! and i understand wut u say abt it bt still u should have eaten more ! cuz there is many things u would have loved and i want to ask u did u go to down town !!
January 13th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Hi!
I’ve been to Amman and the Dead Sea this summer. I found Amman a bit dissapointing too actually. We just went there for about 3 days, and our priority was the Dead Sea of course, that was a magical experience. I see that you also been to Beirut (me too) and Syria, I stayed in Syria for about 4 weeks. In Jaramana, Damascus. It was amaxing!
January 19th, 2008 at 5:54 am
hi dana
karak is my home town its so attaractive you desover hidden things
any how wish enjoyed during your last visit
btoush