| August, 25th - Istanbul, Amman |
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We started from Berlin Schönefeld at midnight and arrived in Istanbul at about 3 a.m. Since we didn't want to hang around the airport for 9 hours, we asked a German guy if he could take us to town (actually we wanted to share a taxi with him, but luckily he had rented a car). It took us some time to get there. So early in the morning Istanbul was a bit scary, so we went to the Hagia Sophia and waited for the sunset. It made a pretty light on the Sultan-Ahmed-mosque. We were too tired to walk around so we just stayed in that nice park until it was time to go back to the airport again. We changed some money and got millionaires immediately. We asked in some hotel how to get to the airport and they called a shared taxi.
We took off at 12 o'clock. In the plane a muslim girl sat next to us. We talked with her, and found out that she was from Jordan but was studying medicine in Istanbul. She hadn't been home for two years which didn't keep her from inviting us immediately to her home. At about 3 p.m. we landed at the Queen Alia Airport. Muna chased away all the taxi drivers who were eager to drive us to Amman and got us to the bus station. Somewhere at the road we went off, and this time Muna called a taxi. After bargaining very hard with the driver she simply unpacked the luggage and waited for the next taxi. I was pretty astonished that this happens to the Jordan people as well - I knew the problem from Egypt and had always thought that this is just because they try to draw as much money out of the tourists as possible :-).
We drove to her house. Nobody of her family knew that she would come and of course nobody knew that she would bring a German couple with her. Still we were greeted with much friendliness. We were even forced to take a shower and to spend the night in their house. After we had the shower my friend took a nap for a while and I went out to talk to the daughters of the family. Then we had diner - I went with the women and my friend ate with the men. So our first night in Jordan was a really great and nice experience.
| August, 26th - Amman |
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Next day we went to Amman. At first we looked for a hotel. Following the guide book we went to Cairo hotel (King Faisal street). Unluckily they had only a single room left. But it was so hot that we didn't want to carry the luggage any more, so we didn't care and took the room :-).
There are not many sights in Amman, but it has a nice atmosphere and is a good place for
staying while exploring the sights in north Jordan. We went to the "citadel", an
archaeological site on one of the hills with a small but interesting museum.
After this we went back to the city center and rested under some trees. We tried
to decide whether it was worth to have a look at the Roman theatre
in this heat, because a Roman theatre in this heat
would probably not be that interesting. So we just hang around. Near the Roman theatre
(to the right if you look at it) there is a tourist information now (this was not
mentioned in the guide book - so I guess it's new). You can get some flyers
about the Jordan sites (mostly with more or less useful maps) there. If you ask
they will give you a map of Amman as well, but actually it was not very helpful.
After some time there was quite a noise from the theatre, so we decided to have a look. We went
into the theatre and saw - a box fight! It was some kind of panarabic youth
championship and most of the noise came from the Egyptian fan block. It was great
fun, so we sat down and watched a few of the fights. After we had enough we went
out and to the King-Abdullah-mosque, which is pretty modern but nice to look at,
especially at dawn when they switch the lights on. The rest of the evening we spent
near the Roman theatre with tea, Jordan TV program and the noise of the boxing fans.
| August, 27th - Wadi-as-Seer, 'Iraq-al-Amir | 
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At first we changed the hotel - we checked in at the Lord's hotel (King Hussein street), where we stayed all the time in Amman.
We wanted to go to Wadi-as-Seer, so we went to the place where the bus station was supposed to be. After we asked some Jordanians they put us into the city bus which drove us to the right bus station. This one seems to be new, at least it was not mentioned in my guide book. It's in the Imam Talib street, and from there the minibuses to Wadi-as-Seer, Madaba and to the Dead Sea leave. But the best way to arrive somewhere is simply asking somebody - they will show you the bus to the right bus station and there you may ask again. Most times you won't even have to ask - the people are very eager to help. Still I found it helpful to be able to read a little bit.
From Wadi-as-Seer there is a minibus to 'Iraq-al-Amir. There is a small castle and some caves, maybe it's not really worth the trip. On our way back we were walking a bit. In the village a little boy wanted us to take a picture of him. We did this and it ended in being invited by the family and having diner with them. This was a bit embarrassing since they were really poor and we could leave nothing but a pack of cigarettes and some bubble gums.
| August, 28th - Jerash | 
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We called Muna's family and met Nidal and Hammad (the 2 sons) in Amman. They said we would go together to Jerash, but at first they had to go home for the Friday's prayer. So they drove us home. The father even suggested that Ralph could come with them to the mosque. Ralph refused, since we felt that it would be not right to pray without belief. So Ralph had to sit on the terrace while the women were cleaning the house and I chatted with them. At about 2 p.m. the men came back, and we thought we would go now, but Nidal said he was hungry, so we had lunch with the family and at 5 p.m. we finally started to Jerash. When we arrived the sun was already setting. The entrance fee differs between tourists and Jordanians but with Hammad's and Nidal's help they let us through for the cheap price. Jerash is really impressive, it was once a big Roman town, so there are a lot of temples, colonnaded streets and other ruins to see. With the beginning darkness the site was closed, so Nidal and Hammad drove us back to Amman.
| August, 29th - Ajloun, Jerash | 
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We went to Ajloun (from 'Abdali station) by minibus - the scenery alone is worth the fee! But there is a very nice Ottoman castle on the hill, too. There seems to be no minibus from the bus station in Ajloun to the castle. Actually it's not very far, but it's just too hot to walk! So we took a taxi (bargaining before entering is very important). There is a fee for foreigners at the entrance but since they were not able to change my JD-5-note we simply went without a ticket. Since nobody shouted or shot at us it was okay I guess. Back from the castle to Ajloun we hitchhiked. There was enough time left so we went to Jerash again. This time we had to pay the special price at the entrance :-)
| August, 30th - The Dead Sea (Bahr-al-Mayit) |  
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We went to Imam Talib street and entered a minibus to the Dead Sea. This
bus didn't move a centimeter for quite a long time, so we got off finally and
asked around for another possibility. They put us into the bus to Shuna-al-Janubiya
where we changed. In my opinion the Dead Sea is not much fun - the water is oily and
so warm that it is not refreshing at all. And you have to be very careful that you
don't get anything of it into your eyes or mouth. Still it's the only sea where
your skin is causted off before you drown, and if you experience the strange
feeling of not being able to drown for the first time the float in the Dead Sea will be funny. The shower
afterwards was the really nice thing :-).
Despite some reports of other travellers about harassment at the beach I had no
such experience - I had carefully brought a swimsuit but there were women in
bikinis, too. Maybe it's wise not to go on friday or saturday when the beach is
probably more crowded.
We went back in the late afternoon - we caught a bus which drove directly to Amman.
First it drove through a village nearby though, then the driver had to return again to
buy some cigarettes for the soldiers at the military post. And all the time he
drove like a madman. Even a Jordanian in the bus said that he would drive as if
he had bought the bus for 1 dinar. Anyway we arrived safely in Amman.
At the evening I realized that I had lost my guide book. This was really a bad
thing, because the lonely planet guide is quite useful. We agreed that we had
probably left it in the bus and decided to try to get it back. I even learned
a few arabic sentences from some of the hotel's guests :-).
| August, 31st - Madaba | 
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We got up early and went to Imam Talib street again. There was a man who said that the bus would come within half an hour and gave us some tea. We sat down, read the newspaper and got terribly bored. After an hour the bus came and it was the right bus and our book was still in it. Hamdulillah! Due to the mad bus driving it had fell down between the seats with nobody of us noticing it.
At once we took the bus to Madaba. We wandered through the town, looked at all the interesting mosaics and were invited to some cups of tea or coffee. At the museum they had told us that the tickets were valid for three places, including the museum, the Apostolic church and an archaeological park. The Apostolic church is still under construction, but the mosaics are quite nice. Since we had paid for it we wanted to have a look at the archaeological park, so we were following some signs. They stopped somewhere but we couldn't see no archaeological park! Due to the several tea-and-coffee-invitations it was already a bit late, and we wanted to go to Mt. Nebo, so we didn't look around further if there was an archaeological park anywhere in Madaba :-). The minibus for Mt. Nebo leaves at the roundabout. We arrived just in time - the place is closed at 4 o'clock. We had an hour for looking at the church (which is worth to have a look at) and, of course, for looking over the holy land feeling like Moses. Unluckily the day was not clear, so we could not see the "roofs of Jerusalem" which should be possible according to some tourist information.
| September, 1st - Desert Castle Loop |
We wanted to see the desert castles east of Amman, so we had planned to rent a car
for this day. I had some rent-a-car-addresses which I had found at the internet. Most
of these were in the quarter Shmeisani so we got a taxi to go there - the first one
with a taximeter. At the first rent-a-car we got off. They told us that they would
rent cars for minimum 3 days only. So we drove to the next one, where we were made a
special offer - minimum 2 days. The taxi driver tried to convince us that there
are no cars for rent for one day only, and that we would better take a taxi.
We let him drive us to the next office and he still wanted to tell us that we won't
get a car. Finally we got rid of him.
The office was near the Commodore hotel - and they offered cars for one day (don't believe
any taxi driver anything). We didn't like the cars they showed us so we tried the Ocean
rent-a-car at the other side of the street. The cars were better, so we took one of these.
It was a bit difficult since the manager didn't speak English and we could
talk to him only with the help of another Jordanian who worked in the same building.
Finally we agreed. He wanted us to leave some money in case something would happen
to the car, but we could leave traveller cheques so this was fine. At last we
got the car, the manager drove with us to a petrol station, where he filled the
completely empty tank. We dropped him off at his office and were free :-).
The desert castle loop is quite fine - but I think you can't do it without a car. Of course there is a minibus to Azraq and there is rather a lot of traffic (many old trucks on their way to and from Iraq breaking the embargo), but it would be suicide to stand in the boiling heat for just a quarter of an hour. There is no shadow at all. The castles are worth a visit, we started with Qasr-al-Haraneh and Qasr-al-Amra (take a flashlight with you), then we reached Azraq with a large but earthquake-damaged castle where T. E. Lawrence and his warriors had camped for one month on their way to Damascus. The two castles on the way back are not that impressive, Hammam-as-Sarakh is very small and Qasr-al-Hallabat has been heavily destroyed by earthquakes. Still the landscape is really fascinating. I'm a great fan of desert sceneries and Jordan has a lot of very different types of desert.
We managed to find the Ocean office somehow, filled the tank and wanted to pay the car. The manager suddenly wanted us to pay the first full tank, too. Of course we refused so we quarreled - he in Arabic we in English. Finally he called his boss or somebody else who spoke English. Ralph tried to explain the situation in his quiet rational way, so I got a bit impatient, took the phone and talked to the man. I made a fuzz about how ridiculous it was to expect us to pay a full tank we didn't use and eventually the man seemed to have had enough of me talking angrily to him - so we didn't have to pay it. So, if you rent a car, make sure that you get a full tank before leaving if the contract claims a full tank when bringing back. Anybody who has to do with vehicles is a possible source of trouble - in almost any country.
 Introduction |
The South |