Jordan – Petra & Wadi Rum

BeckyMiddle East

Jordan was the penultimate country on our Arabia Overland tour. We entered from Saudi Arabia and even though we had negative PCR results taken within 24 hours, Jordan forced us to pay for yet another PCR test at the border! Once that was out of the way, we were stamped into country where we met our guide, Kamal. Apparently any tourist groups larger than 5 must hire an official tour guide to accompany them at all times within the country. Kamal was actually quite entertaining and informative so he was a welcome addition to the group. Our first day in Jordan was gray, overcast and freezing cold so we decided to tuck into some traditional Jordanian meals (lamb sajiah and mansaf) to warm up. Petra by Night is only on offer 3 times a week and we decided to give it a whirl our first night in Jordan. Let’s just say that in the 20 years since we first experienced it, the night visit hasn’t improved any with atrocious flute playing and a barely audible guide. The next day was amazing though as we spent all day in Petra – the first to arrive and the last to leave as we visited the majority of the tombs and hiked to the Monastery, the High Place of Sacrifice and the Treasury lookout. What a full on day and our reward was another fantastic meal of lamb sajiah. From Petra, we made our way to Wadi Rum where we signed up for a 4WD tour of the red sand desert. After a few hours here, we drove onward to Aqaba where we had some free time until our ferry to Nuweiba. Aqaba itself doesn’t have any “must see” sights so we decided to have a wings and beer night at the excellent Buffalo Wings & Rings restaurant where wings were on offer for 10 cents each! Needless to say we overindulged on some wings and drinks so we bid farewell to Jordan satiated and a bit tipsy. 3 days in Jordan wasn’t enough for a repeat visit so we’ll have to make our way to this part of the world yet again. Up next is the last country of our Madventure trip…Egypt here we come.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *