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Jordan

At mid of January 2006 Jayne and I flew with Royal Jordanian Airlines from Frankfurt/Germany to Amman/Jordan. There we stayed  at the Palace Hotel, in downtown Amman. Then we moved on to Wadi Musa, where we stayed at the Al Anbat Hotel 1. Later we got back to Amman, from where we took our flight back to Germany.

From Wadi Musa we visited Petra for 2 days, and from Amman we took a day tour to Ajlun Castle, Jerash and to Umm Qeis.

 

General information

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best time to visit Jordan is Winter, in my opinion. Summer is much too hot to visit sites, Spring and Fall are the main tourist season, with lots of tourists and much higher prices. But in Winter one has to expect temperatures only little above freezing in the inner parts of the country. These temperatures aren't bad at all for the relatively long hikes.

Guide book: Lonely Planet Jordan

There are no trains in Jordan, so in order to get from Amman to Petra, there are three ways to do it. One can get a rental car (I wouldn't recommend it, because the locals don't follow any traffic rules), get a driver (this is relatively expensive), or take a public mini bus (Amman-Petra, 300 km, about 3 Euros).

Compared to Egypt, Jordan is much more conservative, so it is not recommendable for single female travelers. Only one mosque in Amman is open for not Muslim visitors. But in the "better" parts of town (around the Sheraton Hotel), there are some western chain restaurants and as well a few pubs, where one can get alcohol.

Cabs are cheap and our experience was, that one can just take a cab, without negotiating the price before getting in. All cabs have meters and it looked like at least most Jordanians don't try to rip tourists off.

Important Arab terms:
arab numbers

Show-krawn (krawn rhymes with prawn)   --  thanks

La Show-krawn -- no thanks

La, La  -- no, no

Hallass (but the "Ha" should be sound from the back of the throat, which isn't found in the English language)  --  enough, finished

bus stop A bus stop for public mini buses, this one is in Maan. It isn't easy to find the right bus, but the drivers are are helpful and they usually speak at least a minimum of English.
way to Petra In Petra already the way from the entrance to the Siq (about 1 km) is beautiful.

The entrance fee for two days (about 22 Euros) is only a little more than the day ticket, and even in two days one can't see everything.

Siq (small canyon) After at least 1 more km of Siq (small canyon) one finally comes to the exit and to the real Petra.
Treasury The "Treasury". A Indiana Jones movie was filmed here once.