JORDAN: Amman, Dead Sea, Petra and more...
The last week of October, we were invited to Jordan by the tourism board.
We’d never been to the Middle-East before… and it was the trip of a lifetime. We weren’t sure if we were supposed to be worried to go to the Middle-East, considering all the terrible news we hear every day, but honestly this trip ended up being one of the best trips of 2017.
Everything was perfectly organized, we stayed in amazing hotels, ate at delicious restaurants (although, upon our return and after five days of eating hummus three times a day we were happy to have some pasta!), and met a lot of great people.
We were a group of over 30 extremely talented influencers from all over the world. But unfortunately, we were divided in groups, so we only got to spend our first day with everyone else!
Day 1 had its own hashtag, which was #AMMAN24, basically their intention was to show us what you can do in Amman in 24 hours. We set our alarm at 4:30am, and we left the hotel around 5:30am/6am. We went to the Roman theater, which opened early just for us and we were there all throughout sunrise. We then stopped along a few other destinations (the market, a few museums, a restaurant, etc) before heading to the Amman Citadel for sunset… it was FANTASTIC!
Day 2, we were on our own, along with our driver, personal guide and Eyad from the tourism board. Our first stop were the Ajloun mountains for a hike, and afterwards we drove to Jerash and visited the beautiful Jerash site from the Greco-Roman period.
Day 3, after driving for hours we finally got to the Dead Sea!
This was our first time swimming (aka floating) in the Dead Sea and it was probably one of the most incredible experiences we’ve had so far! It was so fun. We covered our entire bodies in mud, that helps exfoliate your skin, and then spent the afternoon in the water until the sun went down.
Just make sure you don’t shave / have any cuts on your skin when you go into the water. It’s SO salty that it’ll burn so badly! I’d just shaved that morning and I was in terrible pain every time I’d get a single drop of water on my face.
Day 4: PETRA.
No wonder Petra was elected one of the New7Wonders of the World. It truly is as wonderful as you may think, if not better.
First of all, it’s a very big site, so if you want to explore all of it you need to spend at least two days there.
Second, it’s so crowded that you need to arrive before sunrise if you want to capture it empty! And unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to do it.
As we walked around we were truly stunned to see how beautiful and precise every little detail is. And to think that all of this was built Before Christ, and it’s still up... it's just unbelievable!
The most beautiful part is most definitely The Treasury, which we managed to see from above as well.
Fun fact about this: as we were about to head back to our hotel, two local guys riding two donkeys told us they could bring us all the way up to the view point to see The Treasury from above. We accepted, as they told us it’d only take 15 mins (lie!). We wish we hadn’t done that for two reasons:
We felt terribly for the donkeys, they were treated quite poorly.
At some point it started getting really dark, the steps were super steep and we were terrified the donkeys would fall off and we would die (no kidding!). We did get a great picture, but we’d say that it wasn’t worth almost feeling like we were about to lose our lives!
At night we went back again for Petra by Night, and after watching a quick show, we got to take wonderful pictures in the middle of the candles in front of The Treasury.
After that, they told us we had to leave, and since we were distracted speaking with other people, we forgot our backpack (which had everything in it: cellphone, wallet, camera etc) in front of The Treasury. We were sure it was lost forever and we were panicking, but instead they told us to wait at the gate and that they’d bring it to us, which they did! This is proof of how nice and hospital they really are.
Day 5, we were supposed to go to the desert, but unfortunately due to some other work commitments we had to catch an early flight to Rome and missed this opportunity.
Final thoughts: Jordan is a wonderful country, their hospitality truly is incredible (especially compared to Morocco!), and it’s also very safe. We suggest that if you want to go there, you do! Make sure you plan everything in advance and that you have a guide that can show you around, as it’ll make everything easier. And also, we hope you like hummus, because you'll be eating lots of it. :)