Jerash & the Dead Sea

Hi all from Jordan!

Our new guide met us at the airport last night in Jordan, and as a nice surprise G Adventures paid for our 40 dinar ($80) visa.

Immediately you could notice the difference between Egypt and Jordan. I loved Egypt, but the toilets and buildings here are already much cleaner and more modern which makes the trip instantly feel more comfortable. 

We set off at 7am today and our new guide, Hakam, gave us some information about Jordan on the bus. 

Jordan is a relatively small country, with an area of 96000 kilometres squared. The population is 9 million people, and approximately 3 million of these people were at one stage refugees from Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya. 2.5 million people live in Amman. 

Jordan gets its name from the Jordan River which runs between here and Israel. Israel controls 85% of this water source, however. 

The name Amman (the capital city) comes from ‘Amun’, named after an ancient kingdom here. Under Greek rule it was called Philadelphia, and then the Arabs changed it back to Amman. The ottomans were here from the 8th century and were until 1916 when the Arab revolution occurred. In 1921, the first king of Jordan (Abdul I) established the country. He and his family are called the Hashemites came from Saudi Arabia and are descendants of the prophet Mohammed. For this reason, Jordan is officially called the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and to this day still has a king. 

I noticed right away on the van ride that Jordan is much more hilly than Egypt. Parts of Amman are 1200m above sea level, whereas the Dead Sea is about 410m below sea level and is the lowest place on earth. 

The weather here is much cooler than Egypt in some parts, and fluctuates due to the mountainous nature of the country. The north is more fertile than the south, whereas the south is quite dry and mostly desert. Hakam told us it snowed in Amman next week and it could possibly in my last two days here (cross your fingers for me!!). 

After an hour’s drive, we arrived at the Roman city of Jerash. Though inhabited by Greeks and byzantines as well, the Romans left the biggest mark here. It is said to be the best preserved Roman city outside of Italy, and I would go so far as to say that I found it even more impressive then Pompei in Italy and Ephesus in Turkey. In total, the preserved complex covers 2 square kilometres. There are even more ruins underneath what is now part of the city, and Hakam said if these were also excavated then the area would be larger than Pompei. 

The Roman part of the settlement was begun when Pompey came here in 64 AD, and annexed Jerash to Decapolis (the Roman name for the area). This city was very prosperous for the Romans until the end of the 2nd century. 

First we walked through Hadrian’s Arch, and we were pleased to find that once we entered the complex we were the only tourists there (at least for the first 1.5 hours) - oh how I love winter!

Hakan gave us a really in depth tour which was fantastic because he pointed out many features I probably wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. We saw the hippodrome, the horse stables, shops, and the main gate. At this point, we found out that even though the city is so impressively well preserved, it was even more so before a series of strong earthquakes, the most recent of which occurred in 1927. 

We continued and saw the forum, man holes covering old water supply and a market. Then we walked down the main road, named ‘Cardo Maximus’. Cardo meant heart, so the literal translation is like the main heart of the city. 

Next we saw a butcher area which even had a slab where you could see cuts made from chopping up meat. We saw niches for oil lamps, troughs for animals and a water fountain (the Nymphaeam). 

Then we saw the site of the royal baths, and arrived at the northern theatre. It was here that Hakan told us due to the capacity of the forum and theatres, it is estimated that 20,000 people once lived here. 

We ended our guided tour by walking past a temple whose columns moved slightly. Hakan place a spoon in between two stones and you could see it moving ever so slightly due to the movements of the columns. Then we walked past a church that had the most incredibly well preserved Roman mosaics I have ever seen. They were so clear that you could make out all of the pictures. 

I spent my free time sitting up the top of the southern theatre and taking in the view. Having all the green, the ruins and the modern city in the back created an interesting contrast. Then I headed back to the bus. 

Next we drove to the Dead Sea. As I mentioned earlier, this is the lowest point on the Earth’s surface at about 410m below sea level. On the way, we stopped at the ‘sea level’ sign as we made our descent. 

We drove through the Great Rift Valley, of which approximately 600km runs through Jordan. It goes from Lebanon all the way to Mozambique. 

We had a buffet lunch before getting changed and ready to swim in the Dead Sea. Luckily, it’s ok to wear your western swimsuit here so I got to christen my new bathers that Rob gave me for Christmas!

The Dead Sea is 45% salt, and is so called because it is so salty that no fish or other animals can survive in it. Unfortunately, it’s evaporating more and more each year because it is being exploited for minerals, and because the Jordan River is no longer providing any water to it. At its deepest, the Dead Sea is 350m. It is 70km long and 17km wide at its widest. It has an area of 600 square kilometres. The mountains on the other side a in Israel and the West Bank. 

Swimming was so strange! The shore was covered with salt and salt formations had created rocky type ledges making it difficult to get in. Once in, you couldn’t help but float. We all had a great time laying in the water crossing our legs and arms, and trying desperately not to get the water in our eyes. If you’ve ever gotten water in your eyes at the beach at home you’ll know that isn’t pleasant. But Dead Sea water can literally burn your eyes if you get salt in them. At one point I got one drop and it hurt a lot, but thankfully once I used my towel to clear it away I was ok. I did place a drop on my tongue too and it was really gross! Another weird sensation was going out deep enough that you just couldn’t touch the bottom, because no matter how hard you tried to get your feet to the bottom, you just couldn’t do it!!

I’ve decided my skin hates this part of the world, because once we got out I realised I had again broken into a rash. But I won’t let it stop me doing anything!!

We stopped at a Safeway supermarket on the way back to the hotel and I've stocked up on fruit and snacks because I'm finding meals here to be pretty expensive. Tonight we are having dinner as a group (we have gained two more people to our group due to Karl and Kevin leaving the tour). 

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox