Discover Jordan

Please arrive on Day 1 as we will be having a very important group meeting.

After breakfast at the hotel we start our day trip to Jerash, a fascinating city. The drive will take less than an hour, but will transport you 2000 years back in time.Jerash, located 48 km north of Amman and nestled in a quiet valley among the mountains of Gilead, is the grandeur of Imperial Rome being one of the largest and most well preserved sites of Roman architecture in the World outside Italy. To this day, its paved and colonnaded streets, soaring hilltop temples, handsome theaters, spacious public squares and plazas, baths, fountains and city walls pierced by towers and gates remain in exceptional condition.

Within the remaining city walls, archeologists have found the ruins of settlements dating back to the Neolithic Age, indicating human occupation of this location for more than 6500 years. This is not surprising, as the area is ideally suited for human habitation. Jerash has a year-round supply of water, while its altitude of 500 meters gives it a temperate climate and excellent visibility over the surrounding low-lying areas.

After breakfast at the hotel we start our day trip to Dead Sea. The drive will take less than an two hours. The Dead Sea has a historical and spiritual legacy of its own. It is believed to be the site of five biblical cities, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zebouin and Zoar. The dead sea is , in fact, only a lake of pale blue water without any from of life whatsoever, normally as clam as a millpond with the barely a ripple disturbing its surface. The water is so dense that it is practically impossible to sink in the thick brine, which is five to ten times as salty as regular sea water. You can float in the Dead Sea without even trying. The acute salinity arose from thousands of years of evaporation, The water of the Dead Sea is rich in therapeutic properties and is utilized for curing skin diseases and respiratory problems.

The Dead Sea, known in Arabic Bahr Lot (The Sea Of Lot), lies within a cavity at the lowest point on the surface of the earth in the southern part of Jordan Valley. It is more than 400 meters below sea level. As the name suggests, the sea is devoid of life due to an extremely high content of salts and minerals. It is these natural elements which give the waters their curative powers, recognized since the days of herod the Great, more than 2,000 years ago. The valley is typically Mediterranean, with mild winter and hot summers, From ancient times, the Jordan Valley was one of the most fertile places in the Middle East and some of the word’s oldest civilization sprang from its soil. The valley also has profound meaning for religious travelers. The Jordan River in known as the place Jesus was baptized and near where John the Baptist lived.

After breakfast at the hotel, depart at 7AM for the long Drive via King’s Highway Road to south of Amman to visit Madaba and Mount Nebo, the highest in the Moabit range which has been a center for pilgrimages since earliest christian times. Madaba has some of the finest Byzantine mosaics in the world including the famous 6th century mosaic map of Palestine. Also Visit (Church, Archaeological Park, Museum), After that Mount Nebo, The memorial of Moses soars above the great eastern plateau that stretches out to the West Bank and beyond. It lies to the west of Madaba, less than ten klm away. Mount Nebo rises to about 800 meters at its apex and has Syagha and al Mukhayat valleys as its two most prominent crests.

After that drive to visit Karak Castle, It is located on the south side of the town of Kerak, 124 km south of Amman. Kerak is the largest late Islamic castle in Jordan. It was initially constructed in the Crusader period and expanded and refortified during the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, and stop at Shobak Castle, it is one of Jordan’s most significant and impressive historical sites, located 190 km south of Amman on the road to Petra. The castle was first built by the crusaders in the twelfth century, but was subsequently remodeled and used during the Ayyoubid, Mamluk and Ottoman periods. Large portions of the outer fortification walls still stand, including several well preserved projecting towers. A Large crusader church is situated prominently on the summit, near the entrance gate. Scattered throughout the castle are the remains of a late ottoman village, which was inhabited until the early years of this century.
Overnight Petra.

After breakfast at the hotel, depart at 8am for a full day tour to Red Rode City, Lies south of Jordan about 262 km from Amman, and about 133 km north of Aqaba. All spectaculars tourist features in Petra offer a powerful and always invigorating combination of Nabatean antiquities, sensational natural scenery, and a convenient microcosm of the past 10,000 years of human civilization. Petra is considered the most famous and attractive sites in Jordan. It is best known as the Nabatean City, which the Nabatean Arab inhabitants carved into the soft Nubian sandstone more than 2,000 years ago. It was rediscovered in 1812 by Swiss explorer J. Burckhardt. Dean Burgon, the poet and Victorian traveler, gave Petra a description which holds to this day, (Match me such marvel save in eastern clime, a rose -red city half as old as time..) Most scholars accept that the Nabateans were semi nomadic people from the northern Arabian Peninsula who migrated to southern Jordan in the sixth and fifth centuries BC (to the land of the former biblical Kingdom of Edom). By the fourth century BC, Petra was establishing itself as a center of Nabataean culture. It was a combination commercial necropolis of people whose economic base in southern Jordan relied on the income from regional trade in bitumen, aromatics, salt, copper and agricultural goods. Petra, at the height of its independence in the first centuries BC and AD, was renowned for its developed system of justice, human monarchy, and technological and commercial prowess. In 106 AD, the Nabatatean kingdom had been annexed into the Roman Empire by Emperor Trajan. Nabataean trade and culture continued to flourish for several hundred years. Petra seems to have declined gradually since the fourth century AD, After several earthquakes between sixth and eighth centuries AD. Petra was reduced to a shadow of its former urban splendor.

Upon arrival you will begin an unforgettable trip on horse back till the siq after by foot till you reach the Treasury. The guide will give a brief history of the city the
greates Tourist attraction in the middle East. the Nabateans carved this capital of theirs from the living rock of the surrounding mountains in Petra. Among other
monuments for the visitors today are Pharaoh’s Castle, the Triumphal arch, the Amphitheater and Monastery, After that back to hotel and over night.

After breakfast at the hotel, Drive for 2 hours By Bus to Wadi Rum a vast, silent landscape of ancient riverbeds and pastle-colored, the largest and most magnificent of Jordan’s desert landscapes. It is like a moonsacape of ancient valley and towering sandstone mountains rising out of the white and pink colored sands. Wad Rum takes its name from the largest and grandest of a whole network of wadis (valleys) which, for a millennia, offered the easiest passage to the nomadic Bedouin and to trading caravans en route to or from the Arabian Peninsula. Lawrence returned here time and again during the Arab Revolt of 1917- 1918. The village of Wadi Rum lies about 45 km north of Aqaba. It has a small fort, one of a string built in 1933 bu Glubb Pasha as outposts of the Desert Patrol (now the Bedouin Police). There is a governmental rest house with a cafe and basic camping facilities. There are many ways to explore jordan`s fragile, unspoiled desert retreat. Serious trekkers will be drawn to Wadi Rum, with challenging climbs some 1,750 meters high, while casual hikers can enjoy an easy course through the coloful hills and canyons. Naturalists will be drawn to the desert in springtime, then rains bring the greening of the hills and an explosion of 2,000 species of wildflowers, Red anemones, popies, and the striking black iris, Jordan`s national flower, all grow at will be the roadside and in more quiet reaches. Stunning in its natural beauty, Wadi Rum epitomizes the romance of the desert. Now the home of several Bedouin Tribes, Wadi Rum has been inhabited for gernerations. These hospitable and friendly desert people are settled in Wadi Rum in scattered nomadic camps through-out the area. Visitors who are invited to share mint tea or cardamon coffe in thier black tents, perhaps sitting by the fire under a starry desert sky, will have an experience not to be forgotten. (Optional 4X4 Or Camel Ride Tour) inside the desert, after that drive to the camp in al Dissah area and over night under a starry sky sitting by the fire

After breakfast at the hotel, Drive for 2 hours By Bus to Aqaba, Leisure

When fantasy, sun and sea meet the charms and atmosphere of antiquity, the visitor can find himself, at any time of the year, at the 13th century Red Sea resort of Aqaba, which was in ancient times, the main port for shipments from the Red Sea to the Far East, known by the names of Aila, Ailana, Elana, Ailath, Elath, Ayla and Wayla.

For relaxation, water sports, and winter warmth, Aqaba is warm, sunny and inviting, fringed with palm trees, lapped by the crystal clear waters of the Gulf of Aqaba, cooled by a steady northerly breeze, and ringed by mountains that change in color with the change of the hours. Snorkeling, water skiing, wind surfing, para-sailing, fishing and a variety of other water sports, including unsurpassed scuba diving are just some of the popular activities to partake in.

It is the secrets these waters hold that makes Aqaba unique, for further down the coast are a dazzling undersea world of some of the most spectacular coral reefs to be found anywhere in the world. Often over many hundreds of meters wide, the reef is made up of many delicately hued corals among which live a myriad of brilliantly colored fish.

Aqaba’s strategic location at the junction of land and sea routes from Asia, Africa and Europe.
Of special interest among the ancient and medieval archaeological sites are the early Islamic city called Ayla, the Aqaba Fort, built by the Mamluk Sultan Qansweh El-Ghuri at the beginning of the 16th century, which was originally a Crusader Castle, and a very fine museum at the historical residence of Sharif Hussein bin Ali, great grandfather of King Abdullah II, containing a collection of artifacts collected in the region, including fragments of lusterware from Samaria, Chinese ceramics, Umayyad Islamic archaeological finds, and pottery and coins.

Other places of interest are the site of the oldest church in the world, the Aquarium and several diving centers across the shore line. There are a number of restaurants that cater to the most selective tastes. A stroll around the modern town will reveal the presence of some excellent fish restaurants and craftsmen are to be found at work filling small bottles with colored sand in intricate geometric designs.

Free morning at leisure, drive to Amman in the afternoon.