24 Hours in Amman, Jordan

          I went through my archive of stories I drafted up but just didn’t get a chance to finalize and came across one of my adventures I have yet to post. While on a business trip in early 2016, and after hearing so many wonderful things about this place, I had the pleasure of visiting Amman, Jordan. Amongst being one of the most liberal and westernized places next to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, it is frequented by most tourists.

The group flew to Jordan on Royal Jordanian into Queen Alia International Airport. This airport definitely lived up to it name as the top three best airports in the Middle East for 2017. The terminal was extremely clean, had plenty of charging stations and reasonably comfortable seating.

About 40 minutes from the airport, in the heart of Amman, was our living accommodations for our short stay called, Arjaan by Rotana. You sort of take your changes when you select hotels online while browsing the customer comments. But for these accommodations the comments are all true. To say the least, a very luxurious hotel apartments reflecting 5-star hospitality probably far better than home itself! The hotel is within “The Boulevard” formally named Abdali Boulevard, where there is upscale shopping, pedestrian mall and plenty of restaurants and cafes to suit all pallets. 

With such a short turnaround, there was two venues I read about that I wanted to check out; Mount Nebo and the Dead Sea. There was no rest for the weary, so after changing in something more comfortable for Amman's climate, the group decided we would head to Mount Nebo first. We grabbed a couple of cabs, headed out and within an hour we arrived at Mount Nebo along with thousands of other visitors from all walks of life. Once we climbed up the steep slope, the panoramic view of Jordan and Jerusalem was breathtaking!

According to the last chapter in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses climbed Mount Nebo where the LORD revealed to him the Promised Land which would be the land that God promised to the Hebrews. Then Moses died there. There are disputes by Christians, Jews and Islamic principle whether Mount Nebo is even the same mountain referred to in Deuteronomy and the whereabouts of Moses’ grave. Also, located on Mount Nebo there is a gift shop, museum and presumed site where Moses is buried although the final resting place is said to be unknown.

          The sun was beginning to set, so we wanted to make our way to The Dead Sea which is about a 20-minute drive from Mount Nebo. The Dead Sea, devoid of life due to its extremely high content of salts and minerals, is the lowest body of water on earth. Folks from all over the world flock to this historical place which is believed to be the site of five biblical cities (i.e. Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zebouin and Zoar) as well as for its therapeutic properties that relieve pain and suffering caused by arthritis, eczema, cystic fibrosis and psoriasis. This salt is so renowned, it is packaged and marketed all over the world. Seeing is believing so I removed my outer clothing down to my walking shorts and t-shirt I had underneath, slid out of my sandals and made my way to the muddy water with the flocks of others who were in attendance.

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You cannot swim in the Dead Sea, because of the high salt content, but you can certainly stand there and soak, like I did and enjoy the beneficial properties of the water or just bring a book or newspaper and float! 

If one soaking isn’t enough, there are seaside facilities available for those that wish to spend the night at The Dead Sea which was one of the finalists for the 7 Wonders of Nature.

All the best,

GMarie