After a red eye to Vienna and a connecting flight to Ammon, we were happy to cross the Mediterranean and see Jordan below. From the air, the landscape is monochromatic and bleak.
Arrays of solar panels near Amman show Jordan's push towards renewable energy. The country is poor in natural resources but rich in sunlight. They import about 95% of their energy sources from neighboring middle eastern countries and are striving to reduce their dependence on foreign supplies.
Even the capital lacks color. From several thousand feet, Amman is a mosaic of densely packed small houses punctuated by occasional taller structures. It's the most modern capital in the Middle East. We look forward to a closer look at it later in our tour.
Fun fact: Amman was called Philadelphia during the time of Christ. The area has been settled since at least the Bronze Age. The city received its Greek name from Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the son of a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great.
The people are welcoming, warm and friendly. We were met at the airport by a Gate 1 rep, Mohammed, who'd already obtained our visas (we'd expected to do this on our own upon arrival) and briskly escorted us through passport control and to a waiting car.
Our driver Sami pointed out sites during the hour drive to our hotel at the Dead Sea: the road to Syria (2 hours away), a makeshift tent with a camel staked nearby, the road to the King Hussein bridge leading across the River Jordan to Palestine and the West Bank.
It's a long, gradual descent from Amman to the Dead Sea. The mostly desolate roadside was dotted by clusters of tacky little shops garnished with bright yellow and orange swimmies and other flotation devices. Not that they are needed. You can't help but float in the Dead Sea. We stopped at sea level for a photo op.
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The sign is a little outdated. The Dead Sea is dropping over a meter a year, and is now 420 metres (1365 ft) below sea level. It's the lowest place on earth. It is the terminus of the Jordan River, but for most of the year that is merely a trickle. Bordering countries (Syria and Israel) have dams which limit the flow of the River Jordan into Jordan, where some of that flow is then used for irrigation.
It was a comfortable 85 degrees in Amman, but 99 degrees poolside at our hotel. In the summer, temperatures of 120 degrees are not uncommon here .
We passed a checkpoint on the road as we approached the Dead Sea, and then an inspection at the hotel gates where guards reviewed our visas and checked the trunk of the car. Our luggage and ourselves then went through security screening (similar to TSA airport screening) to enter the hotel itself. It's been several years since the Amman hotel bombings, but it's still reassuring to see enhanced security measures.
The Marriott Dead Sea is quite posh. The lobby is beautiful, leading out to several terraces of swimming pools spilling down to the beach. There's an on-site spa offering an array of Dead Sea mineral and mud treatments.
The West Bank is visible 15 km across the sea. At night the lights of Jericho are clearly visible, with those of Jerusalem further in the distance.
After a good night's rest, we met up with our tour group this morning. Half of the group have just completed a week in Israel, half (like us) are just doing the Jordan portion. We have the afternoon and evening free to settle in and do some exploring on our own.
Which means, of course, geocaching! The lowest geocache on earth is about 5 miles from our hotel. Of course, this was an opportunity not to be missed. We haggled a bit at the Avis desk at our hotel and hired a driver to take us there. We drove along the coast, then halfway up a steep switchbacked road to the cache site.
The terrain was slippery loose rock, leading to the first casualty of the trip (Greg's, or this would be an extremely short blog as I write it on my phone). We are hopeful it is only the glass screensaver.
Success!
Back at the hotel, we walked the 180 steps down to the Dead Sea beach. There were pots of mineral-rich mud you could slather on your body. The idea is to let it dry and then wash it off in the sea. Or the shower.
We passed, but did enter the water. Even Greg, for the first time in his life, was able to float!
And me, too.
We hit the pool and hot tub, then watched the sunset over the West Bank before dinner and turning in.
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