Having finally finished by day by day extended review of the Viking Pharaohs and Pyramids cruise on the Nile, I’m turning my attention to the extension we took in Jordan with Viking. As before, I’ve created an overview article that gives the basics and then I am writing these day-by-day articles about each of the places we visited in Jordan and the Holy Land.
After arriving by air from Cairo to Amman airport in Jordan, we first spent a little time in the airport while the customs authorities quizzed passengers who had binoculars in their checked luggage. This probably took around 45 minutes – I’m not sure what the reason for the ban on binoculars is as my 400mm lens for my camera was not checked, but they even investigated quite small portable binoculars. I don’t know what the best advice is here – perhaps have them in carry-on luggage? The coach was waiting outside as our guide introduced himself and we took off on a short tour around some of the parts of Amman, including the American Embassy – again, absolutely no photos allowed here.
Our breakfast/lunch packs from the hotel in Cairo were supposed to last through the day (I think) as we had no formal stops for a sit-down meal. Our guide kindly stopped for some traditional Jordan pastries for us, and there were rest stops/souvenir stores along the journey, but this first day was mainly a drive to the Dead Sea. We did pass our hotel to continue on up a long and very winding road to the brand-new Dead Sea Complex panorama center and museum on the mountaintop above the coast. This did actually serve food as well as drinks if you were desperate!
This tourist attraction is very nicely designed with a large museum and educational center about the Dead Sea and the geography and history of the area, as well as the restaurant/bar and a great overlook of the entire coastline and across to the West Bank in Israel.
Unfortunately, it was pretty misty in the distance and Israel was only really visible as a smudge on the horizon, but on clear days I understand you can see all the way to Jerusalem from the height of the Panorama overlook.
We then headed back down our winding road to the hotel – in our case the Movenpick Resort and Spa. A great hotel with many rooms in smallish moorish style buildings in the grounds as well as the main building with the restaurants and bars. I think we got there around 3pm perhaps, which was plenty of time to unpack a little and then make our way down to the “beach”. The Dead Sea has receded significantly over the years because of water usage from the Jordan river for agriculture and so each hotel keeps building deeper and deeper towards the water edge as it moves away from them. The main way down is on a staircase which does go on for quite some time! There are golf carts that zoom up and down a road all the way to the beach (and they are free) so you can ride down and ride back on the carts if you don’t want to walk down and then up all those steps.
The beach itself is pretty small and you can see building works still going on to get ready for the next shrinkage of the water but it does do what it is supposed to – allow you to float in the sea and cover yourself with the mud which is renowned for removing wrinkles. I guess my skin did look smooth (when the mud was on!)
The water is reasonably warm and it certainly is a strange sensation when you sit and then lay back in the water. It all feels very wrong that you are so high in the water, but it does nicely wash off that mud.
We brought some cheap beach shoes from Amazon to use on this beach and then throw away rather than try to dry and keep them. The salt dries very nicely on the rocks by the beach which shows just how high the salinity is here:
The sun sets reasonably early in November so there are opportunities for sunsets before dinner:
And here is a view of the courtyard outside our room to give you an idea of how the hotel is laid out. This was taken on my way back from the sunset views over the sea.
At this hotel, the dinner and breakfast were included – both are pretty comprehensive buffet style meals, but alcoholic drinks in the bar are charged to your room (or paid for as you take them).
Early the next morning, I was up again looking for sunrise shots but although it was reasonably warm, it was a bit overcast early that next day. I did walk down to the sea, again and captured the sign showing just how deep below sea level this water now is:
I’m a bit confused though. If this sign is the lowest point, what about the actual shore which is now many meters below this point?
We were meeting at the coach around 8:30 I think to start our next day’s adventures which will take us to the Moses Memorial Church on Mount Nebo, Madaba, Shonak Castle and finally arriving in Petra.
