Jordan and Israel | March 2012

View from the hostel roof in Amman

I went to Jordan for 10 days in March 2013, the last two days of which i spent in Jerusalem . I flew into Amman with my first night booked, and decided to plan the rest of my route when i arrived at the hostel. I stayed at the Jordan Tower Hostel which i can thoroughly recommend. It's run by some great staff and it's in a great location near some great street food vendors nearby where you can get a falafel for 25p and a meat shawarma for £1. I spent my first night planning the next few days and having a walk about the local area. On my second day i took a day trip to the dead sea with some other travellers, which was organised by the hostel. We paid to use the facilities of a hotel near the dead sea so we could use their showers and swimming pools after we went in the sea. It was a great experience to float about in the sea, getting the very salty water in my eyes wasn't fun, but it was easily washed out.

Getting muddy at the dead sea

Infinity pool at the dead sea

After arriving back from the dead sea i spent the night finding out the best way to get to Petra and Wadi Rum, i decided to get the bus early next morning to Petra. I decided to get a bus with JETT and got a taxi to their station for 6am, the bus was due to leave at 6:30am. After jumping out of the taxi I soon realised the bus was sold out so i had to quickly decide what to do. I got the taxi to drive to another bus station that had buses leaving later on. After arriving and chatting to some other people  we decided to get a large taxi together as it was pretty much the same price as a bus. The hostel i stayed at in Amman recommended i stayed at the Saba'a Hotel in Petra , which was a great hostel. This hostel is run by a very friendly couple who were always happy to help with any questions i had. It was about a ten minute walk from the hostel to the main entrance to Petra.

Petra was big, much bigger than i imagined it would be. I bought a two day pass which cost the equivalent of £48. It would've been hard to explore all of Petra within one day as there's a lot to see including a walk to the monastery which is an hour each way. There were some quiet spots to relax as well which i took advantage of to read and enjoy the view for a few hours.

Petra, Jordan

Petra

View from the monastery Petra 

After two days of exploring Petra i caught a bus to Wadi Rum. I booked a tour around to see the different rock formations, sand dunes and of course the camels. There was some amazing scenery here to see and it was great to sleep in the desert. Me and the others on the tour stayed in tents in a small camp. It was amazing to see the night sky lit up with stars and sleep in the silent desert.

Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum desert Panoramas

After two days in the desert i went to Aqaba and stayed in the Bedouin Garden Village just outside of the main town. They were fully booked but i managed to stay on their roof with a few cushions and a blanket. It was a good two days of relaxing by the pool. I then got a bus from Aqaba back to Amman where i was planning on spending my last two days.

 I went back to the hostel i originally stayed at when i arrived where i met another traveller at the hostel who was planning to go to Jerusalem for two days. I decided to make the most of my last few days and decided to head to Israel. It was a long journey across the border but it was worth it. We stayed in the Abraham hostel which was yet another great hostel. We spent the first day on a free walking tour of Jerusalem seeing the sights with a great tour guide and spent the night at a very busy street party. The next day we rented a car with two other travellers we met in the hostel and drove to the Dead sea on the Israeli side. We spent the day at the beach, then me and Hannah got dropped of at the crossing to Jordan by the other two travellers. 

Hannah, the girl i went to Jerusalem with left the next day so i had one day to relax and enjoy the sun before heading home.

Praying Jewish man at the Western Wall