Jordanian Desert: The Different Faces of the Cities

In the past two articles, I told you about the first two parts of my trip to Jordan with my brother Adrian in September 2024. You accompanied me into the eventful and culturally rich past of this desert country. We spent two nights in a Bedouin camp under the stars, cruised through desert and mountains and hiked through the gorges of the once vibrant trading city of Petra, one of the modern Wonders of the World. In the last part of our trip, we turned our attention to the Jordanian cities, each of which made a very different impression on us. Today, I will take you to these cities – Madaba, Amman and Aqaba.

Towards and unknown destination

Elated and after an extensive, very tasty breakfast, we set off from Dana Village in the direction of Wadi Mujib. We decided to take the route along the Dead Sea, which I was now able to admire from the Jordanian side for the first time. Before that, we drove through the impressive mountain landscape, where we got from one breathtaking view to the next brilliant photo spot (unfortunately we lost the photos, more on that later). After a few adventurous bends and meters in altitude, we arrived at the level of the Dead Sea, where we reached the destination of our section of the journey.

Wadi Mujib is a water-bearing canyon which, according to Google Maps, could somehow be visited. We had no idea what exactly awaited us. When we drove into the parking lot, there were suddenly people walking around in unusually revealing clothes. The dress code in Jordan is generally a little stricter than in Israel, even if it is not adhered to too much in the tourist areas. And here people were wearing shorts and swimwear.

Climbing through the canyon

This canyon turned out to be great fun, I can tell you! We were fitted with life jackets and then climbed up the river to a waterfall as the end of our tour. The rock faces were equipped with ropes and the like so that we could climb smaller waterfalls and wade against the current. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any eye lenses with me, so I had to keep putting my glasses in the “waterproof” bag to keep them safe.

Do you remember that we lost some photos? That was because this “waterproof” bag didn’t protect Adrian’s phone, it drowned it. A bag of rice, which was really hard to find in Amman, couldn’t save it either. The phone didn’t survive the trip. But we didn’t know that while in the wadi and were therefore able to fully enjoy the climbing tour. The way up was quite strenuous. On the way back, we were able to lie in the river for whole parts and let ourselves drift. Fun fact: The nature reserve surrounding Wadi Mujib is the deepest in the world. The town of Dhiban, the former capital of biblical Moab, is also located slightly upstream.

Welcome to the paradise of mosaics!

Somewhat reluctantly, we left this refreshing wetness behind us and drove back to dusty civilization. On the recommendation of another tourist in the wadi, we visited the city of mosaics – Madaba. There were archaeological sites in various places in the old town that bore witness to a Christian era in which the inhabitants must have been quite well-off.

Some works of art were created in private houses or integrated into them at a later date. Mosaics fascinate me immensely, as they are evidence of creative imagination, strategic planning and expert craftsmanship. And Madaba is known to have a lot of them.

This city has experienced Nabataean and Roman rule, was a bishop’s see in the 4^th century AD, was conquered by the Persians in the 7^th century and fell victim to an earthquake a century later. It was only rebuilt by Christians after 1880, when the many famous mosaics were discovered. Even today, Madaba is home to a very large Christian community for Jordan. A good 20 percent of Christians live in the city, while the entire Jordanian population is 1 percent Christian.

Not to miss the Capital of Jordan

Thank goodness we were able to find our rental car again in the maze of the city. In the evening, we moved into our room in Amman, the only accommodation that had disappointed us a little on the trip. But perhaps we were simply too spoiled by the previous places. That same evening, we set off to explore the city. Here, as well, we weren’t too carried away by the cityscape. We found Amman to be rather gray and dirty.

We may also have been in the wrong places. After all, Amman is more populous than Berlin! I would certainly be open to giving the city another chance. But our hotel was actually quite central and we also tried to visit the most important places. Perhaps the ancient sights of the Jordanian capital had lost their power to impress us after we had already seen an incredible number of such ruins in Israel and then of course in Petra and Madaba.

Nevertheless, we got to see a bit of Amman’s nightlife, at least in some passages we met numerous people on the street eating their street food and sweets on these very streets. Finally, we found a bar where live music was being played by a few young men who were passing the microphone and the instruments to each other. Sometimes up to seven men were involved in the performance. And for some of the songs, the whole place sang along at the top of its lungs. Adrian made the acquaintance of his seat neighbor, who was thrilled to see tourists in his town.

The grand finale

We then set off on the four-hour drive back to Aqaba, which I completely overslept and Adrian drove through. Apparently all the excitement and discovering new places had exhausted me more than I had realized during the trip. To top it all off, we had chosen a fancy hotel for Aqaba, which was affordable in Jordan and would have been exorbitantly expensive in Germany (a little dramatic exaggeration). The main reason why we chose this hotel was the pool on the roof of the building. That evening, we had the pool all to ourselves, which is why we weren’t chased out after the official closing time.

To put the icing on the cake, after sunset (it was still incredibly hot and humid) we headed to the Hilton rooftop terrace to enjoy cocktails and honor local customs by ordering a shisha. I can’t really understand the appeal of these water pipes. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful way to round off the evening – also with live music, of course.

And it wasn’t just the evening that was brought to a perfect completion. The whole trip, which we hadn’t really planned through, and with some stops and accommodation that we only decided on bit by bit, gave us a varied and colorful impression of my current neighboring country. The tour was nicely and logically structured with the most energy-intensive activities at the beginning and the greater comfort at the end, lots of heat and dust of course, and the very different places where we were welcomed. It was a wonderful trip, thank you for that!