It’s been only a few weeks since my friend Simon and I boarded a plane to Jordan with an open mind, five rolls of film and a lot of enthusiasm to make a road trip through this country. Before a good friend of mine moved to Amman, I never even thought about visiting Jordan, but I was curious to find out what made him pack his bags and move to a country that’s so different from our Western world. Of course I already knew about Greening the Camps, the non-profit organization he founded in Amman with two friends. (They design, develop, build and maintain rooftop gardens in Palestinian refugee camps. While the Palestinian people have a thousand year history as farmers, the refugee camps leave little to no place for agriculture. By building rooftop gardens, Greening the Camps wants to reconnect local communities with their cultural heritage of farming while growing their own food. You can have a look at their website for more info or to support them.)
Even though I’d already seen images of Jordan’s beautiful landscapes, I wasn’t prepared for how they’d just keep coming, one after the other and how breathtaking they’d be in real life. It took us only three days to realize that five rolls of film was a grave underestimation of how enthusiastically we’d be snapping away at all those mesmerizing sights. Apparently smartphones are all the rage while shooting film is considered very old fashioned in Jordan, so unfortunately we weren’t able to buy more. Otherwise, this post would have been at least twice as long…
In the past few weeks I’ve spammed Instagram stories with snaps of breathtaking views and all the wonderful places we’ve stayed at. (Oh – and let’s not forget all the adorable (baby) animals, you can still see them in my saved stories!) As many of you have messaged me that they couldn’t get enough of this beautiful country, I’ve collected all my analog photos in this (very extensive) travel guide. If a picture really does say more than a thousand words, I’ve written a whole novel in this post, so I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking. However, I will tell you where to eat, where to sleep, what to do and a tiny bit of history. Enjoy!
Amman
Where to eat: Shams El Balad - facebook - instagram
Karak
what to do: visit the crusader castle
Dana
Where to sleep and eat: Al Nawatef Camp - booking What to do: hike with a local guide, who makes you lunch and tea with fresh herbs picked along the trail
Petra
Where to sleep: Yaser & Tine - airbnb What to do: enter Petra through the back, watch the sunset in the desert of Little Petra
Traveling through Jordan without visiting World Heritage Site Petra was of course not an option. This historic site dates back to 9000 BC and is believed to be the capital city of the Nabataean Kingdom. Located close to the trade routes, Petra was a wealthy trading city entirely carved out of rocks. However, after an earthquake destroyed many structures, the city was abandoned and mostly forgotten about as it was only inhabited by a handful of nomad until it was rediscovered in 1812. When Petra was opened to the public, the Bedouin living in the caves were forced to resettle. Some of the relocated to Umm Sayhoun, a small village with very basic infrastructure, where donkeys, dogs and children roam the streets.
Instead of staying in one of the many hotels of Petra, we opted to stay with Yaser and Tine in Umm Sayhoun through Airbnb. This Bedouin – Danish couple welcomed us with open arms into their home and provided us with the best tips on how to avoid tourists in the most well known parts of Petra, where to watch the sunset, where to have a picnic or take a nap (very important) and how to enter Petra through the back.
Wadi Rum
Where to sleep: Bedouin Lifestyle Camp - website - booking What to do: take a jeep tour (we booked a full day tour with overnight stay)
Wadi Mujib
Where to sleep in Wadi Mujib: Mujib Chalets - booking What to do: swim in the Dead Sea, hike (or rather swim) the Siq trail of Wadi Mujib
After staying in camps and people’s homes, we splurged on a hotel in the Mujib Biosphere Reserve. The Mujib “chalet village” is located at 420 meters below sea level and offers an amazing view over the Dead Sea. The facilities and restaurant of the hotel are basic but it turned out to be the perfect place to enjoy some well deserved rest and take a dip in the Dead Sea. Spoiler: floating around its salty water is not as refreshing as we hoped it would be, but the Siq trail along Wadi Mujib definitely made up for that. It’s a short but tough trail where you need to swim agains the stream and climb several waterfalls, before floating down the river again. So. Much. Fun.
Desert castles
what to do: visit the castles sprinkled along the desert in the North-East of the country
Jordan in general
Buy a Jordan pass in advance – this pass allows you to save money on your visa, entrance tickets to Petra and many other cultural sites.
Our visit fell in the middle of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. Even though this worried us a little bit in advance, it turned out to be a blessing. It’s recommended not to eat or drink in public during daytime and many restaurants are closed our only allow you to sit inside. However, low season started a little earlier than usual, which meant that we were often the only travelers in an otherwise rather touristic country. Also, celebrating Iftar together is a wonderful experience.
Public transport is close to non-existent in Jordan – buses only leave when they are full, and as we were visiting during low season this could take a while. We didn’t book anything in advance, but rented a car through Avis in Amman.
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Flying is bad for the planet, so I compensated my flight's carbon footprint through Treecological. Consider turning your travel into trees as well and do the planet a favor!
Hoi! Wat een prachtige foto’s. Watvoor camera gebruik je?
Dankjewel! Ik gebruik een Nikon F801, een analoge spiegelreflex uit de jaren 80.