Can't get away from fast food

We arrived quite early at Amman Airport for our flight to Cairo - the A&K representation took care of check-in and lots of other little airport necessities while we stood around looking useless. After we cleared security, we went looking for some lunch. After walking around a few times, we determined that our options consisted of:

1. Starbucks
2. Cinnabon (not one but TWO outlets)
3. Pizza Hut
4. Popeye's
5. World News Cafe (pastries and coffees)

It was a little sad. We ended up having Popeye's Fried Chicken.

The Royal Suite!

The first good omen was that we were upgraded to the Royal Suite at the Movenpick Petra Hotel – this hotel had much more local flavor with fancy Moorish fountains in the lobby and an ornate chandelier in the sitting room of our suite. Sadly, the same could not be said of their dinner buffet, where the most Arabic item we found was hummus and some accompanying pita bread.

No matter, since our visit to Petra exceeded all expectations. We met Hamdi in the lobby at 8:30 am – well actually 8:45 since we, of course, ran late. This is the huge benefit of not being with a tour group! We entered the site and took over an hour to walk the Siq (the 1,200 m canyon entrance path into Petra) with Hamdi pointing out many interesting sights.

The first view of the Treasury as you come down the dark Siq was priceless. It was rather crowded, which was the only downside to our day. We ended up walking all around, and had lunch at the Bedouin buffet, which finally gave us a taste of Jordanian food. After lunch, the girls and I rode donkeys up to the Monastery, which was an upward climb of 800 steps. Sean walked alongside, taking pictures and trying to ensure that we didn’t hurt ourselves.

We ended up spending 8 hours in Petra – our main regret was that we didn’t get a carriage to take us out of the Siq. The way home seemed a whole lot longer and we finally returned back to the hotel – bedraggled and exhausted. We promptly retreated to the lobby lounge where we indulged in ice cream sundaes and french fries. What a day!

Why is the Dead Sea dead?

We headed out of Amman on the King’s Highway with our guide, Hamdi and our driver, Nabil. We made a couple of stops on our way to Petra, but at the last minute, I added a stop at the Dead Sea. After many phone calls to set this all up for us (really not quite sure why it was so complicated!), we ended up at the Amman Beach Resort on the shores of the Dead Sea. We weren’t terribly prepared so I ended up unpacking most of the luggage in the back of the van to locate all our swim things!

The Dead Sea ended up being well worth the stop – next time, I will plan on a stay at one of the nice Dead Sea resorts like the Kempinski. As you may know, the Dead Sea is so named because there are no living creatures in it, due to the high level of salt. We were warned to not get the water into our mouths and especially the eyes – you need to rinse out your eyes immediately if you get the seawater in them.

The sensation of being able to float in the water was very strange – like floating on an invisible floatie. We found all sorts of ways to float, and the kids loved the weird buoyancy. It was certainly the highlight of the day.

We're on our way!

After a lovely and uneventful flight over the Atlantic, we ended up with an overly long layover of 6 hours in Frankfurt. The girls had been looking forward to the tomato soup in the lounge but alas, they were serving beef consomme instead. Thank goodness for the gummy bears.

We landed in Amman at the ungodly hour of 2:30 am and were met by the Abercrombie & Kent representative who ushered us quickly through the process of obtaining a visa, getting through customs and picking up our luggage. Which was probably a good thing since we were all in a bit of a daze.

We stayed at the Four Seasons in Amman for less than 7 hours, although I’m pretty sure we didn’t get a break in the daily rate. I may have to rethink my Four Seasons strategy – the hotel room could have been in any city in the world. Very nice, very luxurious, but no local flavor to speak of. Thankfully, we found the “Foul” at the breakfast buffet (some sort of broad bean stew that’s a common Jordanian breakfast food, with lots of condiments.)