Jordan

In May of 2023 some of my family and I went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which not only includes Israel, but also parts of Jordan. For a majority of our trip we were in Israel; however we did spend a few short days in the middle of our trip in Jordan. Jordan, named after the river, became a country in 1921. From 1921-1946, Jordan was controlled by the British government. The currency in Jordan is the “Jordanian Dinar”. The current exchange rate is 1 JOD to $1.41 USD or $1 USD to 0.71 JOD.

Itinerary for Jordan:

Day 4: cross border to Jordan, Mount Nebo & Tree of Life Handicraft Center; (night in Amman)

Day 5: Petra & Martyrs of Jordan Church; (night in Amman)

Day 6: cross border back to Israel

Border Crossing

In order to cross from Israel to Jordan, we had to go through border control. When entering and leaving the country of Israel, they do not stamp your passport. This is because there are certain countries that will not allow you entrance if you have a stamp from Israel on your passport. So, instead of getting a stamp on your passport, when entering Israel and leaving Israel you get a printed card to tuck into your passport. First, we had to be checked out of the country on the Israeli part of the border and then unload our suitcases to go through Jordanian customs. All in all, while it did take a bit of time, this can be owed to our large tour group. On the way back to Israel the crossing was even easier, they didn’t even scan our luggage this time.

Mount Nebo

The first place we visited after crossing into Jordan was Mt. Nebo. This is where Moses stood when God first showed him the Promised Land. This story comes from Deuteronomy 32:48-52 and Deuteronomy 34:1-4. Down a little ways from the mountain, there is also a spring that is rumored to be the place where he struck his staff and water flowed (Numbers 20:2-13); however there are several other sites that are rumored to be the site of this miracle as well. The church that was built on top of Mount Nebo is run by the Franciscans who, as I mentioned in an earlier post about Israel, are and have been the custodians of the Holy Land for the last 800 plus years. The beautiful mosaics, that are the main artwork on the inside of the church, come from the Byzantine Basilica that used to stand in the same spot.

Tree of Life Handicraft Center

While the people at the center make other handicrafts as well, the main item they make is mosaics. They employ and teach disabled people to make these mosaics. This center had a very similar set up to the papyrus place we visited in Egypt. In the front room we were shown how the mosaics are made by hand, which was a neat process to watch. Then in back rooms they had a plethora of mosaics as well as other handicrafts on display. Unlike the papyrus, though, the items for sale were not quite as cheap, even the smallest one was around $200 USD. My parents ended up buying a mosaic of the fourth station of the cross, where Jesus meets his mother. Just to show how nice these mosaics are, the one we bought was nearly identical to the one that is displayed at my local church.

Information on Petra

Around the year 749 A.D. a large earthquake covered Petra in sand and several of the buildings were destroyed. In the 12th century A.D. the crusaders came to Jordan. Along with building a castle in Shobek, they also discovered Petra, though they told no one of their discovery. It wasn’t until 1812 that a Swiss archaeologist by the name of Johann Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered this site. Unfortunately, by that time the bedouins were living in the exposed ruins and had destroyed parts of it looking for a pharaoh’s treasure. In 1985, Petra became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Consequently, the bedouins were removed from the caves they were living in, but were still allowed to work in the site selling items, and camel/horse rides. These caves that the bedouins had been living in, were not once lived in by the Nabateans, but were used as places for burial. In 2007, Petra was listed as one of the new 7 wonders of the world. Petra is actually the Greek name for the city, and not its original.

At this point you may be confused as to why a Roman Catholic group on a pilgrimage would stop at a site like Petra. The answer to this is actually quite interesting. As I mentioned in my previous post about Israel, it is not only Israel that is considered to be part of the Holy Land, but surrounding areas as well. Petra was built in 312 B.C. by the Nabateans who are by another name the Ishmaelites; descendants of Ishmael, the first son of Abraham by his wife’s servant Hagar (Genesis 16). In addition to this, it is believed by some that the three wise men (Matthew 2:1-12), were Nabatean traders because at that time the Nabateans were the ones who controlled the trade of myrrh, frankincense, and gold.

Mount Hor, where the tomb of Aaron is located, is near Petra; although we were not able to visit it.

Visiting Petra

The drive from our hotel in Amman to the site of Petra is approximately three hours. After about two hours of driving on our tour bus, we made a pit stop at “Mid Way Castle”. They had lots of souvenirs, not cheap of course, snacks and most importantly, restrooms. It is possible to stay just outside Petra instead of driving to and from Amman in one day. The area outside Petra used to be very small and only had 2 hotels, now there are over 80 in the area. Unfortunately we only had 3 hours to spend at Petra and I would can confidently tell you that this is not enough time to properly experience this site.

There are so many different ruins to see at this site. The main ruin most think of when Petra is mentioned is called the “the treasury”. This is one of the more preserved facades that has been carved out of the sandstone, but is certainly not the only one.

Ticket prices change depending on whether you spend a night in Jordan or if you just come to see Petra for the day and then leave the country. For the former a one day ticket costs around 50 J.D ($70.61), while the latter will cost you 90 J.D ($127.10).

We walked with our our tour group of more than 40 people down to the treasury. While our guide did provide us with interesting information along the way, if you are short on time I might consider splitting off from your group to be able to explore the site more throughly. Once you get down to the treasury itself it gets really crowded with people and locals selling stuff. If you want to get that iconic photo that most people get taken when they visit Petra, you will have to pay extra money to climb up stone steps to an overlook of the treasury.

After taking a group photo down at the treasury, our tour group was given free time to wander about and do some exploring of our own if we so desired it. My mother and I managed to walk up to all the different royal tombs and almost to the nymphaeum in our allotted time, but we were walking rather quickly. In general, it takes about 40 minutes to walk the 2 kilometers from the front gate to the treasury and an additional 40 minutes to get back. My mother and I proved that you can walk it much faster though when we walked back up in 25 minutes from just before the nymphaeum to the front gate (approximately 3 kilometers). For those who do not feel up to walking down and back to see the treasury, there is an option for a golf cart ride. It costs $37 roundtrip or $23 for a ride back up.

Along the way down into the canyon/valley there are stalls selling different trinkets and tchotchkes everywhere. These sellers, while not as bad as the ones in Egypt, still do some hassling to the passersby. There are also opportunities along the way to ride a camel and or a horse. As my family and I have ridden camels in the past, we opted out. As you walk in the area past the treasury, keep your eye out for goats. My mother and I saw the tiniest baby goat along the top of one of the ridges, it was so cute!

Make sure that when you visit Petra you do not make the mistake of wearing sandals with little to no traction. Some of the areas that you will walk through are filled with sand and others are the original roman roads built in the area, which contain very slippery cobblestones.

As someone who has wanted to visit Petra for years, the whole experience was quite surreal and amazing! I do wish I had had more time to explore, but now I have a reason to go back in the future.

Martyrs of Jordan Church

To add to our already long day after Petra, we went and had Mass at the Martyrs of Jordan Church in Amman. There wasn’t a huge interior, but the small room we used for Mass was quite pretty.

Crowne Plaza in Amman

Since we only spent two nights in Jordan, we only stayed at one place. The rooms were quite nice but the food was only okay. We were at the hotel for two dinners and two breakfasts. While they did have some food from the local region, it seemed like they were trying to cater to Westerners without really knowing how to make good westerner food. I will say though, they did have really good seed cakes for breakfast. This was a mix of oats and sesame seeds held together with some sort of sweet sauce, which my sister thought it looked like bird food 🙂 One large difference between the food in Jordan versus Israel is that you could find both meat and dairy served at all meal times. Jordan is a mostly Muslim country and so they do not follow Kosher rules.

As I mentioned in my other post on Israel and safe tap water, the hotel tap water in Jordan is not drinkable. This meant that even though they served fruit with skin during the meals we did not eat it our of concern that it was washed with tap water.

Food

Hekayet Nebo Restaurant: Like many of the other restaurants we went to during our pilgrimage, this one served food buffet style. They had different types of meat, rice, several types of fruit dates, hummus, and many other dishes. This restaurant is located in the top part of a building and due to the tad extra elevation, there are great views from the back terrace of the valley.

Petra Magic Restaurant: This restaurant was located outside of the park and was set up like most of the other restaurants we ate at on this trip. They had a buffet with different meats, rice, vegetables and sweets. If you eat here, you will definitely want to try the chicken dish they grill out by the front door. This restaurant also has a beautiful view of the mountains/hills surrounding Petra, from the back terrace.

One difference between Israel and Jordan is that in Israel the tap water is for the most part safe to drink. In Jordan, however; it is not. This not only affects how you get your water throughout the day but also what you eat. For example, when we were in Jordan we stayed away from fruits with skins as they had been washed with undrinkable water.

This concludes our short stay in Jordan. The day after Petra, we drove back across the border to Israel in order to continue our trip. I quite enjoyed my time in Jordan and this is definitely a place I would like to see more of in the future!