From Amman there is a route East that takes you past several castles in the desert. We rented a car and instead of doing this as a day trip loop , did the trip and carried on to Jerash and based ourselves there. First castle we came across was Qasr Hraneh… built in the 8th century, about 710 they reckon… although scholars aren’t in agreement on what it was used for. The most likely scenario is that it was a khan (inn). Another 10 […]
History
PETRA Day 2
After a wonderful DAY 1 exploring Petra we head back in the way we did yesterday (the only entrance open to tourists). No need to get another ticket – show yesterday’s one at the entrance and walk back in through the Siq. A few minutes walk past the Treasury, you take the steps on your left (near the toilets, before the theatre) up to the High Place of Sacrifice. With our early start and most people heading down the main strip of Petra we […]
PETRA – Day 1!
Petra is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It features on most “must see before you die” lists. The ancient city, carved into the mountains around 2000 years ago, is incredible in so many ways, so settle in and enjoy this taste of being there! For those who plan to go, hopefully my bullet-pointed suggestions for how to tackle Petra in 2 days will be helpful. Petra is overwhelmingly huge and well worth joining the […]
Caesarea, Israel
Getting to the ancient port city of Caesarea was not easy– first of all it was hard to make it clear where we wanted to go as we were saying ‘Seh-zeh-ree-ah’ but the locals pronounce it ‘Qasaria’ with a hard c. I had to write it down to be understood! After switching trains correctly we arrived at the nearest train station to the ancient site and headed for the bus stop, only to discover that the bus left about two hours later … approximately […]
Ramallah, Palestine
Ramallah, just 10km north of Jerusalem, has become Palestine’s de-facto capital, home to the Palestinian parliament, government ministries and the offices of the President and Prime Minister. Closely associated for me with the Intifada and Palestinian resistance, Ramallah is today the most affluent and liberal city in Palestine and the cultural hub of the West Bank, with many famous Palestinian activists, poets, musicians and artists residing here. We took a Palestinian bus from Jerusalem for the short trip, without much of a plan of […]
Israel Museum
‘Israel Museum’ is a bit of a misnomer as there are several museums and art galleries in the one place as well as sculptures and models outside. We spent most of a day here during our stay in Jerusalem, starting at the model of Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period. This was a model of the ancient city at its peak just before the Great Revolt in 66 CE when it was destroyed. The model has a scale of 2cm = 1 metre and […]
Jerusalem: A walk through 4000+ years of history
Jerusalem is one of the most deeply contested cities on earth and hasn’t done a great job of living up to its name, meaning ‘City of Peace’. In its long history it has been attacked 52 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, besieged 23 times and destroyed twice (source). Although it is no longer physically divided – with the walls and barbed wire coming down in 1967, boundaries and divisions still exist among its people. How its future will play out with two very […]
Dead Sea, Masada & En Gedi
Our day trip from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea with stops at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Masada and the En Gedi National Park was simply brilliant! The bus took us from the busy city of Jerusalem through the tunnel under the Mount of Olives and suddenly into the Judean desert. We dropped quickly in altitude down to 423m below sea level at the Dead Sea. But before floating in the famous salty waters we had some exploring to do. We headed south […]