A wish came true – hello Jordan!

I am not a “bucket list” kind of person, especially when it comes to countries I want to visit. I choose destinations based on my feelings, and even if I happen to look for flights to a certain destination, I will most probably end up buying something else. But Jordan was different. My desire was so strong that I spent three years planning, searching for flights and pinning locations I wanted to visit on a map, but nothing seemed to fall into place. And when we were all packed and ready to go last October, we received an email the day before departure informing us that the flight had been cancelled due to the situation in the region. And so Jordan fell through again. But I didn’t give up.

As we disembark from the plane, I see through the window how strong the wind is blowing, and people are dressed in long sleeves. A thought crosses my mind, which I share with Jure, wondering if I perhaps made a mistake when packing and brought too many light clothes. He smiles at me and gives me a feeling of complete relaxation… we are on holiday, after all…

Passport control, visa and all other checks are quickly completed, and the minibus taking us to the car rental company is already speeding down the road towards Amman. It is hot, the wind is blowing my hair around, the air conditioning feels like it is set to 10 degrees, and there is nothing but sand around us.

We pick up a half-wrecked Nissan Sunny. Jure grumbles that he booked a better car, but when we drive off, it turns out that looks can be deceiving. The car is spacious and comfortable. The idea of packing light clothes is quickly forgotten, as the sun is literally burning my skin through the car window. Summer, I missed you.

Up and down the streets of Amman and we are already at our first accommodation. Hostel Nomad. The room is not ready yet, so we head out for our first Jordanian lunch. We walk up a steep hill to a well-rated restaurant. The street is beautiful and tidy. Unfortunately, I can’t enjoy it… Oh, how hot I am, and I’m still wearing the thick socks I wore at home, which kept me nice and warm on the way to Jordan – but here they are definitely unnecessary…

While we wait for our food, I take advantage of the moment to do some urgent work on my computer. The service is excellent and fast. Jure is delighted with the food and cannot hide his enthusiasm for the roast chicken, which he says tastes just like it was cooked over a charcoal fire. Well, I’m a little less enthusiastic. We joke that my first choice of lunch in a new country is always bad. Remember the lunch in Marrakesh when I was choking on couscous? That’s kind of how it was now, as I tried to stuff a kebab with pomegranate into my mouth. It sounds exotic, but there’s no trace of pomegranate. :-) The young lady at the next table elegantly blows smoke from her water pipe in my direction. Yuck! Oh Jordan, we’re off to a great start… At least I’m comforted by the best bread I’ve ever eaten. Soft, just the right amount of crunch, still warm… Okay, I won’t go hungry, I’ll just survive the week on bread. :-)

By the way, this lunch was the most expensive of the whole week – €36 – and I can say it was also the worst, at least for me. :-)

We both agree that we need a bit of rest to recover after the long trip (after all we spent the night on the airport in Vienna). The room is ready, and the receptionist is so friendly and goes out of his way to make us feel welcome. He even prepares a list of restaurants and instructions for sightseeing in Slovenian. We are grateful to him, but at this point we need a bed. We have been travelling all night, so we need a few hours of sleep in the comfort of a bed.

Two hours were enough to get us ready to explore Amman.

If we have a car, we’re not going to walk and pay for a taxi, are we? And so we went. Straight to the heart of Amman, on a mission to find a currency exchange office. Jure was the patient driver, I was the navigator. In the late afternoon, the streets were full of cars, the lanes were poorly marked, but I would say that the drivers were polite and patient. We slowly made our way through the traffic to our destination. Of course, we got a little lost along the way and had to change our route, but we had fun. We parked in a private car park, being the only ones there. Is this a good decision? We’ll see.
We found a currency exchange office and took a look at the Roman theatre Aman, the smaller Odeon theatre and, of course, successfully exchanged our money. In the car park, everything was fine, of course, and our worries were unfounded.

We were rushing to catch the last chance to visit the Citadel on top of the hill, which offers a perfect view of the city of Amman. Some traffic, searching for parking and our bickering cost us ten minutes, and we missed the last entry. But we did catch the sunset, the view and the huge Jordanian flag proudly waving in the wind. At that moment, we didn’t know how proud they were of it just yet.