Jordan: Aqaba, Dead Sea and Madaba

I t’s Day 4 in Jordan. I feel like all I’m doing is packing and sorting out clothes for the next place we’re going to visit. But now we’re getting closer to the sea. I’m looking forward to it, even though I know I probably won’t go swimming. Expectations are high, until…

Aqaba is the only Jordanian city on the Red Sea. I knew it was a tourist town designed for pampering in resorts, but I still expected the accommodation outside the resorts to be decent. Unfortunately, we made a mistake when booking our accommodation, although we did get an upgrade (two double beds :-) ). The hotel room was basic and included breakfast, which was not to our taste. The cleanliness of the hotel could also be improved. Fortunately, we were only here for one night, so it didn’t ruin our trip.

There is a public beach, which unfortunately is not very well maintained. In addition, women are not allowed to swim in swimsuits outside the resort, so we skipped that. We preferred to spend the day relaxing. We took a long walk by the sea, strolled through Aqaba Fort, also known as Aqaba Castle, visited the shopping mall and explored the authentic, lively souks. Especially in the evening, they are full of life, colours and scents that draw you in.

Perhaps if we had decided to go diving, we would have changed our impression of the town, as there are beautiful coral reefs and a sunken tank from the 1980s. However, on that day, we sincerely desired rest and also had to catch up with some work, so all we needed was a decent WiFi.

From here on, it was all uphill. From Aqaba, we continued towards the Dead Sea along a road that runs right along the border with Israel. At first, we were accompanied by a high fence, but later I felt as if we were in the middle of nowhere. Every now and then we came across a car and a military/police checkpoint. And even though it seemed like there was no one around, we were ‘greeted’ by camels a few times along the road. The journey was long. Our GPS wasn’t working, probably due to interference near the border, so I couldn’t follow the planned route.

And then Jure says, completely cool: ‘This is the museum of the lowest point on the Earth.’ And he just wanted to drive right past it. My husband can be so funny sometimes. How could you skip this museum? Of course we visited it.

Well, considering that we are not exactly experts, we just strolled through the exhibitions. I admit, we expected something completely different. But we were impressed by the fact that the museum is located high above the Dead Sea coast. Ironically, there is a sign marking the lowest point on Earth, but below us lies the Dead Sea, which is even lower. :-)

So let’s go even lower.

Finally, I get the GPS working and search for the point marked on the map that I found online at home, which is the easiest way to get to the Dead Sea. But lo and behold. While searching, I see Pink Lake marked on the map. I quickly look at photos of the location and fall in love. I want to visit it.

It’s almost noon. The sun is beating down so hard that it’s burning my skin through the car window, so I cover myself with a shirt. We pull over and are immediately approached by a friendly local who directs us to the car park. The poor man is running in the heat, showing us the way and helping us park the car. He shows us the way to the lake and even walks with us part of the way, pointing out the most dangerous spots.

And here we are. A pink lake, created by microorganisms in the water, and we were lucky enough to see it during our visit. There are several smaller lakes like this in the area. The colours range from pale pink to intense pink, green and orange. It smells like rotten eggs. So we take a few photos and hurry on to the Dead Sea.

We are walking on salt, how crazy is that? What seems to be a rocky beach, it’s actually salt, everywhere. We monitor the altitude on our smartwatches, which ist getting lower and lower. The lowest point, just before entering the water, is -435 metres below sea level. It’s like we’re on another planet. If I thought I had seen everything in the desert, here is a whole new world. Jordan really leaves me speechless every day.

Jure quickly changes and is already in the water. He is thrilled. I decided not to go swimming myself. But we promised each other that we’ll be back once more to experience this magical feeling of levitating on the salty water.

We expected Jure to be salty and white stained coming out of the sea, as it usually happens with sea water. But that wasn’t the case; his skin was as if it had been oiled. He headed back to the car, where we all had a large jug of water. Our colleague from the car park also offered us water and even gave us some of his lunch for the journey. Although we politely declined, we still got falafel and bread.

Oh, their hospitality is really unmatched. We are amazed.

We spent the last two days in Madaba, the city of mosaics. I admit that when Jure suggested we go to the airport from Madaba rather than Amman, I wasn’t too keen. But it turned out to be the right decision. Madaba proved to be a small town with a big heart. Everything revolves around mosaics – ancient, colourful and incredibly well preserved.

We followed the points from Jordan Pass. We walked from location to location and viewed archaeological sites, which we honestly do not understand and did not delve into too deeply. However, we agreed that these places are a paradise for archaeologists and history enthusiasts. We were once again impressed by their friendliness and hospitality.

Show me anywhere in the world, especially in Europe, where a friendly employee welcomes you with a cup of hot Arabic coffee and chats with you at the entrance to a museum (which is free entry).

Until we reached the Church of St. John the Baptist. Here, we were stunned. Who would have thought that I, who am not particularly fond of visiting churches, would say that? We walked through underground tunnels, explored hidden corners, accompanied by gentle, soothing music.

And then there was the spectacular climb up the bell tower. Just below the top, I had to gather my courage to continue climbing. But I was rewarded for my efforts. The view from the top was divine. We could see the entire town spread out below us.

At the end, we left to explore the church itself, where we simply sat down. The silence and tranquillity suited us perfectly. We live for moments like these.

In this town, we had the best lunch of our lives, drank local Petra beer, and Jure found doughnuts that he couldn’t get enough of.

Find out exactly what we saw in Madaba here.

We concluded our journey on the last day with a trip to the airport. Our Jordanian adventure had come to an end. Did we return? Yes, safely and happily.

Have you been to Jordan yet? What impressed you the most? I would love to read about it in the comments.