|
Call +962.65930588
|
Local time:
4:19:27 PM
|
 Current Conditions: Haze, 27 C Forecast: Wed - Mostly Cloudy. High: 26 Low: 16 Thu - Mostly Cloudy. High: 29 Low: 16 Full Forecast at Yahoo! Weather (provided by The Weather Channel) |
We have compiled a list of some of the most interesting spots to visit in Jordan, together with general Jordan travel information to help you plan your trip. Just feel free to browse the menu on the lower left and click to read more about individual sites of interest in Jordan.
General Information for Jordan travel
|
Little is known of the earliest history of Gadara, a hilltop site in the north-west
corner of Jordan with grand views over Lake Tiberias, the Yarmouk River and the
Golan Heights.
|
 |
|
|
Set in a fold of the hills that overlook the Jordan Valley, Pella was perfectly
situated, not least because of its perennial springs. Their lack of abundance today
is due to the modern pump house, which has blemished one of the loveliest sites
in Jordan.
|
|
|
|
 |
The black basalt city of Umm al-Jimal (Its name means ‘mother of camels’) lies like
a dark encrustation on the flat plains of north Jordan. So many buildings still
stand to two or three storeys that it looks as if it was abandoned within living
memory in fact it was about 1,200 years ago.
|
|
|
|
|
In the hills north-west of Jarash, overlooking the town of ‘Ajlun, stands a handsome
fort, Qala’at ar-Rabadh, with fine views over the Jordan Valley. A 13th-century
Arab writer told of ‘an ancient monastery’ here, and William of Tyre mentioned a
‘small fortress’, captured by the Crusaders in 1139. Some incised crosses, and a
recently discovered chapel with a mosaic floor (probably 8th-century), give credence
to the tradition of a Christian Arab origin.
|
|
|
|
|
One of the best-preserved provincial Roman towns in the world, Jerash lies about
45 km north of ‘Amman, in a fertile valley with a perennial stream. Because of its
water, the site has been settled at least since Neolithic times and Bronze and Iron
Age pottery has been found on the original tell. Its early Semitic name was Garshu.
|
|
|
|
|
Until the early 1920s as-Salt was the only town of any real significance in Jordan.
Thanks to its good water supply and agricultural land, it had been settled at least
since the Iron Age. It has been identified with Roman Gadaron; and in the Byzantine
period it had its own bishop its name (Latin: saltus means wooded valley) is said
to be the origin of the word ‘sultana’, from the famed sweetness of the local grapes.
|
|
|
|
 |
Few places show the evolution of Jordan’s story as clearly as Amman, for here we
can still see, layer upon layer, many stages in the city’s metamorphosis. Once capital
of the Iron Age kingdom of Ammon, it became in turn a Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine
city, then heart of the Umayyad province of Al-Balqa’, an abandoned field of ruins
and a late-19th century Ottoman village. It is today capital of the Hashemite Kingdom
of Jordan.
|
|
|
|
|
The ‘Pilgrim of Bordeaux’, in AD 333 the first known Christian pilgrim in the Holy
Land, wrote of seeing ‘the place where our Lord was baptized by John, and above
the far bank at the same place is the hillock from which Elijah was taken up to
heaven’.
|
|
|
|
|
Jordan’s western border runs below sea level for most of its 360 km length, following
the line of the Jordan rift. At its heart is the Dead Sea, over 400m below sea level
- the lowest place on earth. It is part of the Great Rift Valley, which runs from
southern Turkey through Syria, Jordan and the Red Sea, west into East Africa and
south to Mozambique.
|
|
|
|
|
Known locally as Siyagha, Mount Nebo is the highest point in this part of the ancient
kingdom of Moab. On a clear day there is a magnificent panoramic view over the Dead
Sea and the Jordan Valley to the hills on the other side of the rift, with the towers
of Jerusalem visible on the skyline. |
|
|
|
|
The rambling modern face of Madaba, situated some 30 km south of ‘Amman, belies
the fact that it is the site of a very ancient settlement, which occupied a tell
(an artificial mound), which stands out above the surrounding fertile plains.
|
|
|
|
|
Umm ar-Rasas lies in open rolling countryside just east of Dhiban. First mentioned
in the Bible as Mephaath (Josh. 13: I 8),. It was later one of the many Moabite
towns that Jeremiah prophesied against (Jer. 48:21). In Roman times it was Castron
Mefaath, or Mefa’a, and indeed the main ruins are a Roman fort the size of a small
town (158 x I 39m), where a Roman garrison was based.
|
|
|
|
|
The local name for this hilltop al-mishnaqa, the gallows carries resonances of its
early notoriety, for the fort that crowns it is traditionally associated with the
imprisonment and execution of John the Baptist. Dramatically situated in the hills
south-west of Madaba, and overlooking the Dead Sea, the fortress of Machaerus lies
near the small village of Mukawir, whose name reflects the ancient one. But the
story of Machaerus is older than that of John the Baptist.
|
|
|
|
|
All that is now visible of ancient Dibon is a partly excavated tell beside the present-day
village of Dhiban, just north of the spectacular Wadi al-Mujib gorge, biblical Arnon.
Though it had an Early Bronze Age settlement, the period about which most is known
is the Iron Age, especially the 9th century BC, when it was the capital of Mesha,
king of Moab.
|
|
|
|
|
Dramatically located on the very edge of the northern cliff of Wadi al-Mujib, the
site of Lahun was recurrently reoccupied from earliest times up to the present.
Rather than take over the ruins of their predecessors, each new wave of settlers
preferred to start again on untouched ground.
|
|
|
|
|
This splendid Crusader fortress - Crak des Moabites, or Le Pierre du Desert to the
Crusaders - soars above the wadi is and hills like a great ship riding waves of
rock.
|
|
|
|
|
The little village of Dana perches on a shelf of the mountainside that drops down
into the Wadi ‘Araba rift. The single approach road ends at the beginning of the
village, and from there narrow paths - barely wide enough to walk in - run between
the houses, whose flat roofs provide an easy venue for social communication. Built
of stone and wood, and plastered with mud, the houses blend perfectly with the landscape.
|
|
|
|
|
One of life’s transforming discoveries- how to smelt copper - occurred in the Chalcolithic
(‘copper-stone’) age,cc 4500-3 300 BC, and copper implements such as axes and arrowheads
gradually replaced flint. In Jordan, copper mining and smelting only began at the
end of this period, its main centre at Faynan, about 60km south of the Dead Sea,
where Wadi Dana approaches Wadi ‘Araba.
|
|
|
|
|
About 25km north of Petra an imposing castle crowns a cone of rock which rises 3bove
a wild and rugged landscape. It is today named after the nearby village of Shobak;
but to the Crusaders it was Crak de Montréal - the fortress of the royal mount.
|
|
|
|
|
Before planning a holiday to Petra, come and learn a few important facts about this
outstanding site. Petra lies some 230 Km south of Amman. Travelling to Petra is
a dream come through to many travellers, as it is Jordan’s best known archaeological
site, it was voted as a new 7th wonder of the world in 2007 and is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.
|
|
|
|
|
Coming from the northern plateau, the first sight of Wadi Ramrn is a bird’s eye
vision of crags and pinnacles thrusting up from the sandy desert floor, each stacked
behind another till they dissolve in haze. This vast tract of southern Jordan takes
its name from the grandest of a whole network of wadis.
|
|
|
|
|
Jordan’s only seaport lies half encircled by mountains at the head of the Gulf of
Aqaba, an arm of the Red Sea. Its position was always strategic - as a hub of the
land and sea routes linking Arabia, the Far East, Africa and Europe, and for its
subterranean reserves of sweet water.
|
|
|
|
|
The Desert Castles, which were built mostly under the Umayyads (661-750 AD), stand as an evidence to the beginnings of Arab architectural civilization. They are located east of Amman, between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
|
|
|
|