January 12 and 13, 2019
The Red Sea
One can not come this far and not see the two seas. I mentioned in my first post about Jordan, that the country has so much more than Petra, and vacationing on the Red Sea is one of them.
It is a destination tourist town with the best statistics I could find dating to 2016, at that time Aqaba city hosted around 532,000 tourists.
Russian tourists topped the list, with around 60,000 visitors, followed by Saudi Arabians (around 13,000) and Americans (around 9,000), with significant numbers of German, Arab Israeli’s and French.
The Aqaba Flagpole is the 6th tallest free-standing flagpole in the world at 430 ft. It carries the flag of the Arab Revolt commemorating the Battle of Aqaba that took place in 1917. The flagpole can be seen from Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
The town of Aqaba has numerous 5-star hotels, a private yacht club and miles of reefs for snorkeling and diving. It is also the only resort area on the Red Sea in Jordan.
I had a sea view room at the Movenpick and simply opened my window, pulled up a chair, put my feet on the railing and looked out the window while I blogged, a nice way to slowly wind down this adventure.
Hussain trying to catch me a fish for my dinner (he didn’t)
I am not a big fan of glass bottom boats, but I took one on the Red Sea. My skipper, Hussain did a pretty good job of taking me over the more beautiful parts of the reefs. I don’t know that I would even recommend one does this, obviously snorkeling or diving would allow you to see things much closer and may be more bang for the buck, but it is January, and the wind is blowing and a glass bottom boat seemed like a sensible way to get out on the Red Sea.
There are about 300 species of Coral in the Red Sea and 1200 coral reef fish
There are a lot of typical water sports in Aqaba, even in January
Looking across the water at Israel.
At this point in the Red Sea (The Gulf of Aqaba), you can see hotels in Egypt and the city of Eilat in Israel. It is beautiful and serene. Sadly rocket attacks on Eilat, in Israel, and Aqaba, in Jordan, have been used by militants from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and organizations linked with Al-Qaeda because of the relative ease to do so from adjacent desert areas. Most of these attacks target Eilat, the last attack on Aqaba was in 2010.
I felt extremely safe in Jordan, there are checkpoints and a military presence, but not nearly the amount one sees in Egypt.
The Dead Sea
The Dead Sea is fascinating because it sits 1,412 ft below sea level, and is Earth’s lowest elevation on land.
The surface is receding about 3 feet every year, due to the siphoning off of up-river water by different countries, if you are interested in exploring the subject further here is a great article by the BBC.
The Dead Sea in Jordan is hardly worth the stop. There are three hotels, the booking agency I used (KimKim) put me in one I would not recommend to my worst enemy, the Dead Sea Spa. This area is for Russians to get away from the heat and qualifies in my opinion as a member of the sixth circle of hell. It is a giant resort, geared for kids and people that just want to bake their skin and get drunk (and yes that is possible in these resorts, even in Jordan). I did what any self-respecting girl would do and headed to the spa.
The desert goes on and on and on and then there is the Dead Sea with its rocky shore, three hotels, and then the desert goes on and on and on. I have no idea if visiting on the Israel side is something worth pursuing, and yes I put my toe in the water, it is far saltier than you can imagine, so much so that they warn you about the dangers of getting it in your mouth or eyes.
Some people were covering themselves in the rich dark mud that is supposed to be so good for you, see note above about spa.
I am very glad I came, as my grandparents did in the 1960s, but I am not sure I understand what the fuss is about, however, the geological portion is absolutely fascinating.
Since the water is receding, the hotels now sit quite a ways up from the water, I had to walk quite the distance to reach the Sea.
This is my last day in Jordan, and it has been an eye-opening experience. Jordan is worth the visit, but I highly recommend one is either on a tour or has their wits about them. Everyone here is on the hustle. You are told the price is one thing, and then you get to the point of no return, and bingo, the hands go out and you can not go further without baksheesh. Prices are completely unknown, even to the Jordanians, my driver would often tell me even he had to bargain and wasn’t sure he always got a fair price for things.
The people are delightful, it is just in the culture to see how far they can push it and how much they can get for themselves out of every transaction. I have already mentioned that the country is not cheap, but it is worth it.
Another hint, four-star hotels in Jordan are far more comparable to 2 stars in the US, so when your budget allows, always book a five star, but don’t expect much in the smaller towns, even then.
A random thought if there ever was one. My dear friend Susan, who travels, I think more than I, AND writes a food blog, once asked what is with Nescafe? I am going to ask the same thing. I have had some of the best Turkish coffee on the streets of Egypt and Jordan, but when it comes to restaurants and hotels, what is with Nescafe?
This has been a long trip, but fascinating. I have traveled 30,000 miles by air, car train or bus and thanks to modern technology, my Fitbit tells me I have walked an additional 350.