We had a massive sleep in this morning – which was well needed. Hopefully the blog yesterday made sense – as we were exhausted when we wrote it!
First stop this morning was about 20 metres from the Saudi border, then on to the Marine aquarium in Aqaba. Lots of very colourful local fish – and a pleasant change to see living stuff…
We took some great photos of the view of Aqaba and Eilat in Israel, then stopped at the museum in the former Sharif Hussein residence – which is one of the better museums we’ve seen. The complex also had the Aqaba fort,
BsKnee at the Aqaba Fort
originally built by the crusaders in the 12th century. Restorations have kept some of the authenticity – notable by the original wooden beams and entrance doors.
We stopped by the remains of what is believed to be the oldest Christian church, built in the late 3rd century. There isn’t a lot to see but ruins. After a drive around Aqaba, we stopped for a beautiful seafood lunch. We picked whole sea bass and bream and they were served with salads and dips. The meal was very well priced for what we had!
Lunch in Aqaba
The Dead Sea Highway took us all the way back to Amman. We had some interesting stops along the way… One of the things we haven’t really mentioned is how tight security is here. There are checkpoints all over the place: police, army, customs – they just seem to be endless. Our driver got stopped twice today for speeding – one time he was only going 113 in a 110 zone. Some fast talking and mention of a cousin in the police worked wonders. We’ll have to tell the real story when we get home… There is absolutely no corruption or under the table dealings in Jordan – but if you have a cousin, it appears you can get away with almost anything!
We were going to go up to Lot’s cave (a biblical story about a chap who was warned of pending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and fled o a cave with his two daughters) – but it was going to be too dark by the time we did the round trip, so another 295 steps went beckoning… Neil reckons since we didn’t actually see the steps, we didn’t have to climb them! By this stage on the way home it was starting to get pretty dark,
BsKnee with Lot's Wife in the Background
but we still managed to get a cool picture of us with a statue of Lot’s wife in the background (she’s the one who looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt).
At the same place, we could see the effect that the receding Dead Sea has had – with a spectacular view of salt deposits left behind by the receding sea.
We made a silly suggestion to Ibrahim that we would like to pick up some hummus and baba ghanoush on the way home, and ended up being invited to his place in Amman for dinner. Once again, the hospitality was superb – and we just don’t know how we can repay him (with the exception of a decent tip).
