That would be Jordan.
Frankly speaking, the reason I chose Jordan for a visit was that it’s boring … or I thought it was anyway.
Then why did I intentionally choose a boring place for a visit?
Well, it was cheap, visa-free, and also … a boring place is good when you hardly see your spouse, because then you get to chill instead of running around to do activities.
Turns out I was wrong as it was anything but boring. I came to realize that we found a hidden gem that the internet didn’t do justice. Every depiction I’ve seen in my research was very limited and downplayed what can be seen and done around the country.
Where do I start?
Looking up Jordan, the vast majority of websites, and the recommendations I heard from others all focused on one thing. This amazing masterpiece here:
Turns out that:
- The monument above is only a part of a large ancient city buried inside mountains!
The building behind me, which is carved in a mountain, is called the treasury. When I saw it in pictures, I naively thought that, like the pyramids in my country, you drive there with a car, stop to take a look, snap a few pictures then drive back home. Let me tell you this… it was not that simple!
The treasury is hidden deep inside mountains in a large ancient city. To get there, you’re in for a decent hike! I walked with my husband for five hours between mountains, finding numerous ruins right and left on our way, varying in sizes and shapes. Everywhere we looked there was a holes, doors, ruined buildings and so on:
Not only that, but we discovered that there is another monument that looks very similar to the treasury itself. And that would be the monastery below. That was a pleasant surprise for sure.
And despite hiking around for that long, we still didn't cover nearly everything that was around which is why my husband insists that he wants to go back one day.
- Forget about the ruins, that place was a mountainous wonder!
I never really imagined that you could see that many different shapes of mountains in such a small area. In our hike alone, we saw mountains in all shapes, colors and sizes:
Moving more around the country we saw even more diverse mountains:
- There is something to see nearly everywhere.
When we had no clue what to see in an area, I would look up what can be done around and we always found something interesting.
One time we found a castle:
And one time we came across a Roman theatre, something I never expected to see in Jordan:
And one time we came across large hot springs and waterfalls:
-Heavy religious heritage.
Probably because I am not a Christian and I've yet to read the Bible, but I didn't know that the Jordan River and the surrounding area has great Christian symbols.
We got to see the place where Jesus was supposedly baptized in along with a few areas he supposedly passed by:
-The desert is pretty different.
Being an Egyptian, and growing up in Kuwait, I've seen nothing but desert in my life really. So I had no expectations in that regard. But who knew that sand could actually impress me?
In Wadi Rum, a famous valley in Jordan, the sand was so red that it stained my socks for good! It was like nothing I've seen before.
I would definitely recommend hiking up one of the hills and taking in the red view.
Anyhow,
The reason I thought Jordan was nothing like it was depicted is because most things are hardly described at all. It’s very under-represented in my opinion and that's why most people have little opinion on it. But I would definitely recommend it for someone who fancies sites like the ones I mentioned.
Edit: the reason I didn't mention any negatives about Jordan is because they were exactly as was depicted to me my whole life since I live in a very similar country 😅 if I am asked about them, I would answer without issues.
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