MIDDLE EAST JORDAN DESTINATIONS V
iews don’t get better than this. From my balcony, I can
see the flat expanse of the Dead Sea, the only ripples caused by a solitary tourist bobbing like a beach ball. The sun is sinking behind a distant mountain ridge, and the first stars have started to appear. When I told people I was visiting Jordan, two questions popped up repeatedly: “isn't there a war there?” (no); and “are you going to Petra?” (double no). True, most visitors make a beeline for the country’s most famous Unesco site, Petra, flying into Aqaba in the south, or arriving on day trips from Egypt’s Red Sea resorts. But I’d flown in to the northern city of Amman –
Jordan’s capital, and a great base from which to explore the historic sites surrounding the Dead Sea.
w AMMAN FOR ALL SEASONS The spring opening of the W Amman has raised the capital’s cool stakes. A Fairmont hotel also recently opened in the city and St Regis Hotels & Resorts’ new Amman property should launch by November. My own base at the beautiful
Grand Hyatt Amman is close to the city centre. It costs me about £3 to get there in one of Amman’s yellow taxis, and I marvel at my driver’s dexterity as he nips around lorries without spilling a drop of the thick coffee
Within 50m I can see a rug stall, a saddle shop, a rifle store and a shop selling shiny copper kettles
he’s slurping from an ornate glass. Around the magnificent
Al-Husseini Mosque in the city centre is a colourful melange of businesses shoehorned into the lower floors of apartment blocks. At one point, I count the number of shops within a 50-metre stretch, and my tally includes a
rug stall, a saddle shop, a rifle store and a shop selling shiny copper kettles. Other Amman attractions include Jabal Al Qal’a (Citadel Hill), home of the eighth-century Umayyad Palace and the Roman Temple of Hercules.
w MOSAICS AND MOUNTAINS Moving on from Amman, the base for most of my stay is Sweimeh, on the Dead Sea’s eastern shore, which is less than an hour from the capital. The newest hotel, the Hilton Dead Sea Resort & Spa, sits at the end of a string of properties that includes the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea and
7 June 2018
travelweekly.co.uk 55
TOP TIP The Jordan Pass (from
$99) offers access to 40 attractions and waives visa fees for stays of at least four days.
jordanpass.jo
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