Day 15: The Beginning of the End
The day started with checking out of our Dead Sea Marriott Resort, but not before we lazed around doing little to nothing other than float in the Dead Sea (where, of course, the point is to laze around). The day ended in Amman, Jordan/s Capital, checking into another Marriott, this time with a nice upgrade to the 'Royal Suite' - I'm not trying to brag. I slaved away in places like Horsham, Pennsylvania and San Ramon, California, at lower-level Marriott properties to get the right to get upgraded. This Amman hotel would be the last one we would be checking into during the trip, the final leg of a 16-day (17 for my parents) Odyssey to the Holy Land, and its growingly impressive cousin in Jordan.
This was also the part of the trip that was less planned. The two central events for Jordan was the days in Wadi Rum and Petra. That said, we were not opposed to living the resort life - a fairly antithetical to our normal travel theme. We started with a late (for us) breakfast and then taking the golf cart down a few winding roads from the end of the resort property proper to the little slice of Dead Sea life that the Marriott ropes off.
The Dead Sea was alive with about 15 other guests when we arrived, but there was no real fight for space, both for lounge chairs, water space, or Dead Sea mud which you are supposed to fiendishly cover your body with prior to dipping in one time (I did it in the end - it was delightful).
After a few rote photos, I took my place in the Dead Sea water. I knew what to expect (yadda, yadda, you float, yadda, yadda) but was still so surprised when I was pushed upwards, almost incapable of fighting the saltine forces forcing me sideways. My parents can't swim, so they took a bit of caution, but soon enough were also jsut delighted at how easily they could float on the calm water.
At times, I tried to go upright. It is a struggle to get into that position, but when you do, again the forces push you up like a nice little human buoy. What's nice is because we are within the confines of the hotel's space, it is not too commercialized. The most commercial aspect was these little newspapers they hand out so you can pretend to be reading while sideways in teh sea.
After a while, when we had our fill, we went from the waters of the Dead Sea, back up the golf cart, to the waters of the pools within the resort proper, sitting on a lounge chair reading a book. Any time I do this sort of thing as part of a vacation, I do wonder why I don't do it more often. I don't think I could survive for a week doing this, but maybe for a weekend?
Anyway, after some quick Jordanian Italian food (lamb risotto and lobster ravioli, both made interestingly slightly not Italian), we checked out of our Dead Sea paradise, and hit the hellish Jordanian roads on the way to Amman. There were a few sites (I lied when I said the Baptismal site was the last religions site on the trip) on the way, that involved traversing some fairly hellish roads. Jordan is a very modern Arab country - something that was reinforced by Amman, but the roads are fairly 3rd world.
The first site was up Mt. Nebo, the site where Moses apparently looked out towards Israel whereby God told him that there would rise his people, or some such. This is squarely in the myth side of the Christian (and Jewish) faith, but was still interesting. What was better than this old story, is the church atop the mountain with many fully intact mosaics that were varying degrees of stunning. They were from the Byzantine period which makes it quite amazing how well in tact they were.
From Mt. Nebo you get a great view out over the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea, and across into Palestine & Israel. On a clear non-hazy day (which this was not) you can see Jerusalem, which is 46km away. It is amazing to realize how different about 30 miles away is, another world, another culture.
After Mt. Nebo, which in reality probably isn't that high up but just seems so compared to the Lowest Point on Earth of the Dead Sea, we went across the 20 minutes or so to Madaba, a second tier Jordanian town that houses the St. George Church, more notable for an ancient mosaic depicting the Holy Land in great detail than any religious bent.
The mosaic has faded a bit but is quite large, enlightening a dimly lit church that actually has a bunch of old-school mosaics (this area of Jordan is basically Mosaic central), though my guess is most were made well after the church was constructed in moreso modern times.
After picking up a quick coffee in a nice little coffesshop in Madaba, we were on our way to Amman. Quickly on the coffeeshop, it was another sign of how nice Jordan is as a country. This coffeeshop was nice and open, with tasteful art, and a nice young crowd inside, with a jovial owner/barista, basically something that could have been in any European country.
We finally reached Amman around 5:35, a perfect five minutes after their club lounge began serving appetizers. As stated above, due to it being a fairly empty weekend, and my status, and maybe a slight sibling rivalry with the Marriott in the Dead Sea, we were upgraded to the Royal Suite, which was fit for a king, with a large family room and dining area, and one large bedroom with king bed, tub, and even giant walk-in closet. It was the type of space that would be 4-5k minimum rent a month in Manhattan. Of course, I got a rollaway bed (3rd person) and will only enjoy it for one day instead of the two that my parents get it for.
Appetiziers were nice, but they real appetizer was our time walking the Downtown Souk (market) area of Amman, which was a slightly cleaner version of any 3rd world souk you can go to. It reminded me simultaneously of Mumbai's Colaba Causeawy that is so close to our flat there, and Egypt's main Cairo market, but better than both. The real treat was a shop selling Kunafa (stringy vermicelli with cheese undernetah draped in a pistachio syrup) at rapid fire pace to a starving and growing crowd of patrons. There I also picked up a nice bakava sampler set for my office. We saw a few more shops, picked out a few places to come back to tomorrow when we had more time to play the beg, borrow and barter game.
We took a short cab-ride over to Rainbow Street, an artsy haught-ish area of Amman crowded with Westerners, for dinner at the noted Sufra Restaurant. It is set up with a beautiful decor inside an old house, adorned with colonial touches from the artwork down to the wait-staff's dress. After a short wait, we sat and ordered a couple dishes to share, one being a totally new dish for this trip, which 15 days in was quite a surprise.
The place served classic Jordanian cuisine, which of course included a Mansaf and various chicken and lamb grilled dishes, so we ordered one of each. For our third dish, we ordered a Fette, a casserold like dish with eggplant, other vegetables and (very limited) minced lamb. The fette was really good, enough so it was a bit disappointing that more places didn't have it before now.
After dinner, we retired back to the Marriott, ending the day as we started, enjoying hte comfort of the one brand in my consulting life that has paid me back well for my (company's client's loyalty).
The day started with checking out of our Dead Sea Marriott Resort, but not before we lazed around doing little to nothing other than float in the Dead Sea (where, of course, the point is to laze around). The day ended in Amman, Jordan/s Capital, checking into another Marriott, this time with a nice upgrade to the 'Royal Suite' - I'm not trying to brag. I slaved away in places like Horsham, Pennsylvania and San Ramon, California, at lower-level Marriott properties to get the right to get upgraded. This Amman hotel would be the last one we would be checking into during the trip, the final leg of a 16-day (17 for my parents) Odyssey to the Holy Land, and its growingly impressive cousin in Jordan.
This was also the part of the trip that was less planned. The two central events for Jordan was the days in Wadi Rum and Petra. That said, we were not opposed to living the resort life - a fairly antithetical to our normal travel theme. We started with a late (for us) breakfast and then taking the golf cart down a few winding roads from the end of the resort property proper to the little slice of Dead Sea life that the Marriott ropes off.
The Dead Sea was alive with about 15 other guests when we arrived, but there was no real fight for space, both for lounge chairs, water space, or Dead Sea mud which you are supposed to fiendishly cover your body with prior to dipping in one time (I did it in the end - it was delightful).
After a few rote photos, I took my place in the Dead Sea water. I knew what to expect (yadda, yadda, you float, yadda, yadda) but was still so surprised when I was pushed upwards, almost incapable of fighting the saltine forces forcing me sideways. My parents can't swim, so they took a bit of caution, but soon enough were also jsut delighted at how easily they could float on the calm water.
At times, I tried to go upright. It is a struggle to get into that position, but when you do, again the forces push you up like a nice little human buoy. What's nice is because we are within the confines of the hotel's space, it is not too commercialized. The most commercial aspect was these little newspapers they hand out so you can pretend to be reading while sideways in teh sea.
After a while, when we had our fill, we went from the waters of the Dead Sea, back up the golf cart, to the waters of the pools within the resort proper, sitting on a lounge chair reading a book. Any time I do this sort of thing as part of a vacation, I do wonder why I don't do it more often. I don't think I could survive for a week doing this, but maybe for a weekend?
Anyway, after some quick Jordanian Italian food (lamb risotto and lobster ravioli, both made interestingly slightly not Italian), we checked out of our Dead Sea paradise, and hit the hellish Jordanian roads on the way to Amman. There were a few sites (I lied when I said the Baptismal site was the last religions site on the trip) on the way, that involved traversing some fairly hellish roads. Jordan is a very modern Arab country - something that was reinforced by Amman, but the roads are fairly 3rd world.
The first site was up Mt. Nebo, the site where Moses apparently looked out towards Israel whereby God told him that there would rise his people, or some such. This is squarely in the myth side of the Christian (and Jewish) faith, but was still interesting. What was better than this old story, is the church atop the mountain with many fully intact mosaics that were varying degrees of stunning. They were from the Byzantine period which makes it quite amazing how well in tact they were.
From Mt. Nebo you get a great view out over the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea, and across into Palestine & Israel. On a clear non-hazy day (which this was not) you can see Jerusalem, which is 46km away. It is amazing to realize how different about 30 miles away is, another world, another culture.
After Mt. Nebo, which in reality probably isn't that high up but just seems so compared to the Lowest Point on Earth of the Dead Sea, we went across the 20 minutes or so to Madaba, a second tier Jordanian town that houses the St. George Church, more notable for an ancient mosaic depicting the Holy Land in great detail than any religious bent.
The mosaic has faded a bit but is quite large, enlightening a dimly lit church that actually has a bunch of old-school mosaics (this area of Jordan is basically Mosaic central), though my guess is most were made well after the church was constructed in moreso modern times.
After picking up a quick coffee in a nice little coffesshop in Madaba, we were on our way to Amman. Quickly on the coffeeshop, it was another sign of how nice Jordan is as a country. This coffeeshop was nice and open, with tasteful art, and a nice young crowd inside, with a jovial owner/barista, basically something that could have been in any European country.
We finally reached Amman around 5:35, a perfect five minutes after their club lounge began serving appetizers. As stated above, due to it being a fairly empty weekend, and my status, and maybe a slight sibling rivalry with the Marriott in the Dead Sea, we were upgraded to the Royal Suite, which was fit for a king, with a large family room and dining area, and one large bedroom with king bed, tub, and even giant walk-in closet. It was the type of space that would be 4-5k minimum rent a month in Manhattan. Of course, I got a rollaway bed (3rd person) and will only enjoy it for one day instead of the two that my parents get it for.
Appetiziers were nice, but they real appetizer was our time walking the Downtown Souk (market) area of Amman, which was a slightly cleaner version of any 3rd world souk you can go to. It reminded me simultaneously of Mumbai's Colaba Causeawy that is so close to our flat there, and Egypt's main Cairo market, but better than both. The real treat was a shop selling Kunafa (stringy vermicelli with cheese undernetah draped in a pistachio syrup) at rapid fire pace to a starving and growing crowd of patrons. There I also picked up a nice bakava sampler set for my office. We saw a few more shops, picked out a few places to come back to tomorrow when we had more time to play the beg, borrow and barter game.
We took a short cab-ride over to Rainbow Street, an artsy haught-ish area of Amman crowded with Westerners, for dinner at the noted Sufra Restaurant. It is set up with a beautiful decor inside an old house, adorned with colonial touches from the artwork down to the wait-staff's dress. After a short wait, we sat and ordered a couple dishes to share, one being a totally new dish for this trip, which 15 days in was quite a surprise.
The place served classic Jordanian cuisine, which of course included a Mansaf and various chicken and lamb grilled dishes, so we ordered one of each. For our third dish, we ordered a Fette, a casserold like dish with eggplant, other vegetables and (very limited) minced lamb. The fette was really good, enough so it was a bit disappointing that more places didn't have it before now.
After dinner, we retired back to the Marriott, ending the day as we started, enjoying hte comfort of the one brand in my consulting life that has paid me back well for my (company's client's loyalty).
