At the end of our Egypt leg, we jumped onto a plane in Luxor, said goodbye to some of our comrades in Cairo then boarded the Royal Jordanian flight to Amman, Jordan. A smooth transition through immigration by our G Adventures representative annoyed the locals but got us into the country nice and quickly, and satisfied my anxiety at having not purchased an entry visa. Shortly after, we were whisked to our accommodation at Mena Tyche Hotel Amman.

The complex itinerary briefing

Jordanian meal

One of many shisha sessions

We had a quick induction with our newest G Adventures CEO (chief entertainment officer I think) Khader who gave us our mission briefing and also gave us a chance to meet our newest compatriots. He took us up the road into Amman and gave us our first try at Jordanian cuisine...which was kind of like Egyptian cuisine.

Our first trip in Jordan was to the northern city of Jerash. Our only trip to the north on this trip. We were there to explore the archaeological site that was previously the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa. No flies or mosquitoes but some wasps.

The Gerasa briefing

South Gate

The hippodrome

The South Gate selfie

The South Gate

We stopped at a series of attractions on the site including the Temple of Zeus;

The Southern Theatre. A decent sized and impressively restored amphitheatre;

The Temple of Artemis, which we didn't really go inside, more wandered past...

Finally the Cardo Maximus one of many magnificent pillar lines roman roads in Gerasa, that lead to the Oval Plaza.

Cardo Maximus

The Oval Plaza in the foreground

Oval Plaza in the foreground and the Arch of Hadrian at the back

After lunch we travelled south to the Dead Sea. The coast is lined with luxury resorts catering for the Dead Sea experience. Ours was the Dead Sea Spa Resort. Disappointingly though our briefing included the knowledge that apparently the Dead Sea is so filthy that one shouldn't swim for more than 20mins at a time. The routine described to us was 20mins in the Dead Sea, shower rinse, mud covering, Dead Sea, shower rinse. I'm not sure about the science, but it's what we did!

The salt content was so high that I was able to do sit-ups whilst floating. After our rituals we return to the hotel pool for an afternoon of relaxation.

The evening was spent in Amman, with one of many hummus, baba ganoush and pita dinners at a local food joint, and a whistle stop tour (without actual stopping) through the bustling Amman city centre and the markets. We saw the city mosque and the trip ended at a local sweet shop where we enjoyed some sort of cheesy baklava. I love baklava, but this sweet cheesy combo I wasn't very fond of.