The alarm clock went off at 6 am as we left at 7 for the initial leg of the tour, the city of Amman | ʻAmmān [عَمَّان]. The first thing we learnt was that traffic rules are little more than guidelines in Jordan – cars jumping lanes, honking at will, and driving whereever they could physically fit. The tour had 14 people in it, so we had a minibus. At least we had some presence / weight going on for us in that crazy traffic… so that was a good thing about the tour.

Around 8:00 we arrived at the Amman Citadel | Jabal Al-Qal’a [جبل القلعة] – and here is where my heart sank. The guide made clear that we had to be with him at all times unless he gave us “free time”. Unfortunately, he rushed us through, and he was droning, boring, and embodied everything I dislike about guided tours. And here I thought I had made my peace with them back at Stonehenge…

The most important remains in the Citadel are the Roman Temple of Hercules [معبد هرقل] and the remains of the colossal statue (2nd century CE), and the Umayyad Palace | Al-Qaṣr al-Umawī [القصر الأموي] (7th century CE). In the mid-20th century, the Jordan Archaeological Museum [متحف الآثار الأردني] was built within the Citadel. The museum is tiny, but it holds artefacts from all the historical eras the country has lived through.

After the Citadel, we drove downhill to the Amman Roman Theatre [المدرج الروماني في الاردن] and Odeon [مسرح الأوديون], both of them are structures dating from the Roman period, 2nd century CE. Both are extremely well preserved, and still in use. There are also two tiny museums – the Folklore Museum and the Jordanian Museum of Popular Traditions.

We got back on the bus and started our trip south. After an hour or so we reached Mount Nebo | Jabal Nībū [جَبَل نِيبُو]. According to the Bible, this was the place from where Moses laid eyes on “Promised Land” and died. Today, it belongs to the Franciscan Order. At the top stands the Memorial Church of Moses [كنيسة موسى جبل نيبو], which holds the archaeological remains of a Byzantine Basilica. A few astonishing mosaics can be seen inside. Next to the church stands the Brazen Serpent Monument (Nehushtan), and on the other side there is an olive tree orchard, with a tree planted by Catholic Pope John Paul II. From the viewpoint you can emulate Moses and look upon Promised Land, but the day was hazy and I only caught sight of the Dead Sea – a bit sad we did not get to got there, to be honest.

We drove forward to Madaba [مادبا] to see the Map of Madaba mosaic, dating from the 6th century CE and preserved on the floor of the Greek Orthodox Basilica of Saint George. It is a representation of the Middle East, essentially the Holy Land and Jerusalem. The mosaic was rediscovered in 1884, but the lack of preservation damaged part of it, until the Germans took over conservation in 1965.

We continued our trip and made a stop for lunch at a restaurant / tourist shop in the three-hour ride southwards. The whole morning was rushed because the guide wanted to fit Little Petra | Siq al-Barid [سيق البريد] that afternoon, instead of Wednesday. It is part of the Unesco World Heritage Site of Petra and the Petra Archaeological Park. Little Petra was probably a suburb of Petra. The Nabataean built their desert cities by carving the buildings into the sandstone that made out the walls of the canyons, sometimes carving fantastic façades from top to bottom. One of the most interesting things in Petra are the frescoes found in the Painted Biclinium (dining room), depicting vines, flowers, and other leaves. Other constructions include water cisterns, the real secret of the Nabataean success flourishing in the desert, and the Triclinium. The city was built in the 1st century CE, “found” in 1906 by Père Abel, and excavated by Diana Kirkbride and Brian Byrd in the late 20th century.

Finally, we drove off to our hotel. The manager told us that we were the only group with an arranged dinner at the hotel that night, and he asked us to arrange a dining time for “salad and barbecue”. The salad turned out to be an assemble of Arab snacks and a plateful of barbecue lamb and chicken. Just wow.

In the end, we drove for around 300 km and about five hours, and walked about 6.5 km (10711 steps).