Jordan 🇯🇴 - Day 1 & 2

I left home on the sunday afternoon, taking a train from Rennes to Paris, then the metro in Paris, then another train to Beauvais, where the little airport I‘m flying from is located.

After a 25 minute bus ride from the station, I got to the airport just after 11pm. I had planned to stay in the airport overnight as my flight was at 6.20 the next morning.

However, to my big surprise, I only found a closed door! I made a rookie mistake and didn’t check the opening times of the airport when planning…

Since I wasn’t particularly keen on freezing outside for 4 hours in 3°C until the airport opened at 3.30, I quickly considered my options and made my way to the nearest hotel, along with some other travellers who made the same mistake, to get a hotel room for the night.

This mistake cost me a bit but on the plus side it allowed me to have 4 hours of proper sleep.

I got up in time to get to the airport for 4.30 and the road there was deserted and foggy, giving it a very gloomy atmosphere.

Inside the terminal, however, a lot of people were already waiting for their flight. There was a huge queue at passport control, most of which was flying to Amman too. They managed to get everyone through in the end and I got onboard just a few minutes before the scheduled departure time.

All this kerfuffle meant we took off 20 minutes late, and a detour over Egypt avoiding the airspace over Israel, Palestine and Syria meant we landed in Amman slightly over an hour late.

I wizzed through passport control, already having an e-visa, and got my first stamp in my French passport!

My mum was waiting for me at the arrivals exit and we took off in the rental car she had booked.

Our first was at Mount Nebu, where Moses is said to have seen the promised land. We got an incredible view over the hills and wadis—dry river beds, sort of like canyons.

After sitting down for a picnic, we continued in the hills, finding nice spots to see, and it did not disappoint.

The horizon was covered by this layer of fog, but the colours that came out when the sun hid behind it were magical.

Another thing that struck me was the amount of stray cats and dogs—they’re everywhere!—and the pollution.

Everywhere you go, you will see either plastic bags or used bottles of water or any other kind of waste, even in the fields.

After the sunset, we headed back to the city of Madaba we drove through on our way out. It’s the most christian city in Jordan, and it really reflects in the shops available: there are many more liquor stores or women’s clothes shops than in, say Amman.

This was my first experience of a jordanian city. It’s very lively, a lot of things happening at all times. Everyone is also very friendly, people will come talk to you very easily, oftentimes starting with a classic “Where are you from?” (I suppose we don’t look very local 😄).

While walking around, we stopped in front of a mosaic shop where someone was working on a piece to look at the artworks on display, and he very quickly invited us in and started explaining his work and the creation process. He was a very nice guy and even had us try making some mosaic!

After that we headed back to the car, where a street food vendor had parked his stall, so we got a couple corn cobs before leaving.

We then got to the airport to pick up my brother Jonathan and headed to Amman where we were staying for the night.

The next morning was a bit of a lie-in, with a breakfast/lunch on the rooftop terrace, with a stunning view over the city and the citadel on the mountain opposite.

After eating we went for a wander around Amman.

The downtown part of Amman is very lively too, with plenty of shops, kind of sorted into areas: the clothes shops, the sewing shops, the jewellery shops, the food places…

In the evening, we sat down for a very meaty dinner with some american friends.

We finish our day out in the souq, where we found some food for the next days, then headed back to the accommodation.