Thursday we took off from Petra to head up north, to spend two days in Hammamat Ma'In Hot Springs at a resort. On Hotels.com, it looked like it was close to the Dead Sea.When we arrived later, our local map told a different story.
On our way up, we stopped to check out the Crusader castle at Karak. It was pretty sweet. Turns out the castle was initially built around the time of Jesus (lots of stuff going down in this part of the world at that time, it turns out) and then rebuilt and expanded by subsequent empires including Crusaders and Mamluks. Perched high on a ridiculously steep hill, it's easy to see why Karak was chosen as a site - it's easily defensible. Bonus note: during the Crusader era, they had three ovens: two for bread. This system sounds great (guess who loves carbs?).
Afterwards, we drove on to the Dead Sea Highway, meeting up with it at the very southern tip of the sea. The view was pretty amazing - you just round a bend in the freeway, and then the Dead Sea spreads across the valley below you. It's so blue. The GPS freaked out a little bit (our suicidal GPS, that kept trying to get us lost) because the Dead Sea is the lowest place on land and the shore is about 350 ft BELOW sea level.
Our GPS, the bane of our trip and our attempted killer, told us to make a right off the Dead Sea Highway to get to our next hotel. The road was one lane, and after we passed a hotel and a few houses, got insanely narrow and steep. Jordanian civil engineers have a rather loose understanding of what "acceptable grade" and "manageable turns" are - both Rob and I were totally freaked out as we basically slalomed up a one-lane road with massive potholes, surrounded by boulders and a devastating dropoff. Our little Citroen (never buy a Citroen) ate so much gas...there were points where I was afraid I was going to have to get out and push because we were driving so slowly and the car was barely negotiating the grade. Both of us were being calm to avoid freaking out the other one, which I suppose is good, but when we hit the top we began breathing easier and congratulated each other on surviving (without fighting) another attempt by the GPS to kills us. When we told the guy at the hotel what road we came on, he said, "What? There is no road where you say." Exactly.
We spent two incredible nights at the Evason Resort at Hammamat Ma'In, a spa built onto natural hot springs in a stark desert valley, a lush oasis of green between two cavernous mountains and the Dead Sea visible in the distance down the valley. It reminded me a lot of Palm Springs - same climate, same landscape....just Arab. The resort is SO beautiful, and I'm glad we arranged our trip this way, to cap off a week of scrambling around Amman and Jerash, Roman ruins, Crusader castles, and Petra with a few days of peace, a massage, and lots of time by the pool.
We had a lovely dinner at a (the?) panoramic overlook, and watched the sun set over Israel. The food was really delicious, and it was a beautiful evening. You can tell how high we are by the road and the lights in the photo below, at the bottom of the mountain - so tiny!
On Saturday, we woke up and went for a quick dip in the Dead Sea. It was pretty trippy - you just pop right up, and the salt is so intense that you immediately feel every scratch and bug bite, anywhere there's a cut on your skin, you feel flames. Rob opened his eyes under water, and couldn't see for a few minutes. It's called the Dead Sea because all life dies in it, fish and birds can't survive the intensive salinity. It coats your skin with a weird film, too. However, it was worth the experience, and pretty fun to sit down and just be able to lay back like you're in a pool chair...the Dead Sea takes all the effort out of floating. That song is true, you'll never sink when you are in the Dead Sea. Like how I feel about my loved ones - I never sink when I am with you. You all keep me floating.
(The subject line is from this amazing song by the Lumineers, Dead Sea. You should listen to it.)
On our way up, we stopped to check out the Crusader castle at Karak. It was pretty sweet. Turns out the castle was initially built around the time of Jesus (lots of stuff going down in this part of the world at that time, it turns out) and then rebuilt and expanded by subsequent empires including Crusaders and Mamluks. Perched high on a ridiculously steep hill, it's easy to see why Karak was chosen as a site - it's easily defensible. Bonus note: during the Crusader era, they had three ovens: two for bread. This system sounds great (guess who loves carbs?).
We spent two incredible nights at the Evason Resort at Hammamat Ma'In, a spa built onto natural hot springs in a stark desert valley, a lush oasis of green between two cavernous mountains and the Dead Sea visible in the distance down the valley. It reminded me a lot of Palm Springs - same climate, same landscape....just Arab. The resort is SO beautiful, and I'm glad we arranged our trip this way, to cap off a week of scrambling around Amman and Jerash, Roman ruins, Crusader castles, and Petra with a few days of peace, a massage, and lots of time by the pool.
On Saturday, we woke up and went for a quick dip in the Dead Sea. It was pretty trippy - you just pop right up, and the salt is so intense that you immediately feel every scratch and bug bite, anywhere there's a cut on your skin, you feel flames. Rob opened his eyes under water, and couldn't see for a few minutes. It's called the Dead Sea because all life dies in it, fish and birds can't survive the intensive salinity. It coats your skin with a weird film, too. However, it was worth the experience, and pretty fun to sit down and just be able to lay back like you're in a pool chair...the Dead Sea takes all the effort out of floating. That song is true, you'll never sink when you are in the Dead Sea. Like how I feel about my loved ones - I never sink when I am with you. You all keep me floating.
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| (Dead) Sea salt anyone? Dead Sea Beach |
(The subject line is from this amazing song by the Lumineers, Dead Sea. You should listen to it.)
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