Exploring The Ancient Wonders Of Jordan And Egypt's Uncrowded Treasures

In October 2023, our planned holiday to the lands of Israel, Jordan and Egypt looked doomed. As the Hamas strike on Israel and its retaliation played out, our bookings with an agency based out of Tel Aviv seemed buried in the rubbles of war. My extreme tenacity at salvaging the holiday (albeit a truncated one, without Israel) as the agency refused to refund, saw us—me and my partner—flying out in the middle of August 2024 to the land of the Nabataeans and pharaohs.As we landed at the Queen Alia International Airport at Amman, we were soon confronted with some truths about tourism in lands close to a theatre of war. After collecting our baggage, we pretty much found ourselves alone at the arrival hall with most of our fellow travellers having departed. A tall wiry man asked: “You want taxi?” He obviously made out we were uninitiated tourists. We nodded and ensured that the fare to the hotel was the same as what the security personnel had told us at the airport. Outside, the temperature hovered at 32 degree Celsius. He ushered us to an old battered Ford vehicle but told us that we would have to change vehicles. As we dithered, he showed us a picture of a gleaming white sedan in his phone. Utterly confused, we went ahead and sat in the Ford. As he drove out of the airport, a policeman accosted him. He stuffed some currency notes in his hand and drove out. “Business bad, police make it worse,” he announced.As we drove on to the highway, life-size pictures of the king of Jordan and the prince beamed down. Roads were dusty and the landscape barren. No sooner had we driven about a couple of kilometers, we came upon the gleaming white Toyota Prius hybrid. We switched vehicles and were on our way to our hotel. Had the Prius been at the airport, I am sure our taxi man would have had to stuff more notes into the hands of the police. Welcome to Amman!Places to Visit in Amman, JordanUmm QaisOn the first day at Amman we drove out to a quaint, deserted village Umm Qais in north-western Jordan, the site of the Decapolis ruins of Gadara. The village overlooks the placid waters of the Sea of Galilee in the distance with the Golan Heights of Israel, the green farm fields of Palestine, an empty road on no man’s land bordering the hills beyond which lay Syria. Armoured vehicles on the Jordan border kept vigil. The village remained devoid of any visitors apart from us and the officials from the ministry of antiquities. We scrambled along the remains of the Cardo Maximus, the Roman colonnaded north-south street, a half restored Southern Theatre, the Zeus temple and peered into the underground aquaduct that brought water from the sea to the deserts of Jordan.Ajloun CastleThe second stop at Ajloun Castle built by Salauddin, which was part of the defence chain against the Crusaders, had a few visitors. The castle reminded me of the Mughal castle at Aurangabad with its various fortifications including an empty moat, a drawbridge over it, a narrow entrance where supposedly hot oil would be poured over enemies. Indeed, castles across borders seem to have a similar architecture. Salauddin also has a citadel in his name in Cairo. At Ajloun, the most remarkable finds were the Christian mosaics, a lot of which I have seen at the British Museum, too.JerashBut what was breathtaking was the remains of the ancient city of Jerash, the last stop in our day. Accompanied with the muezzin’s call with sun setting over the pink sandstone structures, we entered the ruins through the Hadrian Arch. It has within it the ancient father-daughter temples of Artemis and Zeus, a lengthy Cardus Maximus with its Nymphaeum, a decorated fountain with lion and tiger heads, and the North and South Theatres. Again, we were largely on our own to explore these magnificent ruins. As we exited, a small boy who had accosted us at the Hadrian’s Arch came; we made a small purchase from him. He skipped out with a dollar in his hand, happy to have made a sale.Rainbow StreetIt was not just the small boy; even at the hip district of Rainbow Street in Amman, we heard: “Please come in. Won't you see what we've got?” “The price for this (a curio) is 10 dollars; for you, it will be five.” “Please take it (after a prolonged haggling). This will be our first sale of the day.” Rainbow Street on a weekday evening was abuzz with music floating out of the various pubs and eateries lining the street interspersed with curio shops. A sumptuous meal of kebabs at the upscale Sufra restaurant rejuvenated us after a tiring day.Near our hotel, we tasted the mansaf, Jordan’s signature dish of delicately flavoured rice and lamb wrapped in the finest of bread at Tawaheen al Hawa. Both the restaurants were filled with locals from different social strata, apparent from the clothes they wore. At Tawaheen, one can find women in customary hijab enjoying their night out with hookahs and food. At Sufra, the women were in western attire with no hair covering.Places to Visit Near AmmanPetraOur trip to the Forgotten City of Petra was also marked by the relative absence of tourists. Our guide showed us a picture of a chock-a-bloc Siq in the winter of 2019. The Siq is a natural gorge that opens up dramatically to the Treasury or Al Khazneh, possibly a mausoleum to a Nabataean king, a first century structure. “Things haven’t been the same since COVID-19. And now the war,” he sighed. We ambled our way through the ruins at Petra, stopping at the Street of Facades, High Places of Sacrifice, at the Christian temple with similar mosaics as in Ajloun Castle, with a handful of tourists scattered all over.Wadi RumHowever, the sand dunes of Wadi Rum had hordes of local tourists each trying to outdo the other in climbing up the dunes to reach the heights of the wadi. Both Bollywood and Hollywood’s obsession with the Wadi is documented at the surrounding eateries that have posters from "Bade Miyan Chote Miyan" along with those of "Star Wars," "The Martian," "Zero Dark Thirty", and a host of others.As we drove out to the Wadi from Amman, we stopped at a non-functional but preserved railway station that connected Jordan with Saudi Arabia. We clambered over the old steam engine parked in the middle of the desert on railway lines that disappeared in the sand. The mayor of Aqaba, a nearby oasis town, met us here. Upon learning we are tourists, he pleaded: “Please visit our town, you will love it”. Perhaps, next time, we said.A Detour To EgyptA short flight to Cairo, and we were on the last leg of our holiday. August is a sweltering time in Egypt. While Cairo was mildly hot, Luxor and Aswan were sizzling at 43 degree centigrade. Most of the tourist sites like the Luxor and Karnal temples; the Edfu and Kom Ombo temples dedicated to Horus (eagle-faced God) and Sobek (crocodile-faced God) respectively; and the Aswan dam were empty. However, the pyramids at Giza remained populated with long queues. The old Egyptian Museum is a treat and needs a whole day to look at the treasures of ancient Egyptian civilisation including the riches from the Tomb of Tutankhamun.As we walked along the picturesque promenade in Luxor along the river Nile, we headed to the Winter Palace Hotel where Agatha Christie’s "Death by the Nile" was shot. While we walked, we were constantly solicited by the horse carriage owners. The clip clop of the heels of the horses over the cobbled pathways, along with the faint call of the muezzin with hot air baloons over the Nile, makes Luxor the most Instagrammable spot. “Please take a ride, we will take you to the Luxor bazar for 10 pounds. No? Okay, I will make it seven pounds. No? Five pounds then?”Information | Travelling to Amman, JordanHow to reach Amman from India?Royal Jordanian Airlines have direct flights from New Delhi to Amman.What are some of the best places to stay in Amman?At Amman, consider staying at Ibis Amman. If you're venturing further to Wadi Rum, opt for a stay at bedouin camps. What is the best time to visit Jordan?March to May, and September to NovemberWhat is the exchange rate?At the time of publishing, one Jordanian Dinar (JD) is equivalent to INR 123. One JD is equivalent to USD 1.41. Where to Stay: Best time to travel: October to AprilCurrency: Information | Travelling to EgyptHow to reach Egypt from Jordan?Egypt Air runs a number of flights from Jordan to Cairo.What are some of the best places to stay in Egypt?Egypt has hotels suiting all pockets. What is the best time to visit Egypt?October to April.What is the exchange rate?At the time of publishing, one INR is equivalent to 0.58 EGP (Egyptian Pound). Offbeat Alert: Did You Know About The White Desert Of Egypt?