Day 3: Amman - Desert Castles (Qusair Amra and Qasar Al Azraq) - Madaba
Friday, May 1, 2009
We start the day at 7 in the morning, going down to breakfast at the breakfast room of Toledo Hotel and at 8 o'clock the taxi that took us yesterday to visit Ajlun and Jerash Castle in one day is already waiting for us, to make the tour today for the little known Desert Castles of Jordan until you reach Madaba, one of the best known cities in Jordan thanks to its incredible Mosaic.
A good option is to book this excursion to the Desert Castles and the Dead Sea with a guide in Spanish, where you will be picked up at the Amman hotel.
On the trip we make some rigor stops, and it is that we took 2 days of the trip to Jordan for free, but we have already verified that the taxi drivers stop from time to time to ask for a coffee, swell the wheels ... or any other thing that comes up.
Reach the first Desert Castle, Qusair Amra, it takes us 1.45h from Amman. During the tour we cross totally desert landscapes and pass through the famous “T” shaped road, which leads to Iraq or Saudi Arabia. At all times the taxi driver explains to us what we are seeing and the trip becomes much more interesting.
Jordan road heading to Iraq or Saudi Arabia
The Qusair Amra Castle, where we pay 1 dinar per person, from outside and in the distance it seems much smaller than it really is, something that catches our attention once we visit it inside.
Qusair Amra Desert Castle
After traveling a small path until we reach the entrance we receive a “guide”Which shows us all the facilities and the different frescoes. Really amazing, this visit leaves us with a good taste, since when we included these points in the itinerary we were not very sure that these visits were what we expected.
Fresh from Qusair Amra
When we leave Qusair Amra we meet our taxi driver inside a jaima and he invites us to enter and be there with him for a while. After a few minutes of conversation in English, we discovered that the owner of the jaima speaks a little Spanish, so the thing is encouraged and lengthened by tasting some mint tea with them and exchanging some Jordanian cigarettes for Spaniards.
Enjoying Jordanian hospitality
We spent some time talking with him about the tourist situation, prices and Jordanian culture and after almost an hour we got back on the way to the next of the two Desert Castles of Jordan What will we visit: Qasr Al Azraq, famous because Lawrence lived there for a period of time.
More practical information to prepare your trip to Jordan
- 10 essential places to see in Jordan
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Jordan
It takes us half an hour to arrive and after paying 2 dinars per person, we enter to meet a guide, who as in Qusair Amrala accompanies us on the visit.
As in the rest of the places we have been visiting since we arrived, we did not meet any tourist, something that really amazes us, since Jordan is an impressive country, which is well worth a trip.
The visit to Qasr Al Azraq It lasts about half an hour, including the time left to take pictures.
Qasr Al Azraq
One of the things that impress us most are the castle doors, still preserved today and the ceilings, made of stone, that fit perfectly.
Qasr Al Azraq Gate
After this visit, we have to say that it also leaves us a very good taste, we are heading to Madaba, to the Marian Hotel, where we will stay tonight.
The journey is about 2 hours and in this last section, we stop the Jordanian police, they leave the driver and after talking with him, they ask us, through signs, since they do not speak English, how much does the cab. Once they have this information, they talk to the taxi driver again and again they come to ask us what is our route to confirm that it is true that we come from Amman, passing through the 2 Desert Castles. They talk to the taxi driver again and say goodbye. We assume that they will make these checks to know that taxi drivers meet the prices set or for security for tourists.
Book the best rated Spanish tours and excursions in Amman by travelers:
- Excursion to Amman, Gerasa and Ajlun Castle
- Excursion to Petra
- Excursion to the Desert Castles and Dead Sea
- Excursion to Madaba and Monte Nebo
- Excursion to Bethany and Dead Sea- Many more excursions and tours here
We arrived to Madaba About 1 noon and we meet Bassam, our taxi driver, who will call you, to take us to the Amman airport the day back to Barcelona.
The Marian hotel is in a residential neighborhood, about 10 minutes walk from the famousSt. George's Church.
The hotel is pretty good, we eat there and then go up to the room for a while to rest. We eat kebab again, it seems incredible that the same dish can be so different depending on where we eat it and it seems that it is getting even better.
In the afternoon we take the road to the Church of St. George of Madaba, where we pay 2 dinars per person, to be able to see its mosaic that is definitely spectacular.
This map of Madaba is the oldest cartographic sample in Jerusalem and the Holy Land that you have today.
Madaba Mosaic
We need a while and remember the reproduction that is outside the Church of San Jorge, in order to place all the points.
Madaba mosaic reproduction
The rest of the Church is also very beautiful, with different hanging mosaics and a picture of St. George with the dragon at the entrance.
Interior of the Church of St. George of Madaba
After this visit we walk through the center of Madaba, much quieter and more welcoming than Amman's.
We visited a few souvenir shops and decided that the next day, after the scheduled excursion, we will go shopping.
We stop at the Dardasha cafe, near the church for a drink and enjoy an excellent atmosphere, where they even offer us a laptop to check what we want. Which is quite useful to us, since for the moment with ours we have not been able to connect to any wifi of the hotels in which we have been.
After being there for a while, we had dinner at a restaurant, in front of the church, where there is no Jordanian. Here we are all tourists, but it must be said in honor of the truth, that the food is very good. Something more expensive than what we have been paying so far, but they put quantity and quality.
It's after 9 p.m. when we return to our Madaba hotel and we remind you that we have not talked to the hotel about the excursion we have contracted with the reservation of the room, for the next day to Mount Nebo, Bethany beyond the Jordan and the Dead Sea. We had booked it for 30 dinars and included 1 hour stop at each site, plus 2 hours of travel. To our surprise they did not have it targeted so we have to run to find a taxi that for that price makes us the same route. We are lucky and after a while negotiating we get one that will make us the tour.
Now it's time to rest that tomorrow we have a most complete day again.
Day 4Madaba - Mount Nebo - Bethany beyond the Jordan - Dead Sea - Madaba
