On our third day in Jordan our trusty cab picked us up at 9:30 and we started off on the drive to the Jordan Valley and the dead sea. The ride takes you up the gorgeous kings Highway, which early on in the trip runs you by
Shobak Castle, an old crusader castle that underwent a famously long siege by our friend
Salah Al Din, you'll remember he's the guy responsible for the citadel in Cairo too. There
were a ton of stone cannonballs left inside and a good portion of it is restored, and then left to crumble again, but for 5 Dinar we got an interesting tour, and it only took us about 2 miles off the main road. We wanted to keep it moving so we passed on one other little crusader castle and made our way up and over the mountains. The road has a lot of switchbacks, and would probably be a lot o
f fun to drive in a souped up convertible with a stick shift. When you reach the top there's a great place to take pictures and a place that sells coffee tea and sodas and provides a much needed bathroom break. On the way down you can see across to Israel, and finally the dead see comes into view. There are a few picture opportunities along the way, and eventually the driver just learned not to bother asking me, of course I wanted to stop to take a picture. We even bumped into the guy who originally picked us up in Amman when we were near the salt crystals, and he set us up to pick us up at the hotel the next day for our ride to the airport. It was perfect. We then pulled into the hotel, where they actually take their security seriously. You should have seen the size of the tire spikes at the front gate, if you got the crazy idea to run through the gate. We weren't quite prepared for the temperatu
re difference between Petra and Sweimeh. When we got to the hotel, the
Jordan Valley Marriott Resort, our room wasn't ready, and we let the hold our bags so we could wander about the grounds. We went down to the dead sea to check it out, and then found ourselves some lunch at the sports bar. The hotel is absolutely amazing, and we once again regretted not booking more time at a place. The pool is gorgeous, and the access to the dead sea is right on the hotel property. Our swim in the dad sea was amazing, and the feeling of buoyancy is stranger than you can possibly imagine. Anything you do makes you bob right up out of the water. The taste seemed saltier than just taking a mouthf
ul of table salt, and trying to swim face down is a futile effort. The buoyancy of the rest of your body pushes your face straight in, and that is not water you want in your eyes. We spent the rest of the afternoon down by the sea shore and at the pool, even taking a few runs down the water slide. We settled on Italian food one more time, avoiding a final buffet, and tried a different Jordanian wine that we didn't enjoy quite as much as the one we'd had in Petra. The desserts however, were absolutely amazing. I ordered a makeup serving of tiramisu that definitely lived up to my expectations, and W ordered a panna cotta that was amazing. We stopped by the really nice lobby bar, and had a couple of drinks to settle in, they pour one heck of a mojito in Jordan it turns out. Saed, our driver, met us in the lobby at seven the last morning, and dropped us off safely at the airport. I managed to get through customs without incident, and we really liked the personal entertainment system and our favorite Jordanian wine on the flight to Frankfurt. Once in Frankfurt we stoppe
d and had a nice, but expensive German meal, with a delicious German beer to go with it. There were some tense moments in the airport since they waited until 15 minutes before departure to give us boarding passes, but they did manage to find us a couple of first class seats for the trip home. That brings us to the end of this adventure, I've been to the library already for the next set of travel books, so it's only a matter of time until the travel itch needs to be scratched again. Here are the full Albums for your enjoyment.
On our third day in Jordan our trusty cab picked us up at 9:30 and we started off on the drive to the Jordan Valley and the dead sea. The ride takes you up the gorgeous kings Highway, which early on in the trip runs you by Shobak Castle, an old crusader castle that underwent a famously long siege by our friend Salah Al Din, you'll remember he's the guy responsible for the citadel in Cairo too. There 
were a ton of stone cannonballs left inside and a good portion of it is restored, and then left to crumble again, but for 5 Dinar we got an interesting tour, and it only took us about 2 miles off the main road. We wanted to keep it moving so we passed on one other little crusader castle and made our way up and over the mountains. The road has a lot of switchbacks, and would probably be a lot o
f fun to drive in a souped up convertible with a stick shift. When you reach the top there's a great place to take pictures and a place that sells coffee tea and sodas and provides a much needed bathroom break. On the way down you can see across to Israel, and finally the dead see comes into view. There are a few picture opportunities along the way, and eventually the driver just learned not to bother asking me, of course I wanted to stop to take a picture. We even bumped into the guy who originally picked us up in Amman when we were near the salt crystals, and he set us up to pick us up at the hotel the next day for our ride to the airport. It was perfect. We then pulled into the hotel, where they actually take their security seriously. You should have seen the size of the tire spikes at the front gate, if you got the crazy idea to run through the gate. We weren't quite prepared for the temperatu
re difference between Petra and Sweimeh. When we got to the hotel, the Jordan Valley Marriott Resort, our room wasn't ready, and we let the hold our bags so we could wander about the grounds. We went down to the dead sea to check it out, and then found ourselves some lunch at the sports bar. The hotel is absolutely amazing, and we once again regretted not booking more time at a place. The pool is gorgeous, and the access to the dead sea is right on the hotel property. Our swim in the dad sea was amazing, and the feeling of buoyancy is stranger than you can possibly imagine. Anything you do makes you bob right up out of the water. The taste seemed saltier than just taking a mouthf
ul of table salt, and trying to swim face down is a futile effort. The buoyancy of the rest of your body pushes your face straight in, and that is not water you want in your eyes. We spent the rest of the afternoon down by the sea shore and at the pool, even taking a few runs down the water slide. We settled on Italian food one more time, avoiding a final buffet, and tried a different Jordanian wine that we didn't enjoy quite as much as the one we'd had in Petra. The desserts however, were absolutely amazing. I ordered a makeup serving of tiramisu that definitely lived up to my expectations, and W ordered a panna cotta that was amazing. We stopped by the really nice lobby bar, and had a couple of drinks to settle in, they pour one heck of a mojito in Jordan it turns out. Saed, our driver, met us in the lobby at seven the last morning, and dropped us off safely at the airport. I managed to get through customs without incident, and we really liked the personal entertainment system and our favorite Jordanian wine on the flight to Frankfurt. Once in Frankfurt we stoppe
d and had a nice, but expensive German meal, with a delicious German beer to go with it. There were some tense moments in the airport since they waited until 15 minutes before departure to give us boarding passes, but they did manage to find us a couple of first class seats for the trip home. That brings us to the end of this adventure, I've been to the library already for the next set of travel books, so it's only a matter of time until the travel itch needs to be scratched again. Here are the full Albums for your enjoyment.
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