DANA Dana is a village near the town of Tafilah, in central-western Jordan. It is situated on the edge of a large natural gorge, Wadi Dana and enjoys spectacular view over Wadi Araba. Dana is about 500 years old, and preserves many aspects of Jordanian villages of the 19th century villages of Jordan. It hosts Dana nature reserve, one of…
DEAD SEA Without a doubt the world’s most amazing place, the Jordan Rift Valley is a dramatic, beautiful landscape, which at the Dead Sea, is over 400m (1,312 ft.) below sea level. The lowest point on the face of the earth, this vast stretch of water receives a number of incoming rivers, including the River Jordan. Once the waters reach…
JERASH A close second to Petra on the list of favourite destinations in Jordan is the ancient city of Jerash, which boasts an unbroken chain of human occupation dating back more than 6,500 years. Jerash lies on a plain surrounded by hilly wooded areas and fertile basins. Conquered by General Pompey in 63 BC, it came under Roman rule and…
Amman A sprawling city spread over 19 hills, or “jebels,” Amman is the modern – as well as the ancient – capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Known as Rabbath-Ammon during the Iron Age and later as Philadelphia, the ancient city that was once part of the Decapolis league, now boasts a population of around 2.3 million people. Amman,…
ALJUN The marvels of nature and the genius of medieval Arab military architecture have given northern Jordan two of the most important ecological and historical attractions in the Middle East: the sprawling pine forests of the Ajlun-Dibbine area, and the towering Ayyubid castle at Ajlun, which helped defeat the Crusaders eight centuries ago. Ajlun Castle (Qal’at Ar-Rabad) was built by…