After our first proper day exploring the ancient lost Kingdom of Petra in Jordan (also see our second post here from when we visited the ancient Monastery in Petra), we decided to spend the next day exploring even more of Jordan by venturing up north towards the Dead Sea.
Except, instead of just heading straight up there, we decided to take a bit of a meandering route up there and stop off at some incredible spots along the way.
To get around, we actually hired a driver via our hotel as that just seemed like the most sensible option.
The price was actually quite reasonable and on top of that, we had our friend, Georgia, with us so it meant that costs would be shared between 3 and so even financially, it made more sense than trying to figure out any other way to get around.
We started off at Shobak Castle, which is not too far from Wadi Musa.
Wadi Musa, by the way, is the town where Petra is.
Shobak Castle is also referred to as Montreal and dates back to the year 1115 so it’s quite an amazing historical spot to check out in Jordan.
We didn’t spend too long there before heading to our next stop, the city of Madaba.
The thing we were looking for specifically in Madaba is a famous mosaic map, aptly called “The Madaba Map” which is located in the church of Saint George.
The Madaba map depicts what is now Jordan and the countries all around it and is one of the oldest maps doing so.
It dates back to the year 542 making it almost 1,500 years old so understandably it reflects what the area would have looked like back then and not what it looks like in present day.
Leaving Madaba we headed further north up to Mount Nebo which is mentioned in the Bible as the place where Moses was shown the promised land.
Mount Nebo is also where Moses died, making this spot an important pilgrimage site for Christians, Muslims and Jews from all over the world.
On clear days you can see right into Israel and Palestine as well as the Dead Sea from Mount Nebo.
Now, at the very top of Mount Nebo, you’ll find Syagha or Siyagha (depending on who you speak to), which is home to the remains of a Byzantine church.
This is one of the things you can miss out when you’re here as it has these incredibly ancient mosaics adoring the church walls.
This church is believe to have existed as far back as the year 394 and again is another important historical spot to visit in Jordan.
Carrying on from there we made our way over to the Dead Sea and it is actually the most surreal feeling when you step foot in the water there.
For the uninitanted, the Dead Sea is one of the lowest point on earth and the working theory around its formation (in simple terms) is that it used to be part of the ocean but eventually got cut off due to tectonic activity.
Over time, it then evaporated making it more and more salty (the water evaporates without any of the salt) and is now almost 10 times as salty as the ocean.
This saltiness is why you can float in here without making any effort.
Also, another famous thing here is the mud you get from the Dead Sea.
It’s supposed to be really good for your skin and to be honest, it does feel like that when you use it.
Like your skin feels noticeable softer.
Understandably, there’s now huge demand for this mud all over the world.
Leaving the Dead Sea, we started to make our way back to Petra but in a different route to the way we actually arrived, travelling instead this time, along the shore line of the Dead Sea.
The landscape down that route is absolutely fascinating and we had to get out of the car several times just to stop and take it all in properly.
And the journey back just got even more special as the sun set and before long, we were back in Petra, ready to finally visit this ancient lost city at night.
It’s literally called Petra at night and there’s a whole candlelit performance there and everything.
I’ll share all of that in the next post – including our visit to the perhaps lesser known ‘Little Petra’.
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