The first full day in Jordan was a little roadtrip around the area near Amman. Stop one was in a town called Madaba, where we visited the St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church to see an old floor tile mosaic depicting a map of the region. This was followed by delicious freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, which I suggested be the next type of machinery Nick’s parents purchase for the Iowa homestead.

Post pomegranate juice we journeyed to Mount Nebo. This provides a nice view of the surrounding areas, has an old church with mosaics, and is the place of Moses’s death. The views were nice and there was even an olive tree that had been planted by the Pope.

Continuing on our religious theme the next stop was the Baptism Site of Jesus Christ at the River Jordan. We could only visit via a guided group tour. They loaded us onto a bus and shuttled us closer to baptism site for a walking tour. Overall it was a good tour, but there were equal stops in gift shops as there were other places to look at. The original site of the Baptism no longer has water in it due to the river changing its flow. Everyone got the opportunity to dip something into the actual river later, so I opted to dip our wedding bands. We enjoyed a simple lunch at Cattleya Restaurant overlooking the Dead Sea.

The last stop of the day was a swim at the Dead Sea. We opted to do this at a hotel rather than on the side of the road, but both options have their pros and cons. The hotel was nice because it had plenty of amenities and a bar the four of us had a drink at while watching the sunset. Swimming in the Dead Sea was unlike anything we’ve experienced before. We could sit fully upright legs crossed, stand upright as if we were touching bottom but it was just water, float on our bellies or back with no effort, etc. It was a blast trying all the different ways we could float.

I let curiosity get the best of me and tried tasting one single drop of the sea water and I can tell you it is not worth it. That water is so salty that one drop is the most disgusting and repulsive thing I have done to my taste buds. After a swim we all got to put on the mud. After this dried we got to swim again to rinse off, and this was followed by an exfoliation with the Dead Sea salt. A rinse in the shower finalized the experience followed by sunset cocktails/mocktails/and wine.

The second full day was another loaded road trip sight seeing some other areas that were recommended to us. One of the best intact Roman City ruins in the world is in Jerash, Jordan. The four of us walked around all the different areas for a few hours and we were all impressed by the scale. There were theaters, a spot for horse racing, arches, original roads, goats grazing, sleepy cats, and a band playing bag pipes in one of the theaters. We had a simple burger lunch at the Cheesy Grill, which is nearby the ruins. The waiter seemed pretty excited we were there and took our photo with the food, so maybe that’ll appear on their google maps page soon.

Next stop was visiting the Ajloun Castle. We got to go inside and walk all levels. There was a neat view and many rooms. Later we did a short hike called Roe Deer Trail, in the Ajloun Forest Nature Reserve. There were many poppies and a nice view of the nearby town. Our night ended with yet another fabulous dinner, this time at another restaurant near our hotel: the Levant Restaurant, which serves Armenian food.