On the Road Again
Trip Start
Mar 09, 2010
1
8
Trip End
Mar 22, 2010
Wadi Musa, Jordan
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
First up, Karak. Karak is an ancient Crusader stronghold and sits high above the modern day city. Climbing around the castle provides amazing views of the surrounding countryside. It is said that one of the rulers who lived here, Renauld de Chatillon, would torture prisoners and then throw them off the walls of castle into the valley almost 1500ft below. Looking down from the top of the wall, I imagine it was a horrible way to die.
Back on the road we stopped to take some pictures of the Mujib Canyon and Dana, a small town perched on a ledge overlooking the Dana Nature Reserve. The drive was wonderful and the sights beautiful, but I'm not sure it was worth all the extra money it cost. Live and learn.
There was one highlight to having a driver instead of the bus. We could stop when we wanted to. There is an area in central Jordan where the rare black iris grows. And we happened to be there during the season when it blooms. We were fortunate enough to stop and see some scattered across an otherwise boring landscape. It was a truly beautiful flower.
Once we arrived in Wadi Musa we got settled into our hotel and then headed out for some dinner. Ismael had some lamb kebabs and I ordered the special of the day, gallayah, a stew type dish with tomato, peppers, onion, garlic, and chicken. It was quite delicious.
Then it was back to the hotel for an early night. We wanted to get up early to head to Petra! (That and there was a mosque quite literally outside our window, so I had a feeling we would be getting an early wake up call.)
