TravelingDad Travel Blog destination, Jordon. Join guest contributor, Brandi Staley and her family on SingleDad. Single Parent travel reviews on SingleDad.com

TravelingDad Blog: Jordon

Author: Guest Contributor, Brandi Stanley

Posted: 05/23/12

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TravelingDad Travel Blog: Jordan

Brandi Stanley & Family

In April 2007, my 60- year old aunt embarked on her first international flight to visit us from Mississippi to Abu Dhabi. Taking advantage of her (surprising) willingness to travel, the children and I decided to also fly to Jordan so that we could explore that incredible country with her.

Our first day in Jordan, we hired a driver to take us to the Roman ruins of Jerash/Gerasa. This was a Roman city that was prominent in the time of Alexander the Great (333 BC), and at one time was likely home to 150,000-200,000 inhabitants. The weather was gorgeous, and the children enjoyed exploring the ruins and climbing onto the old columns. After our visit, we drove further north toward the Sea of Galilee to the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Umm Qais/Gadara. After passing several checkpoints (and thinking that we were actually in Syria!), we climbed the hills to the breathtaking lookout! On our left was the Palestinian Territories and the Sea of Galilee in Israel, and straight ahead were the Golan Heights in Syria. GORGEOUS!

The following day we stayed in Amman. We enjoyed the impressive views of the city from the Citadel. Once again, the children took great pleasure climbing among the ruins!!! The Archaeological Museum was quite interesting, and I learned a great bit about the history of the city. We walked down a set of VERY steep hills from the Citadel to the Amphitheatre. The Amphitheatre was rather impressive as it is cut into the side of a hill and has seating capacity for 6000. As with all amphitheatres, the acoustics were amazing... we could hear the slightest whispers from the bottom even when we were at the very top!!

We concluded our day of sightseeing with a visit to the King Abdullah mosque. My aunt had never been inside a mosque, so I indulged her... We put on the proper abayaa, covered our heads, and then peeped inside the ladies prayer room.

Our third day was an incredible highlight. I was thrilled to show the children places of such Biblical importance. We went to the Jordan River on the Jordan/Israel border to see the site of Jesus's baptism by John the Baptist (Bethany Beyond the Jordan). The site is also widely credited as the place where Elijah ascended to heaven in a whirlwind. The children were most excited about gathering water from the Jordan River to take home with us.

A most unusual and unforgettable experience was our visit to the Dead Sea... I could not stop laughing at myself as I tried to swim around in the water--IMPOSSIBLE! It was like trying to swim on a mattress! There was no way that anyone could sink in that water!!! The children, however, had an experience much less pleasurable.... They both excitedly entered the water, and I thought they were going to love being able to float effortlessly. After about two minutes, they both came out screaming hysterically that their legs were burning. They continued to scream as I rinsed the salt off their legs. Unfortunately, I did not realize that the high salt content would affect them so drastically. Bless their hearts, their bottom halves were red for two days after that!!!

Brandi Stanley in jordon

We stopped in the town of Madaba to see the Byzantine-era mosaics and visit the Church of St. George. The city of Madaba has been inhabited for over 4500 years.... The St. George church contained a mosaic map of the Holy Land that dated 560 AD. It once contained more than two million pieces!! We also visited the Madaba Museum and the Mosaic School. (Scott enjoyed watching the men chip away at the marble pieces to make the intricate mosaic designs.)

One of our favorite experiences was our visit to Mount Nebo... The scenery was incredible, and the site held such importance. From the vantage point, we stood- like Moses- gazing at the Promised Land. Though the children enjoyed the view, Scott was rather disappointed that there was no milk and honey to be seen anywhere!

The next day, we drove south along the historic King's Highway toward Petra, stopping along the way to visit Karak Castle. The castle lies along the route that ancient caravans traveled from Egypt to Syria in the time of the biblical kings, and was also used by the Greeks and Romans. Both children were intrigued with the stories we told them of the Crusader castle of Karak. (Scott, especially, liked hearing how the former inhabitants delighted in torturing the prisoners and throwing them off the walls into the valley.) The children took great pleasure in climbing the structures and going into the dark prisoner cells/dungeons.

After arriving in Petra early evening, we decided to see the ancient city as the sun set. I can't describe how exciting it was to walk through the Siq and admire the towering rock walls of multi-colored sandstone. I felt just like Indiana Jones as he rode through there on his horse in The Last Crusade!!! It was such an adventure peering around each turn hoping to come upon the Treasury! It was nothing short of amazing to gaze upon the incredible structure carved into the rock by the Nabataeans in 100 AD!!!! After the sun had set, we went back to our hotel for the night so that we could begin early in the morning exploring the rest of Petra.

Just like the day before, Petra was just as fascinating for the kids (and for us too!)! Lauren was thrilled to ride the donkeys... Scott loved climbing in and out of the hundreds of caves and climbing onto every mountain of rocks that he could find. I was overwhelmed with the size of Petra... we could have spent a week here and still not seen everything. (I was also shocked to learn that only FIVE percent of Petra has been unearthed!) Later in the day, the kids stayed with my aunt as I made the arduous climb to the Monastery. WOW..... what a hike! However, as with most difficult hikes, the views from the top were incredible!

Our holiday in Jordan was such a surreal experience for me. I know that the children also learned so much from exploring this ancient part of the world. My hope is that they- and I- will always remember the significance of the amazing places we have traveled.