Amman

One of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, Amman was little more than a forgotten village until 1921, when it became Jordan’s capital. Today, about four million people live in this sprawling, modern metropolis laid out over a series of hills. Considered one of the most liberal cities in the Arab world, Amman offers visitors an enchanting mix of the old and new, with cafés, chic shops, and trendy art galleries sitting alongside ancient mosques, citadels, and relics of civilizations long past. The Citadel, nestled on one of Amman’s original seven hills high above the city, is an open-air museum of many of Jordan’s most celebrated Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic treasures. Civilizations have lived both inside and outside the fortified walls of Amman’s Citadel since time immemorial. An idyllic refuge from the bustle of Amman can be found at Darat Al Funun, a contemporary arts complex that is also home to several restored residences from the 1920s—including the villa where T.E. Lawrence wrote much of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Explore Amman with O.A.T. on:

• Suez Canal Crossing: Israel, Egypt, Jordan & the Red Sea
• Pre Trip:Jordan on Israel: The Holy Land & Timeless Cultures
• Pre Trip:NEW Jordan on New! Egypt & the Eternal Nile by Private, Classic River-Yacht

Wadi Rum

If you wish to literally walk in Lawrence of Arabia’s footsteps, Wadi Rum is where you want to be. This majestic desert canyon is where British officer T. E. Lawrence was based during the Great Arab Revolt of 1917-18—and where he laid out plans to lead an army across the unforgiving desert sands to launch an attack on the coastal town of Aqaba—an idea considered so foolhardy that the Ottoman Turks never even bothered to defend against it. Rising abruptly from the desert plains, Wadi Rum (also called The Valley of the Moon) features breathtaking landscapes of red-ochre sandstone mesas, towering granite cliffs, red dunes, and narrow canyons carved by weather and winds for millennia—and aptly described by Lawrence as “vast, echoing, and God-like.” While many sections of the Jordanian Desert are virtually untouched by humans, nomadic Bedouin tribes with their goat-hair tents still roam the sands, as do populations of Syrian wolf, striped hyena, Nubian ibex, and other small animals.

The landscapes surrounding Wadi Rum can legitimately be described as “otherworldly,” as it is a Hollywood favorite for films that take place on other planets—most recently, Ridley Scott’s The Martian, a movie set on Mars.

Explore Wadi Rum with O.A.T. on:

• Suez Canal Crossing: Israel, Egypt, Jordan & the Red Sea

Petra

Petra’s location—tucked behind a remote desert canyon—kept it hidden from the Western world for some 500 years. To enter Petra, one must journey through a narrow, mile-long cleft in the Earth called the Siq. Looming through the fissure at its end is a magnificent temple carved into the face of a mountain in the first century B.C.—just one of more than 800 structures carved into the sandstone cliffs by the skilled hands of ancient Nabateans. No one really knows what lured the Nabateans to this remote desert locale in the sixth-century B.C., but several hundred years later Petra became a flourishing stopover for trade caravans bearing silks and spices. A series of devastating earthquakes in AD 551 led to the city’s abandonment. Petra eventually faded from memory, until it was “rediscovered” in 1812 by a Swiss adventurer who disguised himself as an Arab pilgrim and persuaded local herdsmen to reveal its location once again to a grateful world. Petra was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 and one of the new Seven Wonders of the World in 2007. Film buffs will also recognize the magnificent entrance to Petra and its Al-Khazneh (Treasury) from the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Author Rose Macaulay perhaps summed Petra up best in her 1953 book Pleasure of Ruins: “If ever a dead city held romance it is Petra … hewn out of ruddy rock in the midst of a mountain wilderness, sumptuous in ornament and savage in environs, poised in wildness like a great carved opal glowing in a desert, this lost caravan city staggers the most experienced traveler.”

Explore Petra with O.A.T. on:

• Suez Canal Crossing: Israel, Egypt, Jordan & the Red Sea
• Pre Trip:Jordan on Israel: The Holy Land & Timeless Cultures
• Pre Trip:NEW Jordan on New! Egypt & the Eternal Nile by Private, Classic River-Yacht

Bethany Beyond the Jordan

Set on the eastern bank of the River Jordan a little over five miles north of the Dead Sea, Bethany Beyond the Jordan is the archaeological site where John the Baptist lived and is said to have baptized Jesus of Nazareth, thus laying the foundations of the early Christian faith. Also known as Al-Maghtas (Arabic for “baptism” or “immersion”), this UNESCO World Heritage Site includes relatively recent excavations of some 20 churches and chapels, hermit caves, and baptismal pools dating from the Roman and Byzantine periods. An important Christian place of pilgrimage, the area is also associated with the ascension of the Prophet Elijah into heaven in the ninth century BC, which is commemorated at a hill called Tell Mar Elias (or St. Elijah’s Hill).

Explore Bethany Beyond the Jordan with O.A.T. on:

• Suez Canal Crossing: Israel, Egypt, Jordan & the Red Sea

Aqaba

This sunny corner of Jordan on the crystal-clear Gulf of Aqaba has it all: sandy beaches, palm trees, warm breezes, colorful coral, and tropical fish. Located at the junctions of major trade routes from Asia, Africa, and Europe, Aqaba boasts some 5,000 years of history. It entered the world stage during World War I when T.E. Lawrence crossed the Negev Desert to capture the then-sleepy town by uniting Arabian Bedouins against the Ottoman Turks. Today, this charming Red Sea resort town also houses several historical treasures, including the 16th-century Aqaba Fort and the remains of the world’s oldest known Christian church. Aqaba is also home to one of the largest freestanding flagpoles in the world. At 430-feet-high, the enormous flag was installed to commemorate the Great Arab Revolt of 1916— and can be seen from Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

Explore Aqaba with O.A.T. on:

• Suez Canal Crossing: Israel, Egypt, Jordan & the Red Sea

Dead Sea

Straddling the borders of Jordan and Israel, the Dead Sea—at almost 1,400 feet below sea level and more than 1,000 feet deep—is the lowest place on the Earth’s surface. The Dead Sea (actually a lake and not a sea) is almost nine times saltier than the ocean, making it pretty much uninhabitable for all plant and animal life (even boats can’t sail on it). But its waters are also extremely rich in minerals. The Dead Sea’s healing properties have been attracting visitors since ancient times, making it one of the world’s first health resorts. It is believed that King David, Herod the Great, and even Cleopatra took rejuvenating dips here. As you can imagine, the water’s high salinity also creates rather unusual buoyancy, something almost all visitors wish to discover for themselves with a refreshing swim.

Explore the Dead Sea with O.A.T. on:

• Suez Canal Crossing: Israel, Egypt, Jordan & the Red Sea