We started out the day in the religious pilgrimage site of Mt. Nebo. Mt Nebo’s most famous citizen is probably Moses–you know that guy from the Bible that parted the Red Sea and wandered the desert for 40 years? Well, he died in Mt Nebo within site of the Promised Land, so he’s buried somewhere there in Mt. Nebo. But no one knows exactly where he’s buried. From where we were, we could see (supposedly) the Holy Land. In fact, we were so close to Israel that we got a welcome to Israel text from Tmobile (just another way that Tmobile has let me down this trip. This is starting to be a theme!)

Anyways, we went to a church there with the most amazingly preserved floor tile mosaics. The building itself is plain, ugly, and quite new (less than 20 years old). It’s actually a Unesco World Heritage Site, our 2nd of the trip. How are these floor mosaics so well preserved? I know the answer!! I was actually listening. So, way back in the day, they made this floor mosaic to represent the circle of life, but it is like hunting, then farming, etc. and not Mufasa holding Baby Simba up over the wildebeest Circle of Life. Then, there was this King who wanted to destroy all religious icons because people were praying to the icons instead of to God. But, the priest in charge of these floor mosaics wanted to protect them– so they built another floor on top of them– with geometric and flower patterns. This was like in the 700s. These floors were just hidden in plain site until 2003. In 2003 they discovered the floor tiles underneath the geometric ones (which are now hanging on the walls.) Hence, you have perfect floor mosaics from the 700s that no one knew about until 20 years ago. Apparently even before that discovery in 2003, this was a special holy site, because of Moses and all, and it even warranted a visit from the Pope. He planted an olive tree. Even though today Jordan is 92% Islamic, it is like the birthplace of Christianity, and chock full of holy sites and churches.

Our next stop was Madaba to see some more mosaic tiles. This one was a map of religious sites– in Jordan, Israel, Syria, and Egypt. This floor tile looks like you would expect something from the 700s to look like– a little worse for the wear– with large chunks of it missing and such. This floor mosaic was badly damaged in the great earthquake of 747. Yes, we are lamenting damage that occurred 1500 years ago, several centuries before the Crusades. Evidently, the Pope used this floor map to determine that Bethany was in Jordan and not in Israel. Maybe he decided that on his Jubilee tour in 2000? That would have been a really busy trip– planting trees at Mt Nebo and settling biblical land disputes all in one trip?! I don’t know how he would have had any spare moments to take selfies.

The mosaics are made of different colors of stones. They ate not colored ceramic tiles which is what I always thought of when I thought of mosaics. So they are all natural colors, but there’s still some blue and green stones out there.

As amazing as all of this is, it is all kinda overshadowed by our evening activity–Petra by night!!! Woo hoo! So for “Petra by night”, you go as far as the Treasury which is where Indiana Jones went searching for the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (by far the best Indiana Jones movie). The path is lit by luminaries. I don’t know how many millions of candles they go through every day or how many people it takes to set them all up because it’s about a mile and a half from the entrance gate to the Treasury. And, well, luminaries are not very bright. thetwinsontour were super glad to have handy little flashlights that they always pack and never need! Anyways there’s millions of people all racing to get there, and thetwinsontour were the only people stopping to take pictures! However, at times it seemed like some of those French people really wanted to take us out for stopping! Or maybe they just couldn’t see us in the dark, but I’m pretty sure they just wanted to knock us over.

Then once you make it to the Treasury, they make everyone sit down. There’s a few rows of folding stools, but most people have to sit on long plastic beach mats. Maybe that’s why everyone was running? So they could sit on a folding camping stool? They light the facade up with colorful lights. We did discover that the blue light was not bright enough for good selfies in the dark. The white and pink seemed to work the best. So there we are sitting on mats over the sand and wiggling around trying to get the best selfie angle without blocking the view for orhers. It is difficult because of people’s big heads and giant IPads held up in the air. There was a mini concert of people playing the flute, but that was not great. They brought around cups of tea for everyone while we “enjoyed” the music, and then a guy came out to tell the history of Petra or something like that. I am really good at ignoring people talking like that, so he could have said anything.

Lots of people got up and left early (CRAZY! Right?) so we were able to squeeze up a bit closer and get different selfie angles. But really, all we had to do was wait a while longer til it was over, and then we were able to stand up and get right next to the Treasury. The proper photographer pose is to hold the flashlight in your right hand directly over your head to lightly illuminate your subject and then hold your phone in the left. Voila! Perfectly lit night picture. Kind of. It takes a lot of practice, for the common person at least, thetwinsontour got this stuff down!

Ok, that’s more than enough about Day 4.

Love,

thetwinsontour

There are no words to describe the joy that is in my heart today! No words to describe the grandeur of what I have experienced. No words to describe the amazing sites I have witnessed today. What could possibly be an awe inspiring you ask? Well, Roman Ruins of course! thetwinsontour LOVE Roman Ruins probably even more than early Black Friday sales at Kohls so that is saying a lot.

Our itinerary said we were visiting a Roman settlement called Jerash. But this is not just any Roman city. This is the largest preserved Roman city outside of Rome! It was huge! I got nearly 10,000 steps just walking around there. And the selfie possibilities were infinite. It is not a Unesco World Heritage site because more than 20% of it has been restored. The French started restoring it back in 1983. And, let me tell you, it was MARVELOUS!

Refer to opening sentence. The end!

Love,

thetwinsontour

PS. On the way back, we stopped at the Royal Automobile Museum. Don’t tell my daddy, but I kind of enjoyed it. It’s mostly cars that have been owned by the King of Jordan since Jordan was founded in 1946. Lots of Rolls-Royce, Mercedes, and Harley Davidson– all restored so that they are in immaculate condition (which seems repetitive to me…. like why would you restore something to less than immaculate?) But there was also some pieces of Jordanian historical significance like the Star Wars Speeder from The Rise of Skywalker which was filmed in Wadi Rum in 2919

Today we stayed in Amman which is the capital of Jordan. As is to be expected, traffic is horrible even though gas is like $8 a gallon.   Anyways our morning was filled with Roman Ruins!  Did you know that thetwinsontour LOVE Roman Ruins?  It’s true, we really, really, really do.  

My cell phone told me that the high today was going to be 66 degrees.  Lies!  Just more ways that Tmobile is leading me astray on this trip. I was walking around the Citadel in my official travel hoodie melting in the heat.  It was so toasty out there in the unrelenting sun that it felt like 85 degrees. But I digress.  We went to the Citadel at the top of the hill.   Our guide said, I’m not going to try to tell you all of the history of Jordan on the first day.  And actually that’s a really good thing because as you know, I would have not listened to most of it anyways. 

There’s a whole lot of history up in the Citadel.  The star attraction is the Temple of Hercules because it’s a Roman Ruin.  At one point, probably when the Romans built it, there was a colossal statue of Hercules.  Probably why they named it for him.  But all that remains is one hand and an elbow.  Based on the size of the hand, this Hercules was even bigger than the one in Rome.  Did you know that Ricky Martin was the Spanish voice for Disney’s version of Hercules.  I guess we should have rewatched that to prepare for Jordan instead of Lawrence of Arabia.   Next to the Roman Ruins are Byzantine ruins–the ruins of a Byzantine Church to be more exact.  And then after that, there’s some ancient Islamic ruins.  I think it was a Palace.  But what I do know is that it suffered the same fate as just about everything magnificent in Jordan–earthquake damage.  Don’t know which one, but it doesn’t really matter.  The building now has a wooden dome instead of the original stone dome. And the wooden dome was built by the Spanish! Way to go Spain! Anyways three different cultural eras and building styles right there on top the hill alongside a cave labeled as being an early Bronze Age cave from 2250 BC.  See what I mean? A whole lotta history going on up there!

And do you know what you can see from the Vista point at the Citadel? A Roman theater! That was our next stop. It is a theater, not an Amphitheater. Amphitheaters are complete circles. Theaters are half circles. This means that they were not used by gladiators. Furthermore, this is a Roman theater built in the Greek style. It was built into the side of a mountain and it has really steep seats and steps. Trust me on the steepness– my thighs are really feeling that workout. Thetwinsontour climbed all the way to the top level– grasping onto every step for dear life as we clawed our way to the top. (As previously proven, thetwinsontour will do quite a lot for the perfect selfie opportunity.) Of course, this was steeper and scarier than being in the 2nd level of the Sprint Center. Thetwinsontour knew a small moment of panic of the thought of getting back down. The Romans should really have installed a zip line or an elevator. Not sure what they were thinking. These steps are steep, narrow, and worn with age in the middle. In short, rather precarious for the nimble footed twinsontour. Have no fear! We made it down safely– just started out on my butt, then climbed down them backwards. One step at a time.

After gorging our eyes on so many glorious ruins, we were off to have typical Jordanian food for lunch. We had falafel, pitas, hummus, and French fries. So, the first thing they did was bring out a giant sheet of plastic and covered the table with it. Then they slammed down some piles of pitas right there on the plastic. To eat like a true Jordanian, you tear the pita bread into pieces and dip it into the hummus. Or you do it like an American and spread the hummus evenly onto the pita. This food was simple and delicious. Now, here comes the genius part. Remember those sheets of plastic? When the meal is over, they don’t come pick up each individual plate and carry it away. Nope, they pile it all up and bundle it up like Santa’s bag of presents. Viola! Table cleaned off in 37 seconds.

Of course, there were still more culinary Delights coming our way. Dessert! Ok, and let me tell you, thetwinsontour could eat this on the daily. It is some kind of rice noodles drenched in honey, dusted in pistachios, and resting on a bed of melty-gooey goat’s milk cheese. Sounds disgusting to American sensibilities (reader you know which one of you I am talking to.) But, believe you me. thetwinsontour know their desserts. thetwinsontour will never steer you wrong when it comes to tasty goodness. And this was soooo good. Unfortunately, I gorged myself on the above-mentioned hummus and was not able to eat all of my dessert. Gasp! I know I must be sick because seriously, what is wrong with me?

Throw in a much needed afternoon nap, and that sums up our day in Jordan.

Love,

thetwinsontour

PS. If you want to see pictures you will have to follow the_twins_on_tour on the Instagram or thetwinsontour on Facebook because as previously stated, I am not paying $40 for more storage space on this blog and Flickr is too much of a pain to deal with while I am sitting in my hotel room.

Today is day 1 of Jordan– aka Country 73. We got to our hotel last night at like 5 pm, had a quick dinner, showered, and crashed for 12 hours. One would think after that restorative sleep, thetwinsontour would be ready– maybe even early– for their first day adventures. Imagine our shock when the tour guide we hired for the day called us at 8:30 asking where we were– we had agreed to a 9:00 am pickup! So, we hurried down to the lobby only to discover it was actually 9:30! T-mobile led us astray! Such a rookie mistake! We are going to spend the next 12 days in a state of constant confusion. ugh.. Evidently Jordan doesn’t participate in Daylight Savings Time, but Tmobile thinks that they do.

Our excursion today was to The Black Desert. It is so called because the sand is covered in Black rocks from a volcano (that I don’t know where is.) We got to see castles, scenery, and nature.

Quasr Al-Harrana: First up was a castle! Okay, so it isn’t a castle, but it looks like one. It was actually an ancient hotel–built in the early 700s, but damaged in the great quake of 747. Yep, that’s correct– 747. It’s been broken for 1200 years. Evidently, it was built for travelers going from Mesopotamia (Iraq) to Syria because there wasn’t really a lot going on in Jordan in the 700s. Travelers would just stay for 1 night, and it was free! You know how thetwinsontour feel about free stuff. This was built during the time Islam was spreading across the Middle East, Northern Africa, and into Spain. The Jordanian Government did some restoration to it in the 1970s when they realized they could make money from tourists.

Quseir Amra: Next “castle” was built as a Royal Retreat for the King, like a weekend house. This was built in the 700s as well. Pretty sure by the same king who built the hotel. It is one of 4 Unesco World Heritage sites in Jordan. So, the interesting thing here is the frescoes. These things are still brightly colored and amazingly intact for something created 1200 years ago. But, that isn’t even the most fascinating part. This king was a rule breaker–a real rebel. Everything painted inside it goes against the rules of Islam. Islam doesn’t believe in paintings. Nor do they allow depictions of humans or animals. But, these paintings feature naked people, hunters, the symbols of the Zodiac, animals, and oddly enough a guitar playing bear. It was amazing! The dry desert air has really helped to preserve it through the millenia. Oh, and there are some mosaic floors in there too which are only found in early Christian churches. Another thing that helped it survive through the years is that it was built in the middle of nowhere. I think its still pretty much in the middle of nowhere. If it were closer to civilization, it would have been looted and torn down.

Shaumari Wildlife Reserve: This is the wildlife portion of our day. There is a building where we were able to see a very friendly Reem Gazelle. This guy is lonely. He actually likes it when you tap on the glass and acts like he wants you to pet him. There were also some Arabian Oryx and some Hobaura Bustard bird things. They are all highly endangered. We opted to add on the optional hour long safari. thetwinsontour live by the motto “never skip a safari.”

So we saw some Arabian Oryx. Pretty sure they went extinct in 1925 in Jordan. They’ve currently got 125 living on the 22 km² reserve with capacity for 150. Since there’s such a small number of them, they’ve got some inbreeding issues, so they imported some from Saudi Arabia too. The above-mentioned Oryx at the visitor center are females that were impregnated with some imported sperm. Oryx are kinda shy and run from the safari jeep. Luckily my phone has a pretty good zoom! Interesting facts: the herd is led by the oldest female, only the alpha male gets to breed with the females (this also contributes to the inbreeding issues), males have darker, thicker horns than females, the head female leads the herd around using “maps” which are like Oryx trails, when they use the “maps” they all follow the oldest female in an orderly single file line. If another male wants to challenge the alpha male and loses, he gets kicked out of the herd for a few weeks. Like, he has to go on a Vision Quest and meditate and practice his skills before he can come back. When you see a solitary oryx, you know he is a Loser with a capital L.

We also got to see some Persian Onager which is part of the donkey family. They are also highly endangered, and 68 call this reserve home. I don’t remember many facts about them. But they were pretty far away from the road and they are also camera shy like the Oryx. In contrast to the oryx, if a male tries to challenge the alpha male, there are no second chances. It is live or die. And there is no escaping. If the losing Onager tries to flee to a life of solitary confinement, the rest of the herd will chase after him and stomp him to death. Evidently, they don’t like losers. Brutal. They are obviously a blood thirsty breed with no sense of humor.

But perhaps the highlight of the tour was when the guide (actually he’s the veterinarian, not a guide) showed us a couple of plants. I have no idea the name of it, but he picked some from the side of the road, rinsed it off with some water, and told us to eat it. It was actually quite tasty, like a salty leaf snack. He said Arabs eat it like potato chips, but the rest of the world uses it in salads. And the best part is we are still alive 6 hours later!

Wow today was a pretty eventful day because we also stopped for a quick photo stop of what our guide called a butchery. It’s actually a restaurant that serves fresh sheep kebabs. How fresh you ask? Well, they’ve all got a couple sheep tied up out front next to a hanging, bloody sheep skin, and a carcas of meat by the grill. Needless to say, we did not eat this because how can you do that when those poor little sheep are standing right next to you. Like do they know how limited their days are? And secondly, I’m not sure about the sanitary measures there and what that would do to my insides.

Quasr Al-Azraq was the last stop of the day. This one is actually a military fort built by the Romans in the first century and was also used by Lawrence of Arabia for one week in 1917. I’m going to tell you a secret. thetwinsontour love Roman Ruins! We do not love the supposedly classic film Lawrence of Arabia though. We tried to prepare for Jordan by watching Lawrence of Arabia, but it is one of the longest, most boring movies ever. Like, all it is is a bunch of men riding camels in the desert. You can fall asleep in the middle of it, wake up, and they are still just riding camels in the desert. And you will fall asleep during it. It’s inevitable. And we only made it through an hour and a half of the 4 hour movie. Big waste of $3.99 rental fee Amazon! They should pay me $3.99 for trying to watch that nonsense. Anyway, Lawrence spent a week here at this fort, but I don’t know if it was in the movie or not. The fort was 2 and 3 stories tall until an earthquake in 1927 reduced it to a single level. I’m probably wrong about this, but it’s one of 3 places in Jordan or maybe the world that still has its original stone doors. Anyways, the pair of stone doors at the entrance weigh one ton each and are fairly easy to push open. The 3 ton door in the back of the soldiers’ barracks doesn’t budge.

And I think that pretty much sums up our first day in Jordan. Tomorrow starts our official tour of Jordan.

Love,

thetwinsontour