Through the Desert castles and into the hot springs

Madaba and surrounding area is rich with activities and so we decided for another day tour. Our journey started south of Madaba at Umm ar-Rasas. It is an archaeological site in the desert, which became UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. On the way to the site we witnessed multiple road blocks due to animal crossing.

The most important part of the site was definitely the largest and perfectly preserved mosaic in Jordan. The mosaic was actually the floor of the Church of St. Stephen. Fortunately, the mosaic floor was protected with roof so we were able to see it.

Beside the mosaic floor we saw a lot of ruins called the desert castles...

And some local inhabitants...

Our excursion continued to hilltop called Machaerus.

According to the Bible this was location where John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded. So we paid entrance fee and started our ascent.

Once we reached top there were not more than some remains of the Machaerus fortress.

Beside the remains we also enjoyed the Dead Sea view.

It was time to move on and refresh ourselves. So we went to to the Ma'in Hot Springs. This is a place with a series of hot mineral springs and waterfalls. Locals claim that these hot springs have many health beneficial effects.

We entered publicly available area. We changed to swimsuits and started to walk towards actual waterfall. Immediately we experienced unpleasant feeling. There were mostly men and everybody were just staring at us. The men started to film and take photos of us. Finally, we were able to go into the water. But taking photos was really difficult.

Every time we brought camera out, there were at least 10 men around the place and they all wanted to be in the picture. Luckily, our driver raised voice several times so we were able to do some quick pictures.

The water was really hot and we were struggling to stay in the water more than several minutes. Beneath the big waterfall there was a cave. The driver told us to go inside and he also said that this is "the natural sauna". Inside the cave was very humid and hot. Water inside were so hot that we could get burns. No wonder why the call it the natual sauna.

After such an unpleasant experience with locals we wanted to go back to Madaba ASAP!

In Madaba we found one really nice restaurant with local food by coincidence. They have special places for eating, where we sat on the cushions on the floor. 

They serve six differently prepared rice with chicken. We ordered all six types and half of chicken. And result was not just rice and chicken but also soup, salat, spicy souce and water.

After we ate as much as we can we understood why cushions are so big...

Definitely we found  the best restaurant in Madaba. Ironically, this restaurant was not even mentioned in Lonely Planet guide.

Greeting from Madaba,

Boris & Jerneja

Canyoning in Wadi Mujib

According to Black Iris hotel´s manager, canyoning in Wadi Mujib was a must-to-do thing. We met two girls, that were also interested in this trip, so we decided to join them.

What is better than starting an adventures day with a delicious breakfast. The hotel offered a diverse choice: falafel, hummus, bread, eggs, biscuits, tea, coffee and even home made fig marmalade.

After breakfast it was time to go. Wadi Mujib is one hour drive away from the hotel. On the way there we had to make a short stop to capture another view of the Dead sea and of course, the Bedouin with his sheep.

As we finally arrived, we bought the tickets and had a short talk about the canyoning that was ahead of us. We found out, that the trip is self guided. The whole canyon is flooded with water. In some places the water is low and you can walk, in other places you have to swim. Therefore, we had to wear life jackets. They told us that the water is very warm and that there is a waterfall at the end of the canyon.

All excited we headed to the adventure. We passed the bridge and we could already caught a glance of the water and the canyon.

It was time to go into the water. To get in, we had to descend the metal stairs. As the water touched our legs, we knew that they were lying - the water was not warm it was cold! It took us a while to get used to the temperature. But it was worth it! The view was spectacular. Just the thought that the water itself carved into the stone and create such a gorgeous sight, left us breathless for a while. We were very lucky, because we were the first ones there.

Enthusiasm grew with every step we took. Soon the water became too deep to walk, so we had to swim. The current was quite strong, so we had to help ourselves with the ropes.

On our way towards the waterfall we faced many obstacles, but we beat them all.

We finally arrived to the waterfall. We were very happy that we made it all the way there.

On the way down we used deep (on some places more than 3 meters) water for the moment of enjoyment.

Greeting from Wadi Mujib,

Jerneja & Boris

420 meters below the sea level

After spending five days in Amman, it felt like we saw everything, so we headed towards Mosaic City of Madaba.



For accommodation we chose Black Iris hotel. The hotel is named after a very unique flower that blooms in spring. It is owned by the local chef, educated in Switzerland. He told us, that he also has a restaurant in Bali. The hotel rightfully holds the reputation of top choice accommodation in Lonely planet. It is very clean, quiet and has reasonable prices. The owner, who works in reception, will arrange and recommend a day tour or a trip worth seeing anywhere in Jordan.

We were impressed by the number of activities he had to offer and we immediately knew, that we wanted to stay here for a while. For our first trip we simultaneously chose The Dead Sea. We are both divers, so we wanted to experience The Dead Sea also below the surface. As we explained our wishes to the manager, he replied: "You crazy people! You can´t dive in The Dead Sea!" It turned out, that diving was possible only from the Israeli side, which is technologically more developed than Jordan. The Dead Sea is 420 meters below the sea level and its 34% salinity and 1.240 kg/L density makes it impossible to swim nor less dive. Diving is possible with special equipment and available only for experienced divers. Needless to say, we were very disappointed, that we couldn´t go diving. We promised ourselves that we will return to The Dead Sea, when we have more experience with diving and for today we will only go "swimming".

It took us less than one hour on a very winding road over the mountain to arrive to the beach. We had to pay an entrance fee, which cowered the access to the sea, shower and swimming in a pool.

The view of the sea was amazing. As we approached the sea, we could already see pieces of salt in the sand. We ran into the water and immediately understood, why it was impossible to swim. The density of the water is so high, that it literally makes you float. And the salinity makes you feel every wound, no matter how little it is. The experience was unforgettable.

Greetings from The Dead Sea,

Jerneja & Boris