We got up at the crack of dawn on Day 3 of our trek, eating a filling breakfast by the glow of our headlamps while looking up at the mountains surrounding us that we were soon to cross. In the cool morning air, we started ascending steeply (“up, up, up!” as Abu Zaid would repeat throughout the day!) across rocks and small boulders, following a twisting track going high into the mountain.

The lack of sun made it possible for once to pay attention to the ground, noticing the colorful stones usually washed out by the blinding light, and witnessing other forms of life than our own.

Every once in a while we’d take a peak behind us, the views of Wadi Araba becoming more and more rewarding as we climbed higher and the sun started to rise.

We continued up over a high saddle, passing through an artistically lit scrambling path, thanking our guides for having us do this steep section before the sun hits it completely!

We reached the summit about 3 hours after leaving camp and immediately started our walk down to the river valley of Wadi Feid, following a small goat track.

A giant tree half way down was the obvious choice for our morning tea break which had already been considerably delayed due to a lack of a proper spot and decent shade. Getting closer, I suddenly realized the tiny red-brown seeds were actually Juniper berries which I’ve used in the past in my cooking. They’re mainly known to be the primary flavoring in gin (and gave the popular alcohol its name) though in Jordan they’re also used to help with diabetes by boiling the leaves and drinking the infusion.

Reaching the bottom of the valley at midday, we were thrilled to not only find plenty of spots to cool down but also an actual ‘river’ (I should probably say stream here) and our very first tropical jungle as we hunched under thick bamboos and skipped stones over crystal clear water.

Coming up on the other side, we started climbing gently again through a stunning scenery of high orangey sandstone cliffs lining our sides, keeping us cool and offering plenty of gorgeous details to look at as the erosion effects on the stones tickled our imagination.

Abu Zaid was getting more comfortable around us, dancing and swirling his stick in the air while playing his favorite Arabic music on his phone. We soon joined in and had quite a few more dancing gigs with our Bedouin guide in the little time we had left with him…

Once up high over the cliffs, we had another long and very hot walk to reach the camp at Ras el Feid, altitude of 800m. The 4 o’clock sun can be especially grueling when you’ve been walking for so long and are now that much closer to it!

My tent for the night, totally exposed as we would later discover, served as my pre-dinner shelter. I think we all went for cover and a nap after a particularly challenging day, though we all admitted it was the best one so far, the diversity of the landscapes and physical level more than making up for our early wake-up call.

As usual, our cooks prepared a huge and scrumptious dinner which should have knocked us out for the night… but mother nature had something else in mind.

Shortly after calling it a night, the winds started picking up unexpectedly and quite strongly, shaking our tents to the point where I thought they would all lift up. The walls kept flapping in our faces all night so none of us actually got a good night sleep…

We got out of our tents early morning, looking miserable and still battling against gale force winds – it was not going to be an easy start! The morning trek involved some more uphill walk over gentle peaks which felt more like an uphill battle today as the winds slowed us down for the first few hours. Coupled with our total lack of sleep, this was the toughest morning by far. At least the sky was clear and the sun was shining…

Strong desert winds inevitably means sand in the air as well as in your eyes, nose, and lungs. Looks like Abu Zaid had been through this before, we were all jealous of his ingenious attire today!

The landscape suddenly changed from rocky mountaintops to Star Wars look-alike rock formations and the wind eventually died down. We left the trail to have a long lunch break under a big rock and enjoy a much appreciated stillness.

I took the occasion to question Abu Zaid on his tea making prowess, determined to bring new skills home with me and some of that delicious brew. I had already mentioned Jordanians have a sweet tooth and their tea is a clear expression of that. They start by heating water with lots of sugar in the kettle, and when it starts to boil they throw in black tea (mostly ceylon) and let it boil for about two minutes. They then take the kettle off the fire and add a handful of wild sage leaves for extra flavor which they let infused a few minutes more, voila! A fantastic taste, an uplifting beverage and a true representation of wild Jordan… priceless.

We picked up the trail again after lunch which continued to climb gently in an ever-changing scenery.

The washed out and mostly flat rocks soon morphed into the now familiar orangey sandstones of the previous day.

As they got bigger, the rock formations started to resemble what I picture the Cappadocia region to look like in Turkey (another trekking destination on my list) – imposing yet beautiful and almost fairy-like in their shape.

We reached our camp at Shkaret Msei’d, our highest of the week at 1000m, in the mid-afternoon sun with plenty of free time in front of us.

Napping under the sun felt like a real luxury after last night and the giant cliffs surrounding us guaranteed history wouldn’t repeat itself tonight.

We had a really good night under the brightest full moon I can remember, excited with tomorrow’s prospect of getting near Petra and staying at our first Bedouin camp…

We were finally starting our Dana to Petra Trek today, the main reason I decided to come to Jordan. Rated as one of The World’s Best Hikes by the National Geographic, our five-day trek officially began when we arrived at Dana Village after a 3 hours drive south on the Desert Highway from Madaba. This 500 years old village is perched atop the cliffs of a large natural gorge, Wadi Dana, and offers spectacular views over Jordan’s largest nature reserve which we were soon to cross on foot. Covering just over 300 square kilometers, Dana Biosphere Reserve is a system of wadis (valleys) and mountains which extend from the top of the Rift valley where we were standing down 1,600 meters to the desert lowlands of Wadi Araba where we’d later set camp for the night.

We met with our local Bedouin guide in the village, Abu Zaid, and its trek companion, a donkey named Shafi, who were both to lead our way from Dana to Petra for the next four days.

From there we set up on the Wadi Dana Trail and started our 15km hike of the day which would lead us to our camp about 6 hours later.

The trail is an easy one down, passing through sandstone gorges and a rugged landscape of rock formations and dry river beds.

Orange-stained escarpments become more vivid as the daylight fade, casting a warm hue throughout the valley, sparse bushes contrasting in the shade.

About four hours in, we started seeing some hints of humanity, goats herds grazing, the occasional camel…

Sure enough, we soon walked by a Bedouin family camp in the rosy glow of the valley.

A bit further, where the mountains meet the desert, we came across Feynan Ecolodge, an award winning, solar-powered and candlelit property. It is the only accommodation in these parts though we were not staying there tonight…

We kept on walking for another half hour towards a mountain range and took a little break to admire the views before heading to our camp.

We arrived at sunset to our camp in Wadi Feynan and quickly collapsed in our tents, slightly exhausted, immediately after a hurried dinner. We’d leave the fire camp chatter for another day!

Our second day was a very hot one. Essentially seven hours of walking through a stony desert with expansive views of the high mountain ranges to the East…

…and the plains of the vast Wadi Araba Desert to the West.

There was no shade whatsoever and the sun was scorching hot which meant we had to stop about every half hour to drink water. Apparently a trekker from the last group who did this route suffered a heat stroke that day so we were extra careful! We did find a barren tree at some point and made a rest stop with the usual Bedouin tea break, a much appreciated sweet beverage Abu Zaid would prepare for us many times a day.

The views didn’t change much for most of the day so we were quite happy to reach camp a bit earlier today, especially as it was in a great setting, at the foot of the mountains.

We immediately seeked the only shaded spot offered by the Bedouins’ truck to chill out, take our hiking boots off and again enjoy some delicious tea.

We were soon taken by surprise by a family of camels who just happened to pass through our camp, not minding us the least and just slowly going their own way towards the open desert.

They had left the slow one behind who soon made an appearance as well and walked straight through our tea party. It’s definitely the kind of random encounters that I just love and makes this whole living and sleeping outdoors truly worth it.

After the camels left we went back to setting up our tents and enjoying a bit of free time to read, chat, and admire the superb views as the sun was slowly setting.

That magic hour had come where the colours of the desert just burst out, more than any of these pictures could realistically show.

Even Shafi seemed to be affected by the phenomenon…

They had set up candles in paper lanterns around camp for dinner, a truly gorgeous scene as the moon was rising behind.

This time we did hang out a while around the fire, telling tales and filling our bellies with a fantastic lamb pilaf and middle eastern salads and spreads.

Still, we couldn’t linger on for too long as tomorrow was the longest day with a 5:30am wake-up time. Off to bed at a relatively late 8:30pm…!

After the bustle of Amman, we made a pleasant stop in Madaba before getting into the wild. Mainly known for its dozens of fine Byzantine mosaics preserved in its churches and museums, Madaba is usually a very quick stop on most people’s itinerary, tour groups often just hopping off to view the famous mosaic map before rushing out again. They’d be missing on the town’s easy-going vibe, quality craft, and the country’s best restaurant sadly!

There’s enough here to fill a good day and the one place to start is at St George’s Church (aka the Church of the Map).

Step inside to stare at the city’s prime attraction – a Byzantine mosaic map of the Holy Land, its surviving fragments laid out on the floor. Though there’s still much left to be answered like the date of composition and who might have made it, the map is famous for its size and style, depicting the Holy Land with an oblique perspective and city plan/buildings in 3D.

The church is smack in the middle of downtown (which is as you might expect quite small and compact) and the surrounding streets are perfect for gifts shopping, the prices often beating what you’d find in Amman or in rest areas along the road. The village-like feel is a welcome change from Amman’s traffic heavy arteries and the local crafts make for some original souvenirs.

Of course the main craft here is the mosaic which you can see in all shapes and forms, and quality too. Most shops offer demos of the making process (the ‘tree of life’ is a very popular motif) and you might find yourself leaving with a few coasters, a frame for your wall, or even a tabletop which they’ll offer to ship anywhere!

When you’re ready for a bite, dozens of tempting take-out places line the streets downtown, the smell of charred meat wafting through the air.

If you’re in town just for a day though as we were, there’s only one place you should go: Haret Jdoudna. Not only is it the best restaurant in town, it’s rumored to be the best in Jordan and many residents of Amman drive the 20 minutes on weekends to come and eat here. I must concur, it was my best meal of the trip and we even found a way to go back on our return, so amazingly good and simple was the meal. The setting isn’t bad either, you’re sitting in a quiet courtyard between two elegant old houses with trees and parasols, an atmospheric and very pleasant way to enjoy some superb Arabic food.

The house’s Shephard’s Salad was like a Caprese with goat cheese, saltier but still one of my favorite appetizer!

Olives are an integral part of every meal here, even breakfast, and their variety is astounding. We ordered a spicy mix which packed a punch.

Makdous are tiny oil-cured eggplants stuffed with walnuts, red pepper, garlic, olive oil, and salt.

Fatayer are pastry stuffed with meat or spinach.

The charcoal grill could be smelled across the courtyard so we opted for a Mixed Grill as a main to get a taste of the lamb, chicken and kebab – though what we really couldn’t get enough of is the thin crepe-like bread it comes with called Shrak.

And at the end…free dessert!! They brought us a Mohalabieh – a Lebanese milk flan served with candied fig, coconut and warm syrup, light and sweet!

After lunch, there’s still a bit left to see of this small town. The Madaba Museum is worth a quick look just to get a glimpse of former houses and their well preserved mosaics, more complete and I should say more aesthetically pleasing than the map.

While not as famous as St George’s Church and its map, the newly ‘revamped’ St John the Baptist Church is another must-see with a new visitor center showcasing photographs of the founding of modern Madaba. There’s an Acropolis Museum housed in vaulted rooms beneath the church where you can see the shrine to the beheading of Saint John, replicas of significant Madaba-area mosaics, a reproduction of a bedouin tent, etc. What will really make your visit worthwhile though is to climb at the top of the church’s bell tower, the highest vantage point in Madaba, offering a superb panoramic view.

Like in every other city, beautiful mosques adorned the landscape of Madaba, though unlike in Amman, I won’t keep such a nice memory of the ones here. We were leaving the following morning to start our trek, determined despite the excitement to have a good night of sleep, our last one in a comfortable bed for a while… Well, as luck (or lack of!) would have it, our trek was starting on a major Islamic holiday: Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice).

We got woken up painfully at 5:30am by the loud speakers of the nearby mosque blasting unending prayers into our hotel room, non-stop, for two hours! Needless to say they had none of that melodic charm I fell for in Amman and played instead the soundtrack to my sleep-deprived attempt at packing ‘intelligently’ my backpack…

Oh well, 8am finally arrived where we met our trekking group and boarded a mini-bus heading south – next stop: Dana Nature Reserve!

I just returned from a two weeks holiday in Jordan, having luckily missed the wrath of hurricane Sandy over New York City and now facing freezing temperatures which only makes me want to go back right away to this hot, dry, and beautiful country. I had been wanting to visit Jordan for a while now, in part because I knew it not to be highly sought by tourists  and had heard rumors of its stunning natural beauty and hiking potential. Most people have only heard of Petra if anything at all and use it as a quick stopover on a Middle East tour to check it off their list, a huge mistake if you ask me. Two weeks wasn’t nearly enough to cover it and I intend to prove you why with a few good looking posts ahead…

I booked a trekking holiday with a friend taking us through the desert and wilderness of Jordan and stopping at some of the main sites. We had a bit of free time at the beginning and end of our trip and chose to explore the capital, Amman. Often overlooked in favor of noisier and dreamier capitals of the Middle East such as Cairo and Damascus, Amman’s 20th century makeover from a muddy farming village to a buzzing and increasingly modern city is a sight you shouldn’t miss. What it lacks in history it makes up for with a palpable energy coming from its inhabitants: beautiful people and definitely the most warm and hospitable I’ve ever met. Our taxi driver from the airport invited us to dinner at his house and you’re likely to not be able to count the amount of times a Jordanian will invite you for tea. The concept of ‘open house’ is truly felt here like nowhere else.

While I’ll go about some more cultural traits in later posts, I’ve summarized below a few highlights from Amman, sights not to miss and obviously where to get a tasty bite! The main sites could be visited in one busy day but you’d be missing on a lot of the lesser known charms of the city. Two or three days is what I would recommend. Good to know also that the city is built on seven hills (or jabals) so wear comfortable shoes! Another thing to note is that very few places have addresses here, street names having just been introduced to the city surprisingly! Locals rely on main sites nearby to identify a specific place so bring your map along, it’ll help!

For easing yourself in, have a filling breakfast at Blue Fig (Amir Hashem St), located in the upscale area of Abdoun. The global coffeehouse attracts a young clientele of expats and wealthy locals and the ambiance is hip and cool. I usually prefer more authentic places but as a first stop this is a totally relaxed place and you simply have to try their Manaeesh for breakfast, the Lebanese flat bread. You can have it the traditional way topped with Za’atar (a mix of dried herbs, sesame seeds, sumac and salt) or go sweet with cream cheese and honey.

As far as sightseeing goes, Amman doesn’t have that many ruins and historical sites to visit and you can manage them all in just a few hours by heading first thing to Citadel Hill (Jabal al-Qal’a). Take a taxi, it’ll save you from climbing all the way up and they’re super cheap ($2-$5 should get you pretty much anywhere across town). It’s a great way to start your visit as it’s the highest hill in Amman and offers sweeping views of the city.

Apart from being one of the oldest places to be continuously inhabited in the world (there’s an archaeological museum if you want to look at Neolithic artifacts), it sets the stage for two important structures worth wondering around:

The Roman Temple of Hercules (well what is left of it) stands tall at the top of the hill and can be seen from around town.

The huge Umayyad Palace (al-Qasr) was supposedly the residential quarters of  the governor of Amman back in the 700s. Beyond the palace lay a grand plaza with a colonnaded street and ruins of residential buildings, most of which have yet to be excavated.

After taking in the views one last time, you can start making your way down by walking east at the exit of the Citadel for an insight into Amman’s inhabitants. You’ll be going through a quiet residential area, passing by schools and houses with kids running up to you, smiling and shouting ‘Welcome to Jordan!’, a phrase you’ll hear a thousand times while you’re here, with the most genuine smiles you can imagine. They’d pose and ask me to take their picture with my big camera, seemingly happy to play the model for a second.

Heading southwest from the theater, it’s only a short stroll to the Ottoman-style King Hussein Mosque, the heart of downtown Amman as proven by the hustle and bustle around it.

Around the mosque you’ll find numerous colorful markets (souqs) well worth getting lost in for a glimpse into Jordanians’ eating and shopping habits.

All this walking and food gawking will surely have opened your appetite a bit so it’s time for a stop at the legendary Hashem (Al-Amir Mohammed St), the best place in Amman to get your fix of falafel, hummus and fuul (fava-bean paste), since that’s all you’ll get here! There are no huge signs pointing to its location so just look for a bunch of tables spilling into an alley just off King Faisal street, everyone knows it here so they can direct you. The ‘restaurant’ is incredibly popular with locals who flock here for a deliciously filling and dirt cheap meal.

$2.50 will get you some bread, falafel, hummus, fuul and a drink, more than you can ingest and of the freshest quality. You can see your falafels being made in front of you, a machine dropping ping-pong sized balls of the chickpea batter into a fryer. The proper way to eat this feast is to tear off a bit of bread, dip in fuul or hummus, and eat it with a bit of tomato/onion/mint and a falafel – sooo good!

You’ll probably be really full now, but you must leave some space for dessert! A few steps away from Hashem is the sweet shop Habibah (King Hussein street), another legend worth a stopover or at least a takeout. Jordanians have a very sweet tooth, another reason why I like them so much (!), and this place is their holy temple of sugar, syrup, phyllo dough and pistachio. While it would be tempting to try any of the great looking baklavah displayed on the counter, the main reason people come here is for the knafeh – a traditional Arab cheese pastry soaked in sweet syrup and topped with crushed green pistachios. You’ll easily spot it, it’s always going to be in the almost empty tray since they go through them at the speed of light here.

Across the street and going up is the historic area of Jabal Amman (yes, another hill). Time to lose all that hummus and sweet cheese pastry and climb up to this quiet oasis in the middle of downtown, perfect for an afternoon stroll. It used to be the neighborhood of the elite and royalty and its leafy streets are still lined with a few examples of fine villas from the ’20s and ’30s. It’s also a good excuse to witness Amman’s burgeoning arts scene by stopping at the beautiful Nabad art gallery housed in a charming old villa on Uthman bin Affan Street.

A few doors down from the gallery is the striking Wild Jordan centre from the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature. Inside you’ll find info on how to visit Jordan’s nature reserves (we would be starting our trek from one of them in a few days) as well as a nature shop selling crafts made locally and organic herbs/spices grown on the reserves. A great place to do some gift shopping. There’s also an excellent cafe here with one of Amman’s best views from its shaded balcony serving healthy and organic food and smoothies.

Following that same street up after the bend will lead you straight down to Al-Pasha Turkish Baths (Al-Mahmoud Taha St), the perfect pampering after all this hill walking and a must try Middle East experience. It is the most recommended and traditional in the city. You’ll spend about 1.5 hours getting steamed, soaked, showered, steamed again and then scrubbed and massaged in a superb building architecturally made like a traditional Turkish hammam. Evenings are for men and women are allowed only between 10am-4pm every day, reservations highly recommended. It’s worth every minute and penny (costs a mere 25JD so about $35) and you’ll leave refreshed with skin as smooth as a baby’s bum!

Nearby Rainbow Street is lined with shops, cafes and westernized food – clearly the expats epicenter in Amman. There are quite a few attractive buildings along it and hip hangouts to while away the hours. Our favorite, Cantaloupe (10 Rainbow Street), a fairly new gastro-pub, has stunning 360 views of Amman in one of the most relaxing setting I’ve seen. We loved it so much we went back another time to sip a few cocktails as I can hardly think of a better place to watch the sunset over the city.

Sunset is by far the best time to enjoy Amman as it casts everything from the pale buildings to the top of the Citadel with the warmest of glow, truly spectacular. And then if you’re lucky enough to be there during the beautiful call to prayer which echoes from the majestic minarets in a transcending melody…you’re bound to get as awestruck as we were. We both had to film it as we knew words and pictures just wouldn’t be able to describe this moment of intense beauty.

After sundown Amman is still bustling with shoppers and dinner goers who eat relatively late (most restaurants don’t open until 7:30pm).

One last recommendation and this time for a formal dinner: Fakhr El-Din (40 Taha Hussein Street). Located between the 1st and the 2nd circle, behind the Iraqi embassy, this highly praised Lebanese restaurant is set in a gorgeous 1950s villa and is packed every night. The vast menu and exceptional service makes this a real treat for anyone wanting to try fine Lebanese food and the sheer number of choices will leave you scouring the menu for a little while.

As we weren’t extremely hungry (understandable considering the amount of food we’ve been ingesting here!) we opted for a light meal of mezze and starters; a smart choice to try the different traditional offerings and makes for a pretty decently priced meal in such a setting for around $20 each. We had the fattoush salad, artichokes in olive oil, stuffed vine leaves, grilled halloumi cheese, lebanese sausages and complimentary candied figs and apricots for dessert. Every fine restaurant we went to was offering free dessert at the end…definitely liking it here more and more!

Now we’re off, leaving the dynamic city for a 10-day adventure you’ll hear more about in a few days…