Indiana Jones

So maybe I went through Israel and Jordan too quick, but I did what I wanted to do and I saw what I wanted to see. Almost everywhere I went, I went with a guided tour. Not only because it is more fun, more interesting, but it is also safer.
After having crossed the border with Jordan at the King Hussein Bridge, we drove on to Jerash, an old Roman city in the North of Jordan, not far from the Syrian Border and close to Jordan's biggest refugee camp, where supposedly 100.000 Syrian refugees live, which is now evolving in a permanent settlement.
Jerash is a beautiful, amazingly preserved Roman city. Even the roads are still there, and if you look closely you can even see the tracks made by the many vending carts embedded in the stone. With only little imagination you can see the lively city that existed centuries ago. Because it was still quite early, there were not many people around. Maybe this had also to do with the sand storm that was getting started. But it wasn't too bad and the pictures you took got a nice orange glow to them #nofilter.
Then we drove to Aman, the capital of Jordan. Now the sand storm was getting bigger and more severe. We went to the old Citadel, but now our vision was limited due to the surrounding sand. So I didn't see much of the Citadel and surrounding Amman.
At last, we went on to Petra, the city everyone came to see. We drove into the night through a desert highway and had dinner at the side of the road. Then we drove on to spend the night in a tent at a Bedouin Camp, just outside the city of Petra.
The next morning we left early for Petra. Only we and the many vendors who wanted you to buy a camel were at the park. During our Last Crusade, we walked an climbed though and over rocks to see the impressive rock-cut architecture of the Nabateans. A feeling of adventure crept over me even more when the cellphone of our guide rang and played the Indiana Jones theme.
Still wondering where all the other tourists were, it was only at the end of our guided tour, when we left the park, that we saw many tour busses arrive. But still there were not as many tourists as usual. Many people are afraid to go to Jordan because of the situation in the region. But I actually felt quite safe in Jordan as well as in Israel.
At first a said Petra was the city in Jordan everybody came to see, and this was also true for myself, but in the hindsight Jerash, the Roman city, was as equally - if not even more- impressive as Petra. Maybe Amman is impressive as well (I'm sure it is), but unfortunately I haven't seen much of the city.
And that's when I went back to Israel to get a glimpse of Masada, the Dead Sea and Haifa.