Passage To Petra - 6 Days

Sunday. Welcome to Jordan and the start of an amazing adventure. Arrive in Amman and enjoy an included transfer to our hotel. The remainder of today is at your leisure.

Amman - Madaba - Mount Nebo - Umm ar Rasas - Petra. Today we tour the citadel and Archaeological Museum of Amman, before we take a walk through the bustling local souk to enjoy typical Jordanian street treats of falafel and hummus at the country’s most popular local street stand. As the pictures on the wall will prove, the unglamorous food stand was a great favourite of the late King Hussein. Leaving Amman we stop first at Mt. Nebo, the site from which Moses saw the Promised Land. Having led the Israelites for 40 years through the wilderness, Moses finally saw them from this breathtaking vantage point. This amazing panorama includes the Jordan River Valley, the Dead Sea, Jericho and the spires and domes of the Mt. of Olives and Bethlehem on the Judean hills just across the wide valley. Later, we visit Madaba en route to Petra where we see the Church of St George, the Madaba Archaeological Park, Apostles Church and Madaba Museum. Our next port of call is Um ar-Rasas, one of Jordan’s World Heritage sites and once an important stop on the busy caravan routes. The impressive mosaic floor of the St. Stephen Church features medallions commemorating all the early Christian pilgrimage sites of the region, and the extensive ruins also include one of the area’s earliest Stylite towers, where a Byzantine hermit lived atop the tower and preached to the pilgrimage visitors. Our final stop of the day is Petra. Consider doing the Petra by Night excursion (approx. USD$25 payable locally) for a tantalizing candlelight stroll through Petra’s Siq…. a romantic preview of things to come.

We begin the day with a walk through the mysterious mile-long Siq, the narrow gorge with towering sandstone walls leads into the ancient capital city of the Nabatean trading empire. Explore the Khazneh (the temple of Indiana Jones fame), Theatre, colonnaded street and museum. After lunch, we climb to ad-Deir (the Monastery), Petra’s largest carved façade. This evening, why not try your hand at our Petra Kitchen Add-on to join fellow travellers for a cuisine course at the local Petra Kitchen, where you help prepare a memorable Jordanian feast.