We flew from Moscow to Amman, in Jordan. We arrived at night and went straight to our hotel in the center of town, a decadent place but with a super friendly staff.
We had a room with fan only and we spent a tough night in the intense heat. It is definitely not a good idea to visit this side of the world during summer; temperatures can be around 35-40 degrees in the afternoon. Just killing! But we woke up late and went around the city, walking through the alleys of the center, visiting the Roman Theater and the Citadel, where you have a nice view across the city. Amman has its own charm and looks like a city from the desert, with all the buildings in a dry sand color. One afternoon and we could see everything!

The next day we went by local bus to Jerash, a small city north of Amman where you find the best preserved Roman ruins in the Middle East. We went early to avoid the intense heat and the place was completely empty, which gave us a delightful walk through the ruins. After 3 hours visiting we returned to Amman by shared car (common practice there).

On Thursday night our friend Mara Quici, who lives in Dubai, came to visit us and the next day we all went together to Petra, one of the seven wonders of the world. Petra is simply stunning! Even after all the great historical sites we visited we were still astonished with it. The place is huge, full of caves and monuments carved directly into the stone and the walk through the siq in between the huge mountains of stone to the famous “Treasury”, the symbol of Petra, was very interesting.

We walked two days through the place and we made long and tiring walks under the killing sun, but it was worth it. On Saturday night Mara already had to leave to return to work. It was a short visit, but very good. We loved it!

One day we did the “Petra by Night”, an evening walk around the site all illuminated by candlelight, with Bedouin music and tea. It was very nice to see the site lit by the candles.