Highlights of Jordan

4nights/5days

Day 1 Amman

On arrival at Amman Airport you will be met by our representative and transferred to your hotel. Dinner and overnight at your hotel

Day 2 Amman City/Jerash/Amman

After breakfast enjoy a morning city tour followed by a visit to the ancient city of Jersah.

Amman is the modern and ancient capital of Jordan, formerly the Ammonite capital city of Rabbath-Ammon, and later the Graeco-Roman city called Philadelphia. Originally spread over seven hills like Rome, Amman now covers at least nineteen hills. It is a city of contrasts, it has a diverse mixture of ancient and the modern. Often referred to as "the white city", the homes of Amman are built on many hillsides and form a great canvas of overlapping beige, ochre and white. The outstanding brilliant white scenario is the result of the white stones of the country used in construction. They are rough - hewn, smooth or lightly veined, and even polished white marble. The city, with its population of over one million, is crowned by the Citadel, a hill with the ruins of the Temple of Hercules, and a museum with artifacts dating back to the earliest settlement in this region some 700,00 years ago. At the foot of the Citadel is the 5,000 seat Roman theatre. Still rapidly growing, Amman is a busy commercial and administrative centre with many fine hotels, night clubs and discos. It boasts very modern facilities for sporting events, conventions and conferences. Enjoy a morning city tour with a visit to the ancient city of Jerash.

There were settlements at the site of Jerash long before it became a major city. Found tools prove that Neolithic man lived here at around 6,000 BC and later Bronze Age and Iron Age villages were constructed. It's emergence as a major city took place in the second century BC, when is was founded by the Romans and became one of the cities of the Dekapolis. Jerash still is a complete Greco-Roman city with three finely carved stone theatres, monumental places, two major hilltop temples, a hippodrome, public fountains, city walls and gates, and colonnaded streets. From the centuries after Rome, Jerash retains a dozen Byzantine churches with their original floor mosaic and some early Islamic buildings.

Dinner and overnight in Amman

Day 3 Amman/Madaba/Mt Nebo/Dead Sea/Kerak/Petra

After breakfast drive along the Kings Highway and onto Madaba and Mt Nebo.

Madaba a favourite stop known as the "City of Mosaics", thirty kilometres south of Amman. It contains some of the finest Byzantine mosaic in the world. A Moabite town, known as Medeba in the Old Testament, has throughout history been a strong Christian influence in the area. Of great historical importance is the large sixth century mosaic map of Palestine and Egypt, representing the oldest map of the Holy Land in existence. Continue to Mount Nebo.

Mount Nebo is only fifteen minutes from Madaba, sacred to the Moslems, the Jews and the Christians. This is where Moses is said to have seen the Holy Land of Palestine which he would never enter, for he died and was buried at Mt. Nebo. The site is eternally dramatic and moving and excavations are still revealing new facts about a spot that has been revered a holy group for the last 1600 years. A truly unique experience is to have refreshment or an evening meal at Mount Nebo with a remarkable view across the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea. With a little luck, on a clear day the spires of Jerusalem are visible in the distance where the sun sets over the hills.The journey then continues to the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea has a historical and spiritual legacy of it's own. It is believed to be the site of five biblical cities: Sodom, Gomorra, Admah, Zeboin and Zoar. Today it's eastern shore is sparsely populated and serenely quiet. With much of the landscape virtually unchanged since biblical times, it is a favourite spot for relaxing and letting nature's power work. For thousands of years the healing powers of the water and the climate are known and sought for. The Egyptians used to make cosmetic products of the minerals and the Romans treated their wounded soldiers there. The Dead Sea lies 392 meters below sea level in the Jordan Valley between Israel and Jordan. The temperatures in winter are around 20° C and 60° C in high summer. The natural pleasant therapy consisting of sun, water, air and rest clears the skin lesions for longer remission periods and avoids the serious side effects caused by other therapeutic regimes. Enjoy a dip in the Dead Sea before driving onto Kerak. The Crusaders were in Jordan for nearly 200 years, leaving two especially spectacular remains at strategic points along the King's Highway - the massive 11th Century fort at Kerak.The defensive walled fortress encompassing tiered vaults, galleries, chapels, cathedrals, living quarters, wells, and fortification walls pierced by narrow arrow slits with virtually everything still intact.Your journey then continues to the Nabatean capital Petra.Dinner and overnight in Petra

Day 4 Petra, the Spectacular Rose-Red City

After breakfast enjoy a 2 hour tour of Petra and in the afternoon just spend time exploring it by yourselves.The 2000 year old Nabatean capital of Petra has been known throughout the world, from its creation, for its architectural splendour. Petra is the legacy of the Nabateans, an industrious Arab people who settled in southern Jordan more than 2,000 years ago. From a hidden staging post, they dominated the trade routes of ancient Arabia, levying tolls and sheltering caravans laden with Indian spices and silks, African ivory, and animal hides. The Nabatean Kingdom endures for centuries, and Petra became widely admired for its refined culture, massive architecture, and ingenious complex of dams and water channels. Ultimately, however, the Roman Emperor Trajan annexed the kingdom, and myriad rulers followed in his wake. By the sixteenth century, Petra was completely lost, and so it remained for almost 300 years. Then in 1812, a Swiss adventurer named Johann Burckhardt persuaded his guide to take him to the site of the rumoured lost city. Secretly making notes and sketches, he wrote, "it seems very probably that the ruins at Wadi Musa are those of ancient Petra". Today Petra is famous for housing one of the most spectacular tourist sites in the world. Carved out of the pink and cinnamon-coloured sandstone of the mountains, Petra contains over 800 monuments. The interplay between the serene beauty of the surrounding nature and the masterful carvings of the Nabateans is truly remarkable and always breath-taking. The city comprises a complete urban infrastructure which includes temples, baths, private houses, high places, paved streets, public buildings, markets, a theatre, reservoirs and cisterns. Its entrance, a one-kilometre-long fissure through the towering cliffs, the "Siq", provides a dramatic approach and induction to the city. The narrow winding path through the canyon dramatically opens up to expose the awesome facade of the el Khazneh, the "Treasury". This monument, used in the final sequence of the film "Indiana Jones and the last Crusade", is Petra´s most famous building. To reach the city the visitor travels on foot, or by horse-drawn carriage through the awesome "Siq". Since 1995 horse riding is only possible between the Tourist Centre and the entrance of the "Siq".Dinner and overnight in Petra

Day 5 Amman/Departure

After breakfast transfer back to Amman Airport for your departure flight.

Our Pilgrimage Tours

Pilgrimage to Israel and Jordan

In the Footsteps of the Holy Family and the Desert Fathers

The Jordan Experience