Wādī Rum to Dead Sea

Today is another hot and sunny day. We headed south towards Aqaba, the only port city of Jordan.

Aqaba is on the Red Sea and is bordered by Saudi Arabia and Israel. We then headed north, following the Israel border. The valley we are in varies between being military lands and watermelon farms. We are constantly passing small transport trucks filled with watermelon. Apparently they like to grow in sandy soil.

When we reach the Dead Sea we first go to visit Bethany, which is where Jesus was baptized.

Around 1 pm we arrived at our final Jordanien destination, the Kempinski Ishtar Hotel on the Dead Sea. We said a sad farewell to our guide George. He truly was a great guide.

The hotels along this strip are huge resorts that require a map to navigate. They also require you to be in good physical condition to navigate the myriad of stairs.

We headed down to enjoy floating in the Dead Sea and the mud baths. You really can’t swim in the Dead Sea as the water is so dense it pushes you to the surface. To try to move from your back to the front is like trying to push a ball under water, it just doesn’t want to go.

What little we had left of the day we enjoyed relaxing at the pool, followed by a wonderful dinner overlooking the Dead Sea and watching the city lights of Jerusalem.