Welcome to Wadi Musa, Jordan! (and the drive on the Desert Highway)
We arrived in Wadi Musa just before sunset. My Nokia Mini GPS with OVI Maps brought us precisely to the address of our hotel.
We booked at a local Jordanian hotel called Amra Palace and the reason why we booked here was simply about the views. From my research on the net it appears that this is perhaps one of the best hotels in town with a majestic ‘panoramic view’ of the city in the valley so I specifically mentioned in our booking—Please give us a room with a nice view!
I took these fotos below from our hotel room window:
Love the colours of the sky during sunset here. The building in the middle with the glowing light (it is actually blue) is the mosque's minaret. Beyond the mountains and rocks is Petra.
Another angle of the view in the early morning.
And the famous panoramic view of Wadi Musa from this hotel. We are satisfied with our choice.
We stayed at Amra Palace and our hotel room was quite okay, not so big but it is fine.
Trivia: Did you know that Wadi Musa means ‘The Valley of Moses’? And yes, this is the Moses in the Bible who lead the Jews out of slavery from Egypt to Jordan by opening up the Red Sea.
It took us about 3 hour’s drive from Amman (3.5 hours including the traffic to get out) to Wadi Musa, also spelled as Wadi Mousa. The drive could have been shorter but we did a stop at a tank station to buy some drinks and we drove between 90 and 100 KPH. The maximum speed is 110 KPH but the Desert Highway was not really in the best condition, i.e. potholes, rough roads, obviously the highway needs a major upgrade, so for safety (first!) reasons we drove a bit slower than the recommended speed.
The government is currently undergoing a massive road infrastructure upgrade in the towns and cities. Perhaps the highways are next? I hope so.
There are checkpoints (some on a selective basis) on the highways and roads everywhere in Jordan as well. We were stopped once after exiting Desert Highway on the road to Wadi Musa. The police basically asked for the car’s registration papers and my ‘pink paper’ Dutch driver’s license. They were pretty much friendly and dependable , they are simply doing their job, and after checking that everything is in order, they gave us a big smile and a—‘Welcome to Jordan!’ greeting. You will hear this greeting phrase a lot from the locals.
See below some fotos of our Desert Highway ride and a few more of Wadi Musa:
The Desert Highway is the main highway that links Amman and Aqaba in the south.
Sheep and goat herders bring their flock everywhere, even in the middle of the highway =)
The expanse on the Desert Highway (left foto is the highway leading to Wadi Musa). It was a very windy day.
These are the scenes when we finally arrived in the valley.
So now, what to do on the first night in Wadi Musa? Lets find out next...
Travel Period: April 2011
Destination: Wadi Musa, Jordan
We booked at a local Jordanian hotel called Amra Palace and the reason why we booked here was simply about the views. From my research on the net it appears that this is perhaps one of the best hotels in town with a majestic ‘panoramic view’ of the city in the valley so I specifically mentioned in our booking—Please give us a room with a nice view!
I took these fotos below from our hotel room window:
Love the colours of the sky during sunset here. The building in the middle with the glowing light (it is actually blue) is the mosque's minaret. Beyond the mountains and rocks is Petra.Another angle of the view in the early morning.And the famous panoramic view of Wadi Musa from this hotel. We are satisfied with our choice.We stayed at Amra Palace and our hotel room was quite okay, not so big but it is fine.Trivia: Did you know that Wadi Musa means ‘The Valley of Moses’? And yes, this is the Moses in the Bible who lead the Jews out of slavery from Egypt to Jordan by opening up the Red Sea.
It took us about 3 hour’s drive from Amman (3.5 hours including the traffic to get out) to Wadi Musa, also spelled as Wadi Mousa. The drive could have been shorter but we did a stop at a tank station to buy some drinks and we drove between 90 and 100 KPH. The maximum speed is 110 KPH but the Desert Highway was not really in the best condition, i.e. potholes, rough roads, obviously the highway needs a major upgrade, so for safety (first!) reasons we drove a bit slower than the recommended speed.
The government is currently undergoing a massive road infrastructure upgrade in the towns and cities. Perhaps the highways are next? I hope so.
There are checkpoints (some on a selective basis) on the highways and roads everywhere in Jordan as well. We were stopped once after exiting Desert Highway on the road to Wadi Musa. The police basically asked for the car’s registration papers and my ‘pink paper’ Dutch driver’s license. They were pretty much friendly and dependable , they are simply doing their job, and after checking that everything is in order, they gave us a big smile and a—‘Welcome to Jordan!’ greeting. You will hear this greeting phrase a lot from the locals.
See below some fotos of our Desert Highway ride and a few more of Wadi Musa:
The Desert Highway is the main highway that links Amman and Aqaba in the south.Sheep and goat herders bring their flock everywhere, even in the middle of the highway =)The expanse on the Desert Highway (left foto is the highway leading to Wadi Musa). It was a very windy day.These are the scenes when we finally arrived in the valley.So now, what to do on the first night in Wadi Musa? Lets find out next...
Travel Period: April 2011
Destination: Wadi Musa, Jordan
