Qasr Kharana: a perfectly square Umayyad caravan-meeting-house in the eastern desert
Built before November 24, 710 CE — the inscription is dated to the day. A 35-metre square fortress with 60 rooms around a central courtyard…
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Mukawir (Machaerus): the Hasmonean fortress where Salome danced and John the Baptist died
On a 1,100-metre hilltop above the Dead Sea, Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus built a desert fortress in 90 BCE. Herod rebuilt it. Accordi…
The Cedar Pride wreck, Aqaba: a Lebanese cargo ship scuttled at 25 metres
A 74-metre cargo ship that caught fire in 1982, was towed to Aqaba, and scuttled in 1985 as an artificial reef. Now lies on its port side a…
Getting around Jordan by JETT bus: routes, fares, and the booking-day reality
Jordan's main intercity bus operator runs the routes that matter — Amman to Petra, Wadi Rum, Aqaba, Jerash. Air-conditioned, reliable, and …
The Irbid archaeology museums: two collections at Yarmouk University, plus Tell Irbid itself
Two of the best regional archaeology museums in Jordan are on a single university campus 70 km north of Amman — the Museum of Jordanian Her…
Beidha: the 9,000-year-old village 3 km north of Petra
Three kilometres north of the Petra gate is one of the earliest villages with permanent stone architecture in the Levant — older than the p…
Little Petra (Siq al-Barid): the free Nabataean stop most visitors skip
Eight kilometres north of the main Petra gate sits a smaller, free, near-empty Nabataean caravan suburb — and the only Painted Biclinium in…
Spring birding at Azraq: a migration stopover for African-Eurasian flyway
March-April brings migrating waterfowl, harriers, eagles, and warblers to the Azraq Wetland — a critical stopover on the African-Eurasian f…
The RSCN guided conservation tour at Dana: how Jordan saved its biggest reserve
The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature runs guided ecology tours through the Dana Biosphere Reserve — the four climate zones, the…
The C-130 Hercules wreck, Aqaba: a 30-metre military cargo plane scuttled at 16 m for divers
In 2017, the Royal Jordanian Air Force scuttled a decommissioned C-130 Hercules transport plane in Aqaba's Underwater Military Museum. Now …
