The Jordan Diaries 2005: October 29 Day 3.3 Off to the Seaside

The road wound its way out on gently undulating barren looking ground and suddenly a large canyon materialised on the horizon and Sufian explained that we would be descending rather sharply down to the floor and then along towards the Dead Sea. The valley actually is apparently part of the same geological feature known as The Great Rift Valley which originates in Africa.

 The land in the valley floor, by contrast is fertile and a rich farming area, with such diverse crops as grapes, sugar cane, bananas & vegetables. There were also Bedouin-owned flocks of sheep & goats, but few if any cattle.

 Along the highway we passed by the turn off to Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan and Sufian mentioned that although it was only 10 minutes away by car down the side road, it is not accessible by private vehicle as it’s a highly sensitive border area and can only be visited by pre-arranged bus trip, for security & order reasons. SO that was a travellers’ tip, for next time.

                
As we rounded the next bend, we could see the town of Jericho in the distance at the North end of the Dead Sea and Sufian remarked how Jericho had been an important part of his personal history and  how "in the old days before all the troubles" his family used to go there every Friday to pray. 
Soon after that, we were able to clearly see the Dead Sea from the highway, and then had to pass another security checkpoint and once again were waved through on the strength of the politically acceptable Australian passport.

 The Marriott is the first hotel in the strip right after the also new and grand-looking Convention Centre. Its impossible to get into any of these resorts, past the guards at the gate, if your name isn’t on the guest list. 

What an amazing and impressively presented hotel  -  complete with modernist waterfalls either side of the main entrance. The interior is indeed trés chic! Our particular room faced the courtyard swimming pools and overlooked the central vista of the Dead Sea and across to Israel on the far shore. We had our own private balcony and an ensuite graced with a wide variety of Dead Sea bath & beauty products.

JD154 View over the Dead Sea and courtyard area from hotel room balcony at Marriott

JD160 Sea Level indicator at Marriott Dead Sea Resort

 Not wanting to waste a moment we did the quick-change thing and headed off to the beach to finally add a Dead Sea float to our ever-increasing list of experiences. Its just one of those things, you can read all you like, listen to all the traveller tales and see all the movies, but until you actually do it yourself, you cant fully appreciate the amazing sensation of not being able to sink. 
And on the belly, it was rather hard not to go nose –diving, face first. What an experience! We laughed and relaxed and took pictures and marvelled at exactly where we were on the Earth’s surface at this particular moment in time.

JD158 Sculling backwards in the Dead Sea

On the beach there was an attendant with bucket loads of black Dead Sea mud to which people were able to help themselves - a d-i-y mud treatment. It felt totally slimy and squishy and distinctly oily-ish and was actually quite difficult to wash off in the almost as equally as oily-ish Dead Sea water. Fortunately we managed not to get any mud or water in our eyes and avoided the dreadfully painful burning and stinging sensation that stray drops in the eyes can apparently cause. That was one experience we DID want to miss, though it was clear to us that every human must have skin missing off them somewhere without even realising, as every single bare patch or knock & scrape that we didn’t know we had, stung like mad for the first few minutes of exposure.


 We only stayed in the water long enough to feel pleasantly pickled in brine like plump Jordanian black olives and then after a freshwater rinse off at the beach showers, sat in some deck chairs and watched the huge golden sun sink over the far horizons of Israel. Totally amazing feeling! 

One of those moments when you can’t believe that you are actually there and doing what you’re doing, in the amazing place you’re doing it.

JD159 Late afternoon sunset over Dead Sea

On the way back up the terraces to the room, we made it our mission to have a dip in all the pools and a warmish spa to finish off. Finally when it became just that bit too dark we reluctantly called it a day at the Beach and went up for a shower and to change for dinner.

                Decided on trying the rather interesting looking Italian “ristorante” Il Terrazzo for dinner and we hung out on the paved terrace, looking at the lights across the water and sipping on a great Jordanian red – a St George, a delightful not too sweet, not too dry cab-sav ...very palatable.
 The meal was balsamic vinegar, homemade bread, & goats cheese as an entrée with a ‘pollo’ dish for main and of course the irresistible lemon curd tart for dessert. The friendly waiter and the snappy service completed a wonderful evening of dining out in style.