Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Escorted tour to Israel

southeastern

We have not completed the trip report, but the following is the Jordan portion:

We recently returned from a very interesting trip to Israel and Jordan with OAT. It was Israel : Natural Wonders and Timeless Cultures trip with the pre-trip extension to Jordan. While we won't go into full detail on he trip, we will try to give the highlights. It was our first OAT trip, after having done 8 Grand Circle trips. We will be giving both the positive and negative on the trip, but overall it was a great trip that we would not have wanted to miss.

On February 29, 2008 (Day 1)we left for Jordan. Our flight from Boston were on British Air connecting in London to Amman, arriving on March 1 (day 4). Although the departures were late from both cities, we arrived on time on both flights. We were met by an OAT rep. The luggage of one of the women on the tour did not make it. Due to the time spent waiting for it and filling out the paperwork, we were late arriving at the hotel, and technically arrived after the restaurant had closed, but it was no problem, as they kept the buffet open for us. The hotel was the Imperial Palace Amman, although somewhat dated, it was quite comfortable with nightly piano music in the lobby lounge.

On March 2 (day3), at breakfast, we met the rest of the group of eight doing the extension, One of them was also missing his luggage. He had come on Air France, so it is not just British Air. The group consisted of two couples, two men traveling alone and two women traveling alone, ranging in age from their early sixties to mid eighties. After breakfast, we met our trip leader, Mr. Sabatini, in the lobby lounge, having met our driver Ata the night before on the trip from the airport. At this point we went over the housekeeping issues and the itinerary for the extension. We then departed for a city tour of Amman. The city was a study in contrasts, with ancient ruins, largely uncontrolled colorless older development, pre-1980, modern controlled development and palaces. The city was clean from a litter standpoint, but was gritty due to the th desert environment and construction. Traffic was heavy but kept moving, largely due to a large number of traffic police. We stopped for an excellent lunch at the Windmill Restaurant and returned to the hotel in the mid-afternoon to recover from our travel. Dinner was again a buffet in the hotel..

On March 3 (day 4), breakfast was again a buffet. It was foggy on drizzly so Mr. Sabatini decided to go to Ajlun Castle first and then to Jerash, as we would be more exposed to the weather in Jerash. This proved to be a good choice, although visibility from the castle was non-existent, normally you could see the Jordan River and Israel. We then back to Jerash, where we had an excellent buffet lunch, and toured this huge archaeological site, with Greek and Roman elements. We returned to the hotel in the late afternoon. That evening we had a home hosted dinner at an Eastern Orthodox home. As there were so few of us, we were paired with a group of six that were on an extension of Capetown to Cairo. It was a very interesting dinner with everyone comparing notes on the trips.

On March 4 (day 5), after breakfast, we departed for Petra, with stops in Mabada to see both ancient and modern mosaics, Mt. Nebo, where Moses died and was buried ,and a Dead Sea beach resort for lunch (again buffet) and swimming the the Dead Sea. That evening we arrived at our Petra hotel, the Petra Panorama. The hotel was on the edge of a cliff, spilling down the cliff a la Santorini, with large rooms, huge balconies and a great sunset view. Again, it was a buffet dinner in the hotel.

On March 5 (day 6), we visited Petra. Total walking is about 6 miles, ｽ mile from the entrance to the start of the Siq, the slot canyon that leads down to the Treasury and the rest of Petra. 1 ｽ miles in he Siq to the treasury and about 1 mile to the museum and restaurant. We had a buffet dinner at the restaurant. The trip in is moderately down hill, and the trip out is moderately up hill. There are alternatives to walking. Horseback rides are available from the entrance to the beginning of the Siq. Buggy rides are available from the entrance to the Treasury, about $30.00 round trip for two, and camel and donkey rides were available within Petra. Walking through the Siq is amazing with unbelievable photo-ops, especially as the Treasury comes into view. Petra predates Greek and Roman times in the area, but there are some Roman ruins in Petra that came after the Nabateans. This is a site not to be missed. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at little Petra, which is where caravans actually stopped, with hotels and kitchens carved out of the stone. That evening, we again had a buffet dinner at the hotel.

On March 6 (day 7), we had an early buffet breakfast, and got box lunches for the bus, as we departed for Israel. On the way to he border, we stopped for a break at a rest stop for our last Jordanian shopping opportunity and to answer the call of nature. At the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge border crossing, we said goodbye to Mr. Sabatini at the last Jordanian checkpoint, and Ata drove us to the first Israeli checkpoint. At this point, the Jordan River is so small that it was difficult to spot it crossing the bridge. At the Israeli checkpoint, an immigration officer greeted us at the bus and led us into immigration control. At 10:00AM we were basically alone entering the country. There was little or no visible security. We had hoped not to have our passports stamped by Israel to avoid future problems, depending on where we might want to travel, but they did not want to accommodate us, saying that they needed a supervisor who was not there. So they stamped the passports. The immigration process was much quicker than most countries. As soon as we cleared, our trip leader Eitan Arad was waiting for us. The bus was basically identical to our Jordanian bus, a Toyota mini-bus, which was comfortable for 8 in Jordan, but would prove very cramped in Israel, with 16 people, including 4 six footers. We then stopped at a road side rest, which we welcomed, as a place to stretch our legs after the ride, until it became apparent that they intended to keep us us there until it was time to pick up the rest of the group at Ben Gurion at 3:30. After some complaints, Eitan agreed to take us to Tel Aviv and return for the rest afterwards. On the way, he voiced his unhappiness that he could not visit Jericho, which is in the West Bank, under Palestinian control. He then pointed out a “so-called” Jewish settlement in the West Bank, indicating that the Arabs weren't using he land, so why shouldn't we take it. These were the attitudes that pervaded the trip. We arrived at our hotel in Tel Aviv, the Prima Tel Aviv, and found it a block from the beach in a very convenient location. We met the rest of the group at dinner, three couples and two women traveling alone, ranging from their fifties to the seventies. Overall, it was a very compatible group.

Hopefully your questions will prompt us to compete this trip report. I think that there was an extra blank in our earlier Email address, The correct address is [email protected].

After returning we voiced our dissatisfaction with the Israel trip leader and the bus in Israel and received an apology and a credit toward future travel.

A few comments on the Israel part of the trip. At no point did we feel in any danger, including travels into the West bank. Foreign tourists get no security guards, while Israeli groups have armed guards with them. The day starting on the Mount of Olives and continuing down into Jerusalem through the Garden of Gethsemane and following the way of the cross was fairly strenuous with much downhill walking and stairs in the old city.

Again we will be glad to answer any questions, and hope to complete the trip report and a blog to incorporate pictures.

Jack and Ann Donoghu