Middle-aged flash packers

We were all very sorry to leave Zero Four not least because we suspected that our next accommodation would be a lot more basic. The dogs will forever more rue our departing as Jan’s leftover fajitas will have seemed like mana from heaven.

On our agenda for our travel day to Al Namteh Lodge were stops at Salt Beach and Karak Castle.

Salt beach is one of many areas along side the Dead Sea where the salt has crystallised and formed weird and wonderful shapes. The private beaches scrape all the salt crystals away so that guests don’t cut themselves on them.

Salt beach has a path you can follow down to the sea which makes life a bit easier, but don’t even think about walking on the beach without shoes – your feet will be cut to shreds. As it was, even with shoes on, we hobbled our way down and back again, very wary of falling. Worth seeing though; mini stalactites hang off the edges of the sand and crystals cover pieces of wood and even rubbish. Talking about rubbish, it’s everywhere in Jordan. It’s a huge problem.

Next, Karak Castle. A crusader castle, built in 1142 and added to over the years, it sat on the crossroads of two important trade routes. In 1183, Saladin nabbed it and it remained under his dynasty for some time until Mamluk, the sultan of Egypt captured it. After that, all manner of people from all over the place took it over until 1921 when it came under Jordanian control.

We had a nice wander around it,finished off with a freshly squeezed pomegranate juice at the restaurant where we parked our car. Brave of me I feel as I’m pretty sure the last one I had was the runny bot culprit.

We arrived at Al Namteh Lodge about 4.30pm. I was a bit nervous about this one, as we had originally all decided on a different hotel which was nearer to Dana where the hikes are. However we switched to Al Namteh because of reviews complaining of construction noise.

Thankfully the lodge is very pleasant and our lovely host upgraded J and N to the super deluxe room and us to a deluxe one. Both have fab views of the countryside and J and N have the longest sofa I have ever seen!

Natch, drinkies were held in their palatial room where we finalised tomorrow’s plans.

We booked dinner at the hotel which was delicious. Just as well as the nearest “town” didn’t look chock full of nice eateries and now we’ve gone all super-deluxe, only the best for us.

Afterwards, we chatted to our host, hotel staff and the other guests over mint and sage tea.

A super-deluxe day.

Quite enjoying this Jordanian lark.