A DIWALI VACATION IN JORDAN – AMMAN TO AQABA 20 OCTOBER 2025

The manual transmission Suzuki Alto had been exchanged for an automatic transmission Suzuki Dzire overnight in Amman. That made the 330 km drive to Aqaba smooth and safe. The first views of the Dead Sea were enchanting. The salt fringed rocky outcrops told a story of how dead the sea is. Nowhere was even a blade of grass to be found. There are numerous resorts, hotels and spas fronting the Dead Sea, and more are under construction.

During the drive, which took me more than 5 hours, there were 5 police checkpoints. I was stopped at two. At the first one, the traffic policemen detected that the car permit had expired. They spoke to Auto Nation and issued a challan, which the company would pay. At the second, my passport was thoroughly scrutinized.

One thing must be said of the Jordanian police force - they are civil, polite and extremely friendly. They start with a "How are you, my friend?" to put you at ease. Then they ask, "Where are you from?" and their response to "India" is "Very good". The next query is, "How do you find Jordan, my friend?". When I told them that I found it fascinating, he quickly said, "Thank you. Enjoy, my friend. Be safe".

In Aqaba, after checking into the hotel around noon and resting for a while, I undertook my tour of Aqaba, which is historically a very significant city. I started with the 3rd century Byzantine church ruins, which was discovered in 1998. Built between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century AD makes it slightly older than the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

The Byzantines gave the city of Ayla special attention because of its commercial importance. The presence of the Bishop of Ayla at the Council of Nicaea in 325 testifies that the city was an episcopal centre and confirms its importance. However, in 363 AD, the structure was destroyed by an earthquake; the remains were soon filled in with windblown sand, and buried it. This possibly helped preserve the remains as we see today. At the time of my visit, unfortunately, the site was not open to public viewing.

The establishment of the ancient Islamic city of Ayla dates back to 630 AD when Prophet Muhammad concluded a treaty with the bishop of the Byzantine city of Ailana guaranteeing the safety of the city during the Muslim conquests and its subsequent peaceful inclusion in the Muslim caliphate. Shortly afterwards, a new city was founded on this site and was called Ayla. The town had great fortune, being inhabited during the Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid periods (around 650 to 1100) when it was developed as a strategic trading and defense post.

One of the most striking landmarks in Aqaba and one of the most beautiful and well-known mosques in Jordan is the Sharif Hussein Bin Ali mosque. The Arabic word Sharif literally means 'elected' or 'respectable'. It is a title given to those who were given the responsibility of defending their communities.

It is an honorary title of high value that was also used for Hussein Bin Ali, Sharif and Emir of Mecca from 1908 to 1917, to whom this mosque is dedicated. He declared the beginning of the Great Arab Revolt on 10 June 1916, leading the rebels and organizing the ranks of the army. His mortal remains are interred in the Holy Al Aqsa mosques in Jerusalem in honor of his service to the Arab world to keep outside world from fragmenting them.

The Aqaba Castle, (also known as Mamluk Castle or Aqaba Fort) is a fortress built by the Crusaders in the 12th century. When Saladin recaptured Ayla (ancient Aqaba) in 1187, the fortress was destroyed, only to be rebuilt in the early 16th century under the Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh Al-Ghuri. In July 1916, during the Arab revolt against the Turks, the castle was the site of a historic victory for the rebels, who advanced on camels. On that occasion, the legendary Lawrence of Arabia, a British Captain rode triumphantly from here to Cairo to deliver the good news to General Allenby.

It was thanks to this victory that the port of Aqaba became an important supply base for the advance of the Revolt. In remembrance of these historic events, a plaza was built between the fort and the sea, surrounding the square of the great Arab revolt. At the center of the plaza stands a huge 130-metre-high flagpole (the Aqaba Flagpole) on which the flag of the revolt flies, which later became the model for some national flags of Arab countries, such as that of Jordan itself.

The Aqaba Central Fish Market is a delightful seafood haven that combines the charm of a bustling fish market with the comfort of a restaurant. It is reputed to have the freshest seafood in town at average prices. The menu is difficult to select from. I finally chose to have a shrimp Caesar salad with Turkish coffee.

Past the Aqaba Container Terminal, I drove on to the Aqaba Corniche to watch the sunset. It was special. I watched the sun set in Egypt, across the Red Sea, from the bank of the sea in Jordan. As the sun set, I could see lights coming on in Israel and to my left was Saudi Arabia. A magical moment, indeed.

By the way, the Red Sea is called so primarily because of the seasonal blooms of the reddish-colored algae which can make the water appear reddish-brown. Another theory suggests the name comes from ancient languages where "red" was used to denote the direction "south", just as "black" could mean "north" (referring to the Black Sea).