The "Jordanian approaches circuit" - Day 6 (cont.)

The "Jordanian approaches circuit" - Day 6 (cont.)

Aqaba
The 27th of January 2011

Aqaba town centre is a network of streets and alleys clutered around a junction, where we find  dozens of cafes and restaurants. We ended up having our first  "unarranged" meal around this area and were quite satisfied with both the food and the price.  The "inspiring" titled Ali -Baba was the restaurant we ate at, which was also where we bought a huge variety of delicious little honey dripping cakes and pastry cut squares filled with pistachios and other nut varieties (though I am not so sure whether we'll have any left by the time we get back home ...).

We walked up to the giant flagpole (one of the tallest flagpoles of the world and one of the most identifiable landmarks of Aqaba) soaring above the Great Arab Revolt plaza on the waterfront, not before having passed a long line of  "peculiar"plantations just along the Aqaba beach until we reached the 1320 Mamluke Sultan Khanso al-Ghuri fort, which we visited, followed by the little Museum and the Souk Ayyadi selling some of the nicest  handcrafted textiles, ceramics and jewellery I have seen so far.

We then visited the ruins of the Islamic-period town of Aila to soon find ourselves back at the hotel.

Though most of our colleagues have enjoyed the boat trip we have felt quite happy to just stay around "exploring" the city's atmosphere and relaxing.

We have a long day tomorrow, as we are travelling back to Amman stopping over for the afternoon at the Dead Sea, prior to being "dropped" at the airport. The trip is coming to the end ... and I don't know if I want it to end that soon ...