The Rough Guide to Jordan (Travel Guide eBook) by Rough Guides

Author:Rough Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Jordan
Publisher: Apa Publications
Published: 2019-07-31T04:57:54+00:00

Getty Images

DANA

The King’s Highway

Madaba

Mount Nebo

Around Madaba

Crossing Wadi Mujib

Karak

South of Karak

Dana

Shobak

The King’s Highway

The King’s Highway – the grandiose translation of an old Hebrew term which probably only meant “main road” – is a long, meandering squiggle of a road running through some of Jordan’s loveliest countryside. It has been the route of north–south trade and the scene of battles since prehistoric times – but today is a simple byway, often rutted and narrow, which follows the contours of the rolling hills above the Dead Sea rift. Major stops include the historic town of Madaba, Crusader castles at Karak and Shobak, and the spectacular Dana Nature Reserve, set in an isolated valley with good facilities for camping and hiking. But the King’s Highway also runs through fields and small towns, linking a series of springs and following the line of maximum hilltop rainfall: travelling on it can give a glimpse of the reality of rural life for many Jordanians.

The King’s Highway is mentioned in the Old Testament: Moses was refused permission to travel on it by the king of Edom. Later, the Nabateans, from their power base in Petra, used it to trade luxury goods between Arabia and Syria. When the Romans annexed the Nabatean kingdom, Emperor Trajan renovated the ancient road to facilitate travel and communications between his regional capital at Bosra, in modern Syria, and Aqaba on the Red Sea coast. Early Christian pilgrims visited a number of sites on and off the road around Madaba, whose beautiful Byzantine mosaics still merit a pilgrimage today. The Crusaders used the highway as the linchpin of their Kingdom of Oultrejourdain, fortifying positions along the road at Karak and Shobak – where extensive remains of castles survive – and also at Petra and Aqaba.

However, with the development by the Ottomans of the faster and more direct Darb al-Hajj (Pilgrimage Route), from Damascus to Medina and Mecca through the desert further east – and the subsequent construction of both the Hejaz Railway and the modern Desert Highway along the same route – the King’s Highway faded in importance. It was only asphalted along its entire length in the 1950s and 1960s.

GETTING AROUND THE KING’S HIGHWAY

Amman to Petra via the King’s Highway is around 280km – but there’s a lot of ups and downs. You can make the whole distance in a day, but if you’re taking it slow the best places to break your trip are at Madaba, where there’s a choice of mid-range family-run hotels, and Dana, which has guesthouses and nature camping. Karak, the most obvious midway stop, is a disappointment, with poor accommodation and the plainest of restaurants.

By car Whether you have a day or a week, the best way to travel is by rental car, since there’s no public transport running the length of the road. Going more or less nonstop, allow 6–7hr for the drive.

By bus All public buses from Amman to towns along the highway start out on the faster but duller Desert Highway and only cut west on feeder roads at the last moment.

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