Jerusalem, Israel: Time for another travel day. Today I am heading over the border from Jordan into Israel. There are only four crossing points between the two countries and I will be using the one at the Allenby / King Hussein Bridge (name depends on whom you ask / are talking to). It is supposed to be possible to get a taxi in Amman to the bridge and then cross the border. From what I have read online the crossing can be a bit of an ordeal with intense questioning at the Israeli border and processing taking several hours. Also, the key pieces of advice seem to be: 1. Leave early (Strike 1 – I am leaving at noon). 2. Don’t cross on the weekend (Strike 2 – Today is Sunday). Yay planning!!!
It took longer than I expected to find a taxi, but I eventually found one. After getting in the taxi and setting out I came to realize that I may have found the only taxi driver in Amman who is unaware that his country shares a border with Israel and that there is a bridge called the King Hussein bridge that crosses that border. Because he did not speak much English (but, hey, his English was still WAY better than my Arabic – I can kind of say “Hello” and “Thank You” ), he decided to call a friend of his who did speak English so he could figure out where I wanted to go. After that conversation all seemed good and away we sped.
Except, about five minutes later he was on the phone again, this time to his dispatcher. I was handed the phone, talked to the dispatcher, and confirmed everything and the dispatcher then spoke with the driver in Arabic. Off we go!
Until, about five minutes later I was handed the phone again and greeted with “Amman police, 911. What is your emergency?”……”Ummmmm,….., not really an emergency. My taxi driver does not seem to know how to get to the Allenby / King Hussein Bridge.” “Ok, we will call you back on this line in about five minutes from a non-emergency number.”
Bear in mind, that throughout all of this he also had my phone with Google Maps running with turn by turn directions showing the route. Anyway, he spoke with the police and then we continued on without further incident. Overall my experience with taxi drivers in Jordan was pretty hit or miss. Either very knowledgable and knew where to go, or seemed like this was their first time driving a cab.
As we drove through on towards the Dead Sea valley we passed quite close to Mount Nebo. This is the mountain from which Moses saw the Promised Land after leading his people for forty years in the dessert. For those of you who did not see the earlier post on the Dead Sea it looks kind of like this:
Upon seeing this, if I were Moses, I would have replied, “Really? I think I saw places nicer than this about twenty years ago. Why couldn’t we have stopped there?”
Upon nearing the border all taxis have to stop and passengers walk the last quarter mile to the border control point on the Jordan side. From there it is a lot of walking along a dusty road, going from window to window in an office to get an exit approval, pay an exit tax, and get your passport taken for stamping. We then boarded a bus for the actual border crossing and had our passports returned.
There were two more checkpoints on the bridge and then we arrived at Israeli customs. Despite the stories I had read online this was about as onerous as going through customs at Logan Airport. Show passport, get bags X-rayed, and leave. I was actually surprised at how light the process was. From there it was a taxi ride into Jerusalem and settling into my new home for the week.
The apartment I am renting this week is small. But, it is also cheap.
Apologies for not cleaning up since I knew I was going to have company over.
The only other major activity for the day was to find my way to the bar where I will be watching the Super Bowl. According to the map it is about a 15 minute walk away. I passed through a large market area on my way there, so that will have to get explored in the future. It was pretty easy to find the bar and the game will start at 1:30 AM local time. I was shocked to hear that this is their busiest night of the year and that I should show up at least an hour and a half before the game.
Time for a nap before heading out for the game.