Jordan The Place
Jordan is a 20th-century creation, carved out of the heart of the Middle East in the aftermath of World War I. For a small country it has a large number of interesting sights. The most outstanding of these is undoubtedly the Nabataean city of Petra, but there are also the ruins of a host of important Greco-Roman cities, such as Jarash, 7th-century Omayyad palaces, the pink canyons of Wadi Rum and the superb Red Sea coral reefs of Aqaba.
Distances in Jordan are short, so a little of everything can be sampled in a week. However, there is plenty to fill a longer stay (Petra alone could fill four days), especially if you would also like to visit the hot springs at Himma, wallow in therapeutic mud at the Dead Sea or visit some of the great biblical sites of this remarkable and uncommercialised country.