Tourist Desk
Our tourist desk is available 24-hour. Our staff is always available to taking care of all the details. As most tourist sites are a bit distant from each other, we will be glad to help you planning your trip concerning:
- Maps & brochures
- Transport arrangements
- Local tips and tricks
- Hotels booking & pricing
Reliable and discrete van drivers from the region have been working for Black Iris Hotel for the last 12 years. As a result, we can be sure that our guests will be in good hands while driving around the country.
“We heard about Black Iris Hotel through a friend back home. Even though we already expected special treatment, we still were surprised with Sawalha Family’s warm and close way to deal with guests. They helped us with all the details needed to have a wonderful trip and staying in Petra. It was absolutely perfect!” - Yuli, Bali, Indonesia
Mount Nebo is to the west of Madaba, less than ten kilometres away. Mount Nebo is about 800 metres above sea level, and has Syagha and al Mukhayyat valleys as its two most prominent crests. Pure water springs made the area perfect for habitation since the earliest of times. From Mount Nebo, visitors can watch the West Bank, the Dead Sea and Jordan River on the plateau floor, as well as Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and enjoy the breath taking landscape.
Christians believe that Prophet Moses stood at Mount Nebo, and was forbidden by God to enter the Promised Land. On Mount Nebo, or Pisgah as it appears in the Bible, Prophet Moses was said to have lived out his days and as the legend goes, was finally interred.
At Syagha, above the plains, a chapel was built in honour of Prophet Moses and pilgrims visit it. Franciscans acquired the areas of Nebo, Syagha and el-Mukhayyat in 1934.
Just a five minute walk from the hotel you will find St. George’s Church where the famous Mosaic is located. This famous mosaic was designed around 570 AD to decorate the floor of a Byzantine church in Madaba. The map’s dimention were originally 25 by 5 metres and consisted of more than two million pieces of coloured stone tesserae. Nowadays, its archaeological value is priceless and exceeds that of a geographic text of that era.
Within the folds of the Jordan Valley lies the Dead Sea, more than 400 m below sea level and the lowest point on earth. Rich in minerals that have seeped from adjacent wadis, the Dead Sea, as well as having exceptionally buoyant water, is believed by many to have curative powers.
The nearby waters of Hammamat Ma’in, where a thermal spa has been built, are thought to be similarly imbued. The Dead Sea itself is flanked by mountains to the east and rolling hills of Jerusalem to the west, giving it an almost other – worldly beauty
The ancient city of Petra is one of Jordan’s national treasures and by far its best known tourist attraction. Located about three hours south of Amman, Petra is the legacy of the Nabataens, an industrious Arab people who settled in southern Jordan more than 2000 years ago.
Admired then for its refined culture, massive architecture and ingenious complex of dams and water channels, Petra is now a UNESCO world heritage site that enchants visitors from all corners of the globe and it is now THE NEW SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD.
Much of Petra’s appeal comes from its spectacular setting deep inside a narrow desert gorge. The site is accessed by walking through a kilometer long chasm (or siq), the walls of which soar 200 meters upwards. Petra’s most famous monument, the Treasury, appears dramatically at the end of the siq.
Used in the final sequence of the film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” , the towering facade of the Treasury is only one of myriad archaeological wonders to be explored at Petra.