Tag: home base

Mountain Breeze – Jordan

With all of the movies and television shows coming out to Jordan to film, I can see how people would think that the country is nothing more than a vast dessert landscape. It surprises people when they find out that there is a little bit of diversity to the country, and one of the places that holds this feeling is just an hour drive north of Amman, a tiny resort called Mountain Breeze.

The resort feels more like something that could be found in the mountains of Colorado or Oregon rather than the dry desert landscape of Jordan. There are ten cabins that are comfortably situated on the hillside overlooking the valley below. They each have a big patio, comfortable beds, and nice bathroom. Most of the time, it only takes opening the windows of the cabin, and turning on the ceiling fan to keep them cool, but for on those hot summer days, each unit comes with air conditioning. They are also far enough away from each other to isolate the noise that can be created from other visitors to the resort.

Despite the restaurant, a poolside bar, and a full restaurant on the grounds of the resort, there are many other activities to while away any vacation day. There is a large playground for kids with many swings and things to climb on. They have a paintball arena, and a place to show your ability at archery. You could always choose to relax next to the pool, or dip into the water if things get a little too warm. Mountain Breeze even boasts having a conference room that could easily be converted into a ballroom for your business or marriage needs. Considering that there are only ten cabins on the grounds, none of these places feel very busy, even though for 30JD people can come up from Amman and use the facilities during the day.

If you feel a little adventurous, you can take the quick stroll down to the 500 year old tree where they built a treehouse. The hike itself is not long, taking about only ten to fifteen minutes to get down to the tree. The walk is all downhill, so it does take a little longer to get back, but the end of the voyage is the pool, so a dip in the cool water can always be used as an incentive. The treehouse itself is a nice place for a reprieve. When we went, we were down there by ourselves, and there were plenty of places where we could have picnicked or just sat under the tree to read a book.

Mountain Breeze plays up the American feel of being out in the mountains by adding things like a animal petting park that includes chickens, roosters, and ponies. They even have fire pits out in front of each of the cabins where they will light a fire for you and supply you with a bag of marshmallows. I was a little disappointed that they did not also include graham crackers and chocolate so I could enjoy the whole s’mores experience, but it was still fun to roast marshmallows around a campfire.

The place also boasts a bunch of cats that roam all over the grounds as well. They are wild cats, but like all cats in Jordan, they are also friendly. Of course, you will have to keep a close eye on your food because they will take any opportunity to sneak a bite if you happen to look away, but they also supply great moments while staying at the resort. One night while sitting in the bar, a mother cat kept bringing her baby kittens over to us to show them off. We thought she might be trying to pass them off to us, but when we came over to pet them, she got defensive. It made for a very entertaining evening.

Mountain Breeze is one of those hidden gems that I am surprised took me so long to find while living out here. It is the perfect getaway if you are living in the country because it is dramatically different enough from any other place in the country that it makes you feel like you are no longer in the country. It is also a great place to visit if you are traveling around the country. It is placed nicely in-between a lot of the more exciting places in Jordan that it would make the perfect home base if you found yourself in the region. I loved my time at Mountain Breeze and I hope to make it back out there again before I leave the country.

The Perfect Home Base – Bad Windsheim, Germany

The type of houses that can be found in Bad Windsheim

When we were looking at visiting this part of Germany, we originally thought of staying in Rothenburg because it was the inspiration for coming out here in the first place. The last time we stayed there twelve years ago, the prices were reasonable, and we expected them to be the same this time around, but Christmas happens to be the big time of the year for Rothenburg and the prices jumped up quite considerably. So we started to look for other towns in the area that would be more affordable and came across the sleepy little town of Bad Windsheim. It is on the rail line, and only a forty minute train ride to Rothenburg, and an hour train ride to Nuremberg, so as long as the place was comfortable, it seemed like the perfect place to stay.

An impressive statue outside of a church on the main street through town

What we found was a hidden gem that many people outside of Germany do not know about. It has the same quaint houses that Rothenburg has, and the same cobblestone streets. It even has a Christmas market, just not as big as the other places, but they still sell mulled wine, and have people come to sing and play songs for the people who attend. It even has its own sites with some pretty impressive statues, fountains, and a living museum.

A depiction of the Rapunzel story

They even have a sense of humor that goes along with the traditions and heritage that comes from this part of the world. There were many references to Grimm’s Fairy Tales popping up all over the place, but my favorite had to be the Rapunzel hanging out the window of one of the stores on the main street. They even used Christmas lights to make her hair be seen for miles around at night.

The tree lines walking paths through the park on the northern end of town

On the northern part of town there was a huge walking park with a beautiful green landscape. It was the perfect place to take a walk with huge old trees that were kind of sad to look at in the winter, but I could imagine that it would be a spectacular display of color during the fall. It was even close to some natural baths that were encased in dome, but I never made it all the way over to that place.

A random statue made of wood found in one of the parks in the older part of town

There were a lot of hidden corners in this idyllic small town, and even though it did not boast a medieval well like Rothenburg or the huge Christmas market that Numerberg has, it was still a pleasant place to stay with enough to see to keep us entertained during our time there. Because it was a sleepy little town, most of the sights are restaurants had closed down on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but I think that would be found no matter where you went in Europe on these days. The place we stayed had a nice small kitchen, so were still able to have a nice Christmas dinner even though we were still on the road.

I found it to be the perfect home base for this area. It was close to everything that I wanted to see, and it was not overrun with tourists. Granted, I was there in the winter which was probably a downtime for them, and they could easily see more people during the summer months. Still, it was great for the holiday season, and I am glad that we landed here at the start of our bigger vacation through this part of the world.