YOUR GUIDE
TO
AQABA
JORDAN

About Me

Hello,

My name is Eszter, but if you find the Hungarian spelling difficult, you can call me ST.

I also have an Arabic name: Om Yasmeen (Mother of Yasmeen), that's how local people call me here.

Online, I also use the nick name I got from a friend while living in Indonesia: EsTeh.

It means 'Ice Tea' in Indonesian. My favourite drink, by the way. (I will tell the recipe of my Special Mint Ice Tea later.)

I've lived in Aqaba since 2005 with my husband and our daughter Yasmeen. Little Attallah (Attila) has joined us in 2010.

How I ended up in Aqaba?

No, I was NOT sold for camels... in case you wondered


I met my husband under the sea. Literally.

In summer 2001, during my first visit to Jordan, I was snorkeling from a boat at the coral reefs called Japanese Garden, when I saw a fellow frogman waving to me.

That's how it started.

Our personal history includes a special guided tour to Wadi Rum - after which we ended up at the Aqaba Police Station with charges of kidnapping me against him...

(Yes, the Jordanian Police really DOES look after the tourists! They were just about sending out a helicopter to rescue me when we got back.)

It was my fault, by the way, I left my mobile in the hotel and that's why I didn' answer when my friends were calling so they phoned the police.

Fortunately I could clear him from the charges and we were set free.

Living at the sea

Growing up in a country without any sea, it was always one of my dreams to live at the seaside.

The fresh breeze, seafood, sunshine, take-it-easy mood...
It was a great change from the yuppie lifestyle I had lived as a property agent leasing shopping centers.

We have been running our new beach hotel and dive center, Darna Village since 2009 at the Red Sea striving to make our guests feel ' at home' in Aqaba.

DARNA in Arabic means 'OUR HOME'.

Why I started this website

Since I moved here I have received tons of questions about Aqaba

• how's the life here,
  
• how much it costs,
  
• what to do here,
  
• how to travel around,
  
• how to find reliable taxi driver,
  
• where to swim,
  
• what to see,
  
• what to buy,
  

... and so on

So I thought the best thing would be to make a website where all information are available at one place.
Of course, as my free time is limited, I can only add and new info and data step-by-step. So please forgive me, if you momentarily don't find what you are looking for. Do not hesitate to contact me with your questions. I will do my best to find the answers for you. And now, if you read until here, you deserve a sip of my Special Mint Ice Tea!.