Bethan Staton

Stacked in a bright courtyard in the wadi of downtown Amman, curving hills of watermelons formed a topographical map. Onlookers stopped to pose for photos, tapping the fruits to check their ripeness, as excited children ran between the stacks.

The Seashell is a resort with grand ambitions. Its villas, apartments, pools and bars have room for several hundred guests, and its domed roofs and arched balconies look across the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia. Every morning, the sunrise fills the mountainous coastline with reddish gold light that spills across the Gulf onto expansive white sand beaches.