Amman

Amman East, here we come!!!

This city was such a surprise for us. We had some assumptions, but we really didn’t know what to expect from Amman. We had read our Lonely Planet guide book, but nothing truly prepared us for Jordan as a whole, which we found to be a wonderful and awe inspiring place.

Our journey into Amman started with getting to the border from Jerusalem. It was Saturday, the Jewish day of rest, and we needed to cross the west bank, so we had to get a Muslim taxi driver to take us. Luckily, the staff at our hotel were very knowledgeable and gave us a name of a cab company (Abdo Cabs) in the Muslim quarter of the old city that would take us. They were right outside of the Damascus Gate, and we found it easily. We hopped in the cab, after a short wait for other passengers, and headed out through the West Bank to the border crossing. This was an interesting ride, because one always hears on the news how dangerous the Palestinian territories are. We found it to be quite nice, with camels along the highway, and a beautiful desert. It only took us about 30 minutes to get to the border crossing, and we had to go through only one checkpoint.

Crossing the border between Israel and Jordan was another matter. We had heard that it takes a long time, and most of the delays were on the Israeli side, and these hints were absolutely true. Not only did it take us an hour of paperwork, and an hour of waiting on a bus, but we got charged a whopping $40 each to leave the country, as an “exit” tax. We then crossed the Jordan River, which is more like a Jordan Creek, and got to the other side, where were got through immigration and customs in maybe 15 minutes. After haggling with a few taxi drivers, we finally got one to take us to Amman for a reasonable price. We checked into our hotel, dropped our bags and walked out for dinner.

With a recommendation from the hotel staff for a good restaurant, we were seated after arriving and the waiter began by asking us what we wanted to eat. We asked for a menu, but then he told us we probably couldn’t read it. It was all in Arabic. Were not in Kansas anymore! Laura had a slab of lamb on almond covered rice, while Eric had some roasted chicken on rice, stewed okra and carrots and peas, all in a tomato sauce, with Baklava for dessert. It was delicious. We then spent the rest of the night wandering the alleyway shops called “suqs“ and checked out the King Hussein Mosque.

The next day, we caught a bus up to a place called “Jerash,” which was a Greek, then Roman city. Amazingly, there are no bus timetables in Jordan. You just go to the bus station, and when the bus is full, it leaves and another empty one starts filling up. So it is always preferable to find a mostly full bus, rather than an empty one, so your wait time is shorter. An hour after loading ourselves onto a bus filled with locals only, we were up at Jerash. As the pictures will show, it is remarkably well preserved, with an intact forum, colonnaded street, large temples, two theatres, and a hippodrome for chariot races. There were also a number of monumental archways, roads, and other fun stuff. We totally did not expect to find such a large or well preserved site when we set out that morning, but it was a great and wonderful surprise to us and we are super glad we went.

That night we were craving American food, so we went to Tony Roma’s and got ourselves a treat. It was great, and we forgot we weren’t in the US for a bit, with the American ambiance the restaurant provided, which was nice. Afterward, Laura bought a dress in the local style, which covers her from her ankles to wrists, with a high neck. It is beautiful and nice looking though, and surprisingly, she gets more kind compliments from people about it, instead of cold or weird stares.

One of the most surprising and interesting things we found in Amman was how people treated us. Everyone we have spoken to, save for cab drivers, has been extremely hospitable and friendly. Each also seems to know of a better hotel than the one we are staying at, and each offers to take us on a day trip to some other location, for a small fee of course… We get a LOT of attention, with many curious glances and if either of us wear shorts, even long shorts, we get beeped at by car horns constantly, which is different. A lot of people ask us where we are from and welcome us to the country. In fact, we have not gotten a negative response from anyone here. We truly dig Amman. We move on to Petra next. We are super excited about that and are looking forward to more Jordanian hospitality! Enjoy the pictures!!

A camel in the West Bank.

A Hardees in Amman. And its got the "Play Place"!!

Eric in a cab, with some muslim women in the background.

Eric and Laura on the bus to Gerash.

The inside of the bus.

A kid on a typical street in small town Jordan.

A arabian coffee shop by the side of the highway.

We are on our way to Gerash (or Jerash). Spelling Arabic words in English is not an exact science, since the letters don't exactly match up to the sounds. So many names of places have multiple spellings in english.

Laura in front of our bus.

Laura in front of some of the ruins.

Laura and Eric in the Hippodrome.

Laura in front of some discarded carved stones.

Eric, in front of Hadrian's Arch. There is one of these in every roman city, it seems. We saw one in Athens, Rome, amonst other places.

Laura behind the edge of the hippodrome.

Eric, with the ruined city in the distance.

Laura in front of the southern gate to the city.

Eric in front of some columns.

Laura, in a forest of columns, just off the main forum.

Eric, in front of the Cardio Maximus, the main street through town. It is about 1/2 mile long, and collumned the whole way. Pretty cool!

Laura in front of the Temple of Dyonysis..later used as a church.

Laura in front of the Nympheum, the main water fountain in the center of the city.

Eric looking at an ancient Roman signpost.

Eric at the top of the stairs that lead to the Temple of Artemis.

Eric in front of a four legged triumphal arch.

Laura in front of the northern roman theatre. There was also an equally large southern theatre.

Laura, inside the northern theatre.

Laura, overlooking the city. You can see the southern theatre in the distance, just above her head and to the right a bit. The temple of Zeus is just to the left of the theatre.

Eric, in front of the very well preserved Roman forum. You can also see the south gate to the top right of the forum.

Thats all for now folks! Petra is next!

Ma' Salamma!