Saturday October 3, 2015 – Amman, Ajlun, and Jerash - Jordan

Saturday October 3, 2015 – Amman, Ajlun, and Jerash - Jordan

We awoke at 6:30 and got ready.  We had breakfast in the lobby café.  We met Firas at 8:30 and he had brought our city tour guide, Abdullah.  Abdullah was more of a character than Firas and the banter between them was so funny.

We drove through Amman and Abdullah gave us a good commentary.  Our first stop was at the Citadel overlooking the “seven hills of Amman”.  There are 9 million people in Jordan and 3 million of them live in Amman.  Abdullah pointed out a refugee camp where Palestinians moved when they had to leave Israel.  There apparently are refugee camps all over.  The Syrians now have 2 million people in refugee camps near the border to the north and east from Amman.

Looking out on one of the seven hills of Amman

The Citadel in Amman

Panorama of part of Amman from the Citadel

Roman ruins at the Citadel

A large amphitheater in Amman

Everyone was so friendly and welcoming during our visit.  They depend on tourism and we didn’t feel unsafe at all.

At the Citadel we went through a museum with lots of artifacts from diggings.  Abdullah pointed out how the city grew and expanded.

Ancient mosaics

Anthropoid coffins - several people were buried in each

Beautiful carvings

 

We got back in the car and headed north to Ajlun.  Firas is from Ajlun and he has 12 siblings. He knew the town intimately.  We stopped and Firas got some hot bread that must have been 24” in diameter.  Then Firas stopped at a roadside stand and bought some fresh figs and grapes.  The fruits are so, so fresh and good.

Views of Ajlun Castle

Abdullah holding our partially eaten bread - it was so good and hot!

It was about 24' in diameter!!

 

Our first stop in Ajlun was the Ajlun Castle.  It was high up on a hill overlooking the valleys below and surrounding mountains.  You can see into Israel from here.  We explored the castle and went to the top.  There was a small museum inside with displays.

Aljun Castle

Castle entrance

Interesting passageways throughout

Beautiful lighting and

Many wonderfully restored rooms inside the Ajlun Castle

Panorama from the top of Ajlun Castle

We then headed to Jerash and what a treat we had there.  Hadrian’s gate was the entrance into an unbelievably huge archeological site.  Columns, plazas, temples, etc.  It is recorded that Jesus changed water into wine at one of these temples.  There was a large hippodrome and an amphitheatre.  Several retired soldiers were playing a bagpipe and drums in the amphitheatre.  This was a highlight of our trip.

Hadrian's Arch at the entrance to Jerash

Standing in front of Hadrian's Arch

Abdullah explaining the hippodrome where 10,000 spectators watched sporting events

One of many gates in Jerash

Panorama of the grand plaza

The plaza was huge - a large crossroads in the ancient city

Ruins on a temple in Jerash

Entrance to the old market area

The temple where it is reported that Jesus changed water into wine

Another large temple - one of the attendants showed us how the columns move in the wind

View of the central plaza from above

The amphitheater and former army members who play a bagpipe and drums

Enjoying the scenery and music in the amphitheater

View of the amphitheater from above

We returned to the car and went to a restaurant in Jerash for lunch about 2:30.  Seems that everyone eats lunch late and also dinner (9 – 9:30).  We had a meal similar to last night but they gave us 3 huge pieces of flat bread.  We had olives, carrots, pickles, hummus, eggplant, mixed grill and a dish with goat cheese.  We ended the meal with grapes and mint tea.  It was filling and yummy.

Our bread at lunch was only half the size but still delicious

A huge lunch - most dishes eaten with the fingers and a piece of bread

It took us about an hour to get back to Amman.  We bade farewell to Abdullah and made plans with Firas to meet him tomorrow.  We both needed a short nap and then took some time to get caught up on email.

At 6 pm neither of us was hungry, so we headed to the hotel bar for a drink.  We enjoyed a drink in the Mexican restaurant at the Intercontinental.  The waiter was very friendly and explained to me that my vodka was really good for my throat!

We decided to walk around outside so headed out and walked to the Royal Hotel a couple of blocks away.  We went to the Asian restaurant on the 7th floor and decided to get a light bite at the Buddah Club Restaurant.  We got a table outside on the patio overlooking the city.  Dinner was good.  We then walked back to the Intercontinental.  We laughed that we had to "Walk Like a Jordanian" to get across some of the streets.

We went to bed and got a good night's sleep.  A great first day of touring in Jordan with much more to come.