The flight from Cairo to Amman is only an hour, on Royal Jordanian Air (with Egypt Air, two new belt notches as far as airlines of the world traveled), and uneventful. Once again, we are met by our driver for the next three days, and wisked off to a windshield tour of Amman. Before leaving the airport, Trish and I comment on how modern it seemed, and discovered it was only 14 days old!
Amman seems to consist of two parts, Western Amman - by which I mean western as in appearance and attitude, and Eastern Amman, which is more traditional and Islamic. Amman is known as the white city, and that is reflected in the Western part, made of sandstone, with great, modern architecture, and built on 7 hills (yes, like Rome). Even from a windshield tour, it seems less chaotic than Cairo, and more prosperous overall. This seems to be confirmed by our driver, who doesn't appear to have too high an opinion of Cairo, or Egyptians in general.
Our first stop is the Citadel, which sits on Amman's highest hill, providing, of course, grand views, and (of course) Roman remains (a Temple of Hercules) and the ruins of an Ummayad palace, dating from about 720 A.D.
The Citadel included a tiny archeological museum. Those usually bore me to tears (digging for these things is one thing, seeing them laid out in glass cases is another). This one was no exception, but it did have the benefit of being small!
(yes, they are upright coffins!)
(Interesting factoid: Amman was called Philadelphia in Roman times.)
On to the Roman Theaterr, which apparently vies with the Citadel as the main historical highlight of Amman, and is an impressive remain of ancient Philadelphia. It was built in the 2nd century AD in the reign of Antonius Pius, and could hold either 5,000 people ((the local guide) or 6,000 people (The Lonley Planet), reader's choice. In either case, it is pretty impressive, and we're told performances are staged here to this day.
Some facts about Jordan. The population if the whole country is onlt 7 million, half of which lives in Amman. They are known for olives (and olive oil, of course), and almonds, and grow lots of other fruits and vegetables, including apples. There are artisans still trained in the art of making mosaics, and are famous for it. And they appear to be quite satisfied with their monarchy, their democracy, and their country in general.
We drove by the King Hussein Mosque on the way to the hotel (non-Muslims not admitted, but interesting to see nonetheless, as it was built ib 1924 by King Abdullah on the site of an ancient mosque bult in AD 640, almost when the whole Islam thing began.
And then, finally (although most of the day was spent drving, the Citadel was quite a hike in itself and we were tired), to our hotel, The Holiday Inn, of all things. It is pretty upscale for a Holiday Inn, and full (Trish and I ended up sharing a room, by necessity!) We had asked the driver for a recomendation for dinner (I might stay in a Holiday Inn, but I draw the line at least on the first night, at eating dinner at one. He recommended Tawaheen Al Hawa Restaurant, for traditional arabic dishes and barbeque. And traditional food is what - finally, I had, including Tabooli (parsley salad), babaganush (eggplant) fried kopa (a deep fried dumpling stuffed with meat and onion), shiskabob, and a lamb and onion dish.
For desert we have fruit. as well as something very middle eastern, a sheesha pipe...
It is actually peach ((or apple or coffee or coca cola) flavoured tobacco, heated over coals and filtered tthrough water, I think (you all know how technologically challenged I am)d one takes turns puffing on the pipe with your own filter. It really is very - oh, I don't know, middle eastern (lots of people seem to do it, men and women alike, and apparently lots of restaurants provide them.
I must say we were quite relaxed by the time they poured us out of there into a taxi home. Oh, well, what is travel for if not adventure!
So, a successful first day in Jordon. Tomorrow Petra, a highlight of the trip (be prepared for lots of pictures!)
Amman seems to consist of two parts, Western Amman - by which I mean western as in appearance and attitude, and Eastern Amman, which is more traditional and Islamic. Amman is known as the white city, and that is reflected in the Western part, made of sandstone, with great, modern architecture, and built on 7 hills (yes, like Rome). Even from a windshield tour, it seems less chaotic than Cairo, and more prosperous overall. This seems to be confirmed by our driver, who doesn't appear to have too high an opinion of Cairo, or Egyptians in general.
Our first stop is the Citadel, which sits on Amman's highest hill, providing, of course, grand views, and (of course) Roman remains (a Temple of Hercules) and the ruins of an Ummayad palace, dating from about 720 A.D.
The Citadel included a tiny archeological museum. Those usually bore me to tears (digging for these things is one thing, seeing them laid out in glass cases is another). This one was no exception, but it did have the benefit of being small!
(yes, they are upright coffins!)(Interesting factoid: Amman was called Philadelphia in Roman times.)
On to the Roman Theaterr, which apparently vies with the Citadel as the main historical highlight of Amman, and is an impressive remain of ancient Philadelphia. It was built in the 2nd century AD in the reign of Antonius Pius, and could hold either 5,000 people ((the local guide) or 6,000 people (The Lonley Planet), reader's choice. In either case, it is pretty impressive, and we're told performances are staged here to this day.
Some facts about Jordan. The population if the whole country is onlt 7 million, half of which lives in Amman. They are known for olives (and olive oil, of course), and almonds, and grow lots of other fruits and vegetables, including apples. There are artisans still trained in the art of making mosaics, and are famous for it. And they appear to be quite satisfied with their monarchy, their democracy, and their country in general.
We drove by the King Hussein Mosque on the way to the hotel (non-Muslims not admitted, but interesting to see nonetheless, as it was built ib 1924 by King Abdullah on the site of an ancient mosque bult in AD 640, almost when the whole Islam thing began.
And then, finally (although most of the day was spent drving, the Citadel was quite a hike in itself and we were tired), to our hotel, The Holiday Inn, of all things. It is pretty upscale for a Holiday Inn, and full (Trish and I ended up sharing a room, by necessity!) We had asked the driver for a recomendation for dinner (I might stay in a Holiday Inn, but I draw the line at least on the first night, at eating dinner at one. He recommended Tawaheen Al Hawa Restaurant, for traditional arabic dishes and barbeque. And traditional food is what - finally, I had, including Tabooli (parsley salad), babaganush (eggplant) fried kopa (a deep fried dumpling stuffed with meat and onion), shiskabob, and a lamb and onion dish.
For desert we have fruit. as well as something very middle eastern, a sheesha pipe...
I must say we were quite relaxed by the time they poured us out of there into a taxi home. Oh, well, what is travel for if not adventure!
So, a successful first day in Jordon. Tomorrow Petra, a highlight of the trip (be prepared for lots of pictures!)
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