Amman, Jordan

Temple of Hercules within the Amman Citadel.

For Jordan's Independence Day, we took a day trip to Amman, Jordan. Fearing more stares and commentary than Irbid, we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of them. After a rather prolonged journey to Amman (it's difficult to force a group to move quickly) we took a taxi up to Amman's Citadel. Called Jabal al-Qal'a, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places.Different civilizations, beginning in the Neolithic period, built on top of each other, creating a really interesting archeological site. Pictured here is the Temple of Hercules. We browsed around the Citadel for a bit, and managed to lose a group member. She finally wandered back and we left for the Roman Ampitheatre.

The Roman Amphitheater. 

We climbed the perilous Roman Ampitheatre, keeping in mind the scary downhill battle we had to embark upon. We relaxed at the top and pictured Romans getting rowdy and succumbing to the gravity of these extremely steep stairs. While Gabriel scrambled down the stairs like a nimble little monkey, Rebecca, Jamie and I scooted down like children. Finally making it to the bottom, we walked out of the Citadel amidst the winks of the Jordanian men. Winking is the way men here flirt, not smiling or saying hello.

After the Ampitheatre, we walked to a area where until fairly recently, water flowed and the people prayed to the water nymphs. Now it just looks like a dried up, old building. We continued to a Byzantine church, which was closed for the holiday. Fortunately for us, a employee doing maintenance work gave us a private tour around. (Please reference previous post) This man, Mohammed, not only gave us a tour, but gave us lemonade. And not just any old lemonade. This man squeezed the lemons and made a delicious concoction that rivaled the most delicious beverage in the United States. Grateful for our refreshing treat, we shopped downtown Amman. Tired from the day, we hopped back on the bus to Irbid where we made two new friends, Mohammed and Alla. Every third person is named Mohammed. They taught us a bit of slang Arabic and we taught them a bit of English. Excited by the history we saw in Amman, we were so excited for our wekend excursion to Perta, Wadi Rum, and Aqaba.