Sunday 24th November – Monday 25th November 2019)
Growing up, Jordan was just my favorite member of New Kids on the Block, THE boy band of the 90’s. It wasn’t until I was older and was allowed to watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that a different Jordan came onto my radar, all thanks to Petra. You know those last scenes when they find the canyon of the crescent moon? The hidden tomb carved into the rock where they find the holy grail? Yeah that’s Petra and since seeing it on the movie and finding out it’s a real place it’s been on my bucket list.
So back to the story. The universe sent me some love and gave me a whole row of seats on the plane so managed a snooze and pretty much breezed through passport control and customs. Had already bought the visa online so stamp, smile and I was done. Finally stepping out in Amman, the capital of Jordan and looking to be welcomed by the big arse Travel Talk sign as per Morocco, it was more of a search and rescue mission, when I saw a random group of tourists, figured it was them, kinda learning stuff huh? While it wasn’t quite the horrendous heat that welcomed us in Marrakech, it was pretty damn warm and I didn’t put up much of a protest when somehow I ended up with the front seat of the car, sitting head on into the air con for the ride to our accommodation. First impressions of Amman, uhhhhh??? Kinda what I expected Morocco to look like, except in that case it exceeded expectations, this was right on. Not to say it wasn’t interesting, very very different to any city I’d ever been and damn damn busy!!
Checking in at the hotel, I was still having an affair with the universe and got my own room for the night even though I’d only paid to share. Noice. The briefing that night by the tour guide I have to say was pretty average, the tour guide dude which to be honest, can’t even remember his name was no Abdul from our Morocco tour, mind you, Abdul set pretty high expectations!! All briefed I was still snoting everywhere so instead of being a normal Holly and trying to make friends, I just went to bed. No beer, no gin, just the other strong stuff.
Monday morning in Amman and it was the first of many BOTB. Except this bus was kinda small, like an 80s Volkswagen van, small and probs the same age. Our tour guide, let’s name him Donnie (my second favourite NKOTB) asssured us it was only for today and we’d have a bigger bus when the rest of the group joined us… rest of the group?? Huh?? Am I missing something? Was probs searching for tissues when Donnie mentioned that last night. Anyhoo, we were off to Jerash, a world heritage UNESCO site with ancient Roman ruins and the second reason behind Petra I wanted to visit Jordan. On the way Donnie got his guide on and introduced us to Jordan, a country shaped like half a t-shirt, ruled by a king, a democracy and apparently really really safe. Don’t mind the fact it borders with Syria and Iraq, minor detail. The population is just shy of 10 million, not bad for a country 87 times SMALLER than Australia, there are also millions of refugees as you’d except given the unrest all around it. Also has Israel to the left, to the left. Yes Beyoncé. The river that runs through Jordan is creatively called the Jordan River, maybe it sounds familiar?? Yeah, that’s where Jesus was baptised, the place also has biblical ties to the angel Jacob although Donnie didn’t elaborate on that one. Alexander the Great also marched through here when conquering the entire planet. Feel some google coming on, Donnie isn’t entirely forthcoming with the endless amount of facts this nerd needs!!
Arriving at Jerash, you’re kinda underwhelmed cos it seems like google has lied about its grandeur. But then you see this…
An ancient arch built by the Roman emperor Hadrian, yep, that dude again. Built to welcome himself to the city, thats one hell of an ego! Only he was allowed through the centre arch, the soldiers had to go through the sides. A yella from Donnie and we’re through the arch and looking down on an underground cemetery, which we weren’t allowed to go in, it sat beneath these cool tiled things that had a name but once again was searching for tissues and didn’t quite hear what Donnie said it was!
A wander down the road, through a smaller arch and we’re into the Hippodrome, I’d compare it to the Thunderdome, it’s where they used to do chariot races, up and back and around seven times, 244m each time or all up?? Can’t remember, too much pseudoephedrine! Either way, looked pretty cool and by the sounds of it, damn dangerous, the cemetery makes sense now!
Through one more arch with watch towers that unfortunately was most destroyed by an earthquake and oh right, yeah I see it now. Google told no lies, this place is huge and bloody amazing!! But first the arch…
And now the site that is Jerash, the place dates back to 7500 BC, has been taken over by every man and his dog passing through and is considered the Pompeii of the East, yeah I got my google on for that one!! The curved pillars, which really take your breathe away when you see them, are called the forum and is 90m long. You can just imagine how intimidating and impressive this city would have been back in the day, the Romans sure knew how to show their might!
Our next stop was the theatre where they had plays and entertained those part of the ‘in’ crowd, don’t think the locals were allowed in.
The steps up the theatre were pretty steep and uneven, I knew I could make it to the top but getting down was gonna hurt my netball knees, but when in Rome…and the views were worth it!!
My pictures really don’t capture how massive and impressive the site is, even with a super duper wide screen camera lens I really don’t think you could capture it. There are ruins as far as the eye can see, but smack bang in the middle of a city so there’s quite the contrast between the old and the not so old. Ruins upon ruins upon ruins and I loved it!!
Now I did kinda listen to Donnie again but trying not to be a complete arse, or maybe I just will be, he really wasn’t overly engaging when he spoke, kinda like listening to my grade 9 physics teacher. I missed Abdul’s enthusiasm! What I do recall, the site was dug up for some reason, there’s still plenty underneath they haven’t quite gotten too, costs money and apparently the government have other priorities, like helping all the fleeing refugees, fair enough. What I love about the site are the columns, they are so imposing and stunning, perfectly lined up and so damn high, how the hell they got them up I have no idea, maybe it was the same aliens that did the pyramids?? Or just probs thousands of slaves, another reason for the cemetery…
So the next place was a temple with ten pillars for Artemis and maybe dedicated to Diana, the god of love?? Or was it dedicated to Artemis, I really must listen. Either way, it was built on the highest point to be closer to god. In fact, all the churches on the site face Jerusalem, how they worked it out back then who knows, certainly wasn’t using an app on their iPhone! Considering the country is now 90% Muslim, pretty impressive they got away with having churches at all. But from what I’ve learnt about this dude Hadrian, what he says goes.
I kinda wish that this place had one of those self guided tours, stick in some headphones and wander while listening to the history of the place, and blowing your nose. Can’t recall what this next place was, either I wasn’t listening or Donnie didn’t mention, probs another arch for the egotistical Hadrian to wander through…
Our last little stop on our Jerash site tour was at a water foundation dedicated to Nym… yeah a god. Maybe it was Nymphadora, or is that from Harry Potter? Didn’t quite catch the actual name but what is amazing is that the whole little city had running water, all plumbed in. Again, how the hell????
Heading out of the site, down the cardio maximus (thanks Google!), there was time for a few more selfies and snaps of the curvy column thing, really is a marvel how they got them so perfectly aligned. Wonder if you can see this place from space??
Finishing up at Jerash it was BOTB and up to Ajloun Castle, everyone knows I love me a castle!! This castle was built in 1145AD to stop the crusaders, didn’t catch if the dude Hadrian had anything to do with it… Gooogle, what say you?? Ok, so it was built on the grounds of an old monastery and was made into a fort to keep watch over peeps traveling between Damascus and Eqgypt. Coolies, apparently it’s the style of the ottomans but others have added to it to make it bigger and better, as men back then always felt a need to do. As far as castles go, it was ok. I know, I sound like a douche saying that but the castle count on this trip must be up in the twenties by now so lots to compare to and it’s pretty hard to beat the stunning castles of Scotland!!
I’ll give the castle some cred though, the views were absolutely gorgeous! Looking out over the Jordanian countryside it was a sea of green, red and white – green trees, red sand and white buildings, wait, their flag is green, red and white, might be onto something there!! Probs not but the most impressive bit was that you could see over to Jerusalem, if only I could remember which picture it was…
After enough castle time it was back into Amman, past this cool mural which included a picture of Jordan, see the half t-shirt shape???
To cap off the day there was a promise from Donnie to take us to somewhere local for dinner. Looking forward to trying some Jordanian food, you can imagine all our disappointment and blahing when the local turned out to be a shawarma joint, pretty much imagine what you’d eat at 3am after a night out and that was dinner. I mean, it always tastes good at 3am but didn’t really feel like I was trying something new. On the walk back home I did manage to actually eat something local, some kind of gooey, cheesey, honey, pistachio, I had no idea what I was eating thing. Looked like a camel but tasted pretty good, can imagine how yummy it would be if my taste buds were at full strength! At days end, hate to say it but Abdul 5, Donnie 0 but Jordan was winning in the awesome stakes!! Geez, judgey cow aren’t I!!!!!!
Holly vs the world 