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Published: April 13th 2024
Blue Mosque
The outside of the beautiful mosque in Amman.This day actually started with a continuation of the day before. Our flight left Heathrow in the early evening, but that meant, with the two hour time difference, that we did not actually arrive in Amman until 1.30 in the morning. Definitely not the most sociable of times to arrive in a new country. Thankfully, we were being met at the airport and we were surprised to discover that meant being met before we went through immigration. We had understood that the visas were being arranged for us on arrival and we were wondering how they were planning on doing that, so all became clear.
That said, it was very disconcerting when someone we had only just met took our passports and disappeared, apparently to go and get an additional stamp. All was good.
He then showed us to our guide, Achmed, who would be looking after us for most of the week. He drove us to our hotel, on what were surprisingly busy roads, given that it was 2.30 in the morning. We were able to get a very short night's sleep as we needed to be up and ready to go at 8.30 for an extremely busy
Flight Beer
Is this going to be my last alcoholic drink for the week? day. It wasn't helped by the fact that the air-conditioning was set for heat only, as, by Jordanian standards, it's a cold time of year. Not by our standards it isn't. We had the windows open, which meant getting the noise of the traffic and the calls for early morning prayers.
We dragged ourselves out of bed early enough to get some breakfast, which was interesting. If it had been served as a buffet, it was probably not what we would have chosen, however, it was fantastic. A selection of breads, humous, olives, yoghurt, tomatoes and a collection of other unnamed vegetables. We really enjoyed it.
There was a chocolate muffin, which is more in line with my usual taste.
We met back up with Achmed, who looked like he was dressed for the cold. For us, it was a comfortable temperature though, as we would not be up to the oppressive heat of the Jordanian summer. The roads were quieter than they had been at 2.30 as it was the last day of Ramadan and, now that it was light, everyone was observing the restrictions again. All the shops and businesses were closed and there was
Breakfast
A weird and wonderful breakfast. hardly anyone about.
This morning would be touring Amman and our first stop was the Blue Mosque. We had tried to dress appropriately, with shorts below the knees and long-sleeves, but we were all still given some long gowns to cover ourselves up with. The women's had hoods to cover their hair. We looked like something from Harry Potter on our way to Hogwarts.
The mosque was stunning and we were free to walk around, albeit respectfully and having removed our shoes. We had the whole place to ourselves, as there was no one else about.
Next stop was the Amman Citadel. This is an ancient castle on a hill with panoramic views across the city in every direction. Amman looks exactly like the middle eastern cities that we have often seen on the news, with lots of cream-coloured buildings covering a number of hills.
The Citadel overlooked a huge amphitheatre and that was actually our next stop. My wife had her "here we go again" face on as I decided to climb to the top of the seating for a view down. She then changed to her "he'll never learn" face, when I started to
Inside The Blue Mosque
Apparently there's room for 3,000 people to pray here. come back down and realised just how treacherous the steep, worn and uneven steps were. I made it safely.
One subject that we had really wanted to avoid talking with anyone about is the nearby conflict in Gaza, however, it proved impossible to avoid. We made a casual reference to McDonalds as we drove past one. American businesses such as McDonalds and Starbucks are being actively boycotted, due to the American weapons supply, and were completely empty. McDonalds in particular as the local franchise is actively supporting the Israeli armed forces, apparently. The subject even came up with people in shops and restaurants. The level of resentment is massive.
Something we had never noticed before is that the Jordanian and Palestinian flags are almost identical, presumably illustrating the historical ties. The only difference is that Jordan's has a seven pointed star, signifying seven mountains.
Israel is not to be mentioned by name at the moment and is just being referred to as "the Holy Land", although parts of the historical Holy Land seemed to stretch into what is now Jordan. This included our next stop at Mount Nebo, which is very close to the border and, in
Amman Citadel
Some of the old buildings inside the Citadel. fact, on a clear day (which it wasn't), it's possible to see Jerusalem. Even though it's in Jordan, this area has a significant Christian history and is still 50% Christian now. In fact, despite Jordan being a predominantly Muslim country, there is a significant Christian presence and they seem to coexist side-by-side. We'd noticed that there's a huge Christian church beside the mosque back in Amman.
Near Mount Nebo is the Memorial of Moses. This dated from the fifth century, although the current church is clearly a lot more modern. It also seemed to double-up as a museum for a number of old mosaics, which are absolutely stunning.
Before our long journey south to Wadi Rum on the Desert Highway, we had one final stop at a Greek Orthodox Church in Madaba, where we were also able to walk around a few nearby shops. This church also had some beautiful mosaics, including one showing a map of the Dead Sea and the surrounding Holy Land.
As we headed south, the surrounding landscape got increasingly dry. Water is a huge problem here and most of the houses have huge water tanks on their rooves to store the water
Amman View
The view over Amman and the amphitheatre from the Citadel. when they can get it, as the supply could get cut-off for days on end. Apparently, the water supply has been made worse as the country that should not be named has built a dam across the Jordan River and diverted that supply before it reaches Jordan.
We stopped a couple of times for a break. One for lunch and one at a mosaic workshop and shop. There was a quick tour of the workshop and then on to the shop. I have to admit that the mosaics were beautiful, but take a lot of work to make (some take 60 days) and so were almost certainly out of our price range. We would love to have known how much they cost, but Achmed had made it clear that in Jordan asking the price means that you are interesting in buying and is the start of the mandatory negotiations.
We were spending the night in a Bedouin camp and Achmed could not take us there directly, so he left us at a reception centre.
Once it got dark all the celebrations were due to start for the end of Ramadan. Sadly, it was too far for him
Amphitheatre
View from the top of the amphitheatre. to spend it with his family back in Amman, which we felt really bad for him about. Sadly our tour would drag him away, but he still needed to take it as the tourism has been absolutely decimated by the nearby conflict, despite Jordan not being involved. This is supposed to be the busy season, but we'd noticed that the flight was only about two thirds full on the way here.
We rode to the camp in the back of a pickup truck. It had seats, but was still a reminder of earlier times for me (see
Everything We Needed - Beaches, Motorbikes, Guns, Bars and Clubs). There was no way that my wife was going to be staying in a tent, so we had picked a camp with huts. There was still an element of authenticity, however, as the huts were basically metal frames with tent like material fixed to them. It was more than good enough though, noting that it had an ensuite, which was a non-negotiable.
There was no door to the ensuite though. Now we have been married for nearly 30 years and we share most of our experiences, but there is a limit.
After a buffet dinner, unsurprisingly with no alcohol
Amphitheatre Steps
Maybe climbing to the top was not such a good idea? (I had grabbed what might be my last beer for the week on the flight), we got in the back of another pick-up truck to head to another camp for some star-gazing. It wasn't looking good earlier, but the sky had cleared and the complete absence of any light pollution (something that's ever present in the UK) meant that we had never seen a night sky like it.
There was a short video to demonstrate the scale of the universe (compared to our insignificant little planet) and then we went outside into the darkness so that our eyes could adjust. The presenter had an unbelievably powerful laser pointer, which he used to point out various stars and constellations of stars. We could see Gemini (the twins), Taurus (the bull) and Leo (the lion) - the remainder are not visible at the moment. A certain amount of artistic licence is needed, but it
is possible to see how the stars form the shapes required.
He also described Orion and the Plough, the latter of which can be used to find the North Star, although our friend was able to impress everyone by pointing that out. And the north star
Amman Postcard
Is a motorway junction really the best that Amman has to offer? is actually not the brightest as we all believed - it's the one that is fixed above us as all the others rotate round.
Finally he took us to four telescopes that had been fixed to specific locations in the sky so that we could view them in more detail, one of which was another far away galaxy.
The big philosophical question of the day - is someone out there looking back at us?
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