Jordan 2012, Amman

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Began our holiday with a visit to the Roman amphitheatre in the old city. It seated 6,000 people and was used for musical performances. Nearby is the much smaller Odeon which seated a mere 500. Strolled around the downtown area of the old town following the guidebook’s walking tour, didn’t take long, up and down steps and sloping streets. Amman is set in a series of steep valleys so it looks attractive with sand coloured houses up the slopes but that means that all walking requires going up or down steep flights of stairs between buildings or walking along the less steep roads. Traffic is quite manic with lots of cars, honking horns and little application of the rules of the road. Shared a big pitta bread covered in goats cheese for lunch which we ate at the entrance to the citadel. The citadel is on the top of a big hill and is the main visitor site in Amman. This hilltop has excellent views in all directions and probably for that reason has been used as a settlement for thousands of years (possibly 7000). After our picnic we started out visit by looking round the museum. Some interesting pieces from Stone age to the Romans. One double headed statue was said to be the oldest in the world at around 6 000 years old. The huge columns of the Temple of Hercules are the most impressive sight originally built around 161 AD and re-erected in the 1990s. It would have been a huge settlement with massive walls, palace, baths, mosque, basilica, temple and souk.



Had a good, filling meal this evening of large pitta bread, bowl each of hummus, full plate of falafels then a side dish of quartered small onions, tomatoes and fresh mint, all washed down with sweet black tea. The Hamesh Restaurant was up a side alley and the plastic chairs and tables took up just about the whole alley. All super quick and incredibly cheap, at a total of 3.5 JR (about 35 HKD).

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