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Blogs from Jerash, North, Jordan, Middle East
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May 7th 2013
We left Madaba to Amman where we would spend our last two nights in Jordan. The journey is coming to a close. We made one stop just out of Madaba at Mt. Nebo. The place where Moses apparently first laid eyes on the promised land before dying. There isn't much to "see" there. Some mosaics and a viewpoint looking over Israel, but it was neat to be in such a significant biblical place. (I suppose the entire area is significant in a biblical sense, but for some reason Mt. Nebo was the most inspiring). The sky was a bit hazy so we couldn't see very far, but we could see the Dead Sea a little ways beyond. We didn't stay here long, and spent a good portion of the day driving to Amman. Amman has the ... read more
March 2nd 2013
A long day today, but saw some incredible sights. It started with an amazing breakfast in the hostel. Out came olives, hummus, jam, bread, orange cake and tea, followed by 'real' breakfast which this morning was an omelette. I had to leave half of it on the plates I was so full! At 8am I joined some other travellers from the hostel and headed out in a minivan towards Jerash. Basically, it is a town with the centrepiece being a ruined ancient city (Roman style). One of the guys in the group and I hired an English-speaking guide there, Samir, and took almost two hours to get around the whole site. Really, we could have done with longer! What amazed me was how green the place was. I knew I was visiting at the end of ... read more
January 27th 2013
Grrrr, Bernie collected an internet password from the reception desk last night, but we haven't been able to connect to the internet. On our way to breakfast we let them know at the reception desk that we couldn't access the internet. They said they would look into it and asked us to call back at the desk on our way back from breakfast. On the way back to the room we picked up an IT guy at the reception desk and he came upstairs to check our connection. He couldn't connect our laptop either and left saying that he would ask the head of IT to come to our room. However, the head of IT hadn't arrived by the time we had agreed to meet Ahmed in the foyer so we had to leave without checking ... read more
January 21st 2013
January 4th, 2013 - We were originally planning on returning to Amman by bus from Petra, but decided the $30 extra for a taxi was worth it. We arrived to the Marriot in Amman where armed guards searched the cab for explosives before were allowed to enter the parking lot. Then we had to walk through metal detectors and our luggage was scanned as well before we could approach the reception desk. We checked in, grabbed some food from the sports bar downstairs, and then relaxed in the pool for the rest of the night. We made friends with our taxi driver from Petra. His name was Mohammed and although he didn't speak much English, he was incredibly nice and helpful. Mohammed is from Amman and offered to be our driver for our remaining time in ... read more
October 8th 2012
Monday - Jerash, Ajloun, Dead Sea We start off with Khaled waiting in the parking lot and us in the lobby, however after almost half an hour we connect and are on our way. We decided to head to Jerash before the heat of the day….This was incredible. The site is in such awesome condition and it is huge. They are still excavating. It was great to do this in the cool morning air. Was a real contrast seeing the new in the background of the old. We spent almost 2 hours here going through with our guide who had been doing this job for 30 years....Jerash is massive and the ruins are so incredible. The oval plaza, the fountain and cathedral area and massive walkways and columns were very impressive. We turned down the chariot ... read more
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January 9th 2012
After a fairly uneventful flight, where the only hitch was a 2 hour delay in Heathrow I landed in Amman at about 9 p.m. I queued up for a Visa, which took over half an hour, got my bag and found the airport express bus to take me into the City Centre. On the bus a guy from the UAE asked me where I was from and when I said Ireland, he asked if I knew the word "saoirse" Irish for freedom! He wouldnt tell me how he knew this, but it was a bit strange being grilled on my Gaeilge having just landed in the Middle East. There was also an Indoneisian girl on the bus who was staying in the same hotel as me. We got a taxi together to the Farah Hotel, but ... read more
October 24th 2011
This morning we went to Jerash. Not to visit famous Roman ruins there but to tour the Refugee Camp there that may or may not contain 30 000 people. This number like all estimates of population in this region are imprecise and controversial. The history of Refugee Camps in Jordan is not easy to summarize. It starts with the Arab view that Palestine includes what we know Israel. The Palestinians who left that area in two waves (1948 and 1967) did so believing they would return. In Jordan today they , and their descendants, number 3 million or about half of the people who live in that country. About 300 000 live in camps waiting to be told that they can go "home" . Some are Jordanian citizens , and some of those can work. Many ... read more
May 25th 2011
today we went to jerash! me and dad took a small bus to the ancient city of the roman era, it was one of the most important citys in the middle east and we really enjoyed it. when we got there we went down the roads and had a look at temples and theaters in one of them a man gave me really nice mint tea for free. the north theater was bigger than the south and was hard work getting up the steps in that boiling heat. during the look around in jerash i had the worst case of dioreah and had to go to the toilet 3 times (thanks mum for the tablets and wipes) dad thinks it was the ice cream i had at the dead sea as it might of been melted ... read more
March 27th 2011
Day 15 - Dead sea and the promised land. After taking a cloudy rainy day to recover and get things done it was nice to start early on day 15 and head straight to the dead sea for a dip in some of the saltiest water on the planet. You really are able to read a magazine or newspaper while sitting on top of the water, it was an interesting feeling being able to walk until your feet don't touch the ground anymore but your body just stays above water is if your still walking. After a dip in the red sea we ate a nice lunch buffet before moving back onto the road to Madaba along the way we stopped at what many consider to be the final resting place of mosses and we were ... read more
The side affects and consequences of lettuce! Jerash & Ajloun
Published: March 22nd 2011Middle East » Jordan » North » Jerash
March 7th 2011
Salah had a thing for lettuce. So much so, he blamed the wind it made him pass, on the banana trees in the fields. Or at least I think he did. Eating a whole head of lettuce in one go has not only got side affects but its got consequences. The side affects being that it makes you pass copious amounts of wind, the consequences are that the person sitting in the back of the taxi has decided to declare it to the world through the world wide web. Salah was our taxi driver for the day, and other than his denial about his flatulence he was a perfect gent. We were picked up by him at 10am for our trip to see Jerash and Ajloun. Both of these are in the north of Jordan and ... read more
