Into Jordan

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Geo: 30.5852, 36.2384

Met the group last night. A nice mix of folks from everywhere from Tasmania to the U.S. Once again a well traveled group and all fairly young (compared to me😊.
Jordan is very interesting. A population of around 8 million plus about 5 million Palestinian refugees from the 1948 and 1967 wars and more recently about 2 million Syrian refugees. There is also a large Egyptian population, many have come because they can get jobs here. The refugees are a huge burden on the Jordanian economy although they get funding from the U.S., Israel, Britain and a few other countries.
We have a packed itinerary today but return to Amman for one more night before heading south to Petra and then to the Red Sea. Hopefully the weather will improve so we can go snorkeling.
Today we headed north to Jerash which was an ancient Greek city, demolished by the Romans who then built a new city on top of the Greek city. The Roman city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is spectacular. I will add many photos. The city has two main temples - one for Zeus (Jupiter) and one for Diana (Artemis). There are two amphitheaters as well and, in one, we were entertained by a Bedouin band - two drummers and a bag-piper. The played Amazing Grace, Yankee Doodle, another tune that was familiar but I can't think of the name and then traditional Bedouin music. The bag-pipes are a throw back to the British, of course. Also, the British decided on the colors of the scarves the Arab men wear here. Red and white checked for Jordanians and black and white checked for Palestinians. It seems the British needed ways to identify groups of people wherever they went and it hardly ever ended well. Think Rwanda, India etc.

After a few hours here we headed back to Amman. We were supposed to go to the Dead Sea but it is bitterly cold and still raining on and off so we all agreed to go at the end of the trip.
Once back in Amman we went to another Roman city called Philadelphia! Once again, this is a city the Romans actually rebuilt. It is named after Ptolemy Philadelpis who was Egyptian. It is on one of the cities 7 hills of Amman and the Temple of Hercules is here. There is part of a hand and elbow remaining of a huge statue of Hercules that was housed in the center of the temple.

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Photos

Carole as bedouin
A shopkeeper in Jerash took a shine to me and insisted on showing me how to tie the scarf like a bedoiun.