Blogs from Jerash, North, Jordan, Middle East - page 2

JERASH, JORDAN - DAY 10 People were given a choice of whether to go to Jerash or sleep in and have a spa day. Half of us chose to go to Jerash and I’m so glad I joined them. The bus ride was about an hour and a half. We picked up our guide, Maraj in Amman on the way. We had been told that it was another old Roman ruin, but what a surprise when we pulled in and saw the condition of Hadrian’s arch. From that point, everything got better and better. Our tour through the large area remains kept impressing me more and more. The ancient city of Gerasa, now called Jerash, is about 2,000 years old and the remains are well preserved and excavations and restoration efforts are continuing. I saw the ... read more

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 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

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

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