February 3, 2009 – Last afternoon’s arrival to Amman was easy enough. After clearing immigration and customs formality, I found an ATM to obtain some local currency (Dinere) and negotiated a taxi to Le Meridian Hotel. Joseph said he knew the general direction and we agreed on a set price. What should’ve been a 30 minute drive turned into 1 ½ hours with the “Amman at a glance tour”. Joseph apologized many times and assured me there was no extra charge. My first impression is that the people here are friendly, hospitable and take a great deal of pride to do the best they can. Honor is everything. The hotel is of the highest standards with everything a tourist needs – comfortable rooms, great showers, choice of 4 restaurants, a health club (also used by many locals) and a spa. The 90 minute massage treatment was wonderful (and so reasonable). Room service ordered from the Lebanese Restaurant and it was time for sleep.
“Jordan is old” I thought as I looked out of the window of the plane. The pilot announced we would be landing in 10 minutes. I saw the different shades of brown with no roads below. There were small crevasses and sand-blown hills. I thought it reminded me of an old lady whose skin was brown from the sun and wrinkled from age. Earliest evidence of human activity in Jordan are stone tools from about 1.2million years ago. Through the ages with each new power (Assyria, Egypt, Rome, Byzantine, Islam) brought new cultural. The Capital of Jordan, Amman, sits on 7 hills and is home to almost 1 million people. We are a group of 23 from Canada and the US. And it IS a small world – there is a lady from CHESTER, CT also on our tour. A great deal of Roman influence remains. We visited the Roman Theater and Forum (169 – 177AD). We saw traces of the Byzantine Church and the Temple of Hercules as well as extensive ruins known as Al-Qasr (720-750AD) built during Umayyad rule in the Islamic World. The Archaeological Museum of Jordan is very interesting as you follow the time line of the region. Recently on tour in the US were the famous two-faced heads unearthed in the Citadel of Amman said to be from 7th century BC. Also on display are collections of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.
Our afternoon journey took us to Jerash. This is perhaps one of the best preserved cities of Roman times. Construction started about 70AD. Visitors walk through this ancient city via the “Arc of Triumph” erected in honor of the visit of the Emperor Hadrian (of the same Hadrian’s Wall in the UK) to first visit the Hippodrome where chariot races and competition between man and animal would have been viewed by 10,000 people. We continued down what would’ve been a wide boulevard to market areas, the Forum, The Temple of Artemis, and the remains of the Churches of St John and St George. This well planned city was home to over 70,000 people at that time. You can really imagine the wealth and prosperity this city experienced. They say all roads lead to Rome; perhaps it was meant Rome controlled cities. As we learned that each gate of the city (north, south, east and west) went directly to another Roman city. Tomorrow we leave Amman to visit Mount Nebo enroute to Petra.