A short bus ride to the northwest takes me to the village of Ajlun, nestled in some hills surrounded by pine and olive groves. Beautiful!

Ajlun really has only one attraction, a huge castle on the highest hilltop, Mt Auf. It was built in the 12th century to defend against Christian crusaders and apparently saw a lot of action. You can see everything from up there. It’s definitely one of the better castles I’ve been to in my travels. And it’s just up the road a ways from my hotel.

The castle was a very important communication post. It seems pigeons were used during the crusades to send messages all over Arabia. Thanks to their feathered friends, Saladins troops were able to send word from Damascus to Cairo to Baghdad and everywhere in between, most of the time in only a days time. Not bad for the 12th century!

All the pics from Ajlun are here

Ajlun castle was really the secondary reason for my coming here though. The main reason was because it’s a good jumping off point to visit the ancient Roman City of Jerash. The Romans had many cities throughout Arabia. I already visited Philadelphia and I’ll be visiting a few more on this trip, but now it’s time for Jerash.

Despite the wealth of Roman ruins in Jordan, Jerash is the largest Roman city and consequently the largest collection of ruins in the whole country. The site is massive and magnificent. There were two entrances to the city, a north and a south. These days you enter from the south and the first things you see are the really well preserved Hadrians Arch (above) and the Hippodrome (below). The Hippodrome was used primarily for chariot racing. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s the best preserved Roman hippodrome in the world.

Just inside the south gate sits the Temple of Zeus. There’s not much left, but it must have been really impressive sitting on the highest point in the city. Right next door is the south theatre. In addition to the hippodrome, Jerash had two theatres. The south was used for entertainment and the north theatre was most likely used for government, but we’ll get to that one in a minute.

The center of the city was the expansive oval shaped forum. There would have been some kind of monument in the center, but it’s no less impressive today. From the forum the Cardo Maximus starts, the main street that ran through the whole length of the city (about 1km) and was lined with shops, places of worship, and baths. Pictures don’t do it justice. You have to stand at one end and view the entire length of it lined with columns to really appreciate it. Also, you can easily make out the grooves worn into the stone from hundreds of years of chariot traffic. Awesome!

As I mentioned before, all along the Cardo Maximus are the remnants of small shops. There’s also an agora where public meetings were held, a small post Roman built cathedral and a church dedicated to St Theodore, and a Nymphaeum (a public fountain/bath).

Finally, at the north end are the north gate (obviously), the Temple of Artemis (the Roman patron saint of the city), and the north theatre. Also at the Temple of Artemis are the remnants of a water powered saw that they used to cut the stones to make all of this magnificence.

The Jerash site is so enormous and impressive! it’s impossible to cover it all in a blog post, but I had a fantastic time exploring this ancient city. It was also a super hot and super exposed day. I was one sweaty mess when it was all done, but it was totally worth it. Anyone who follows my travels knows how much I love climbing around ancient ruins. I finished the day with a well deserved kebab meal and now it’s time for a good nights sleep because tomorrow I’ll be on my way to the next stop for a couple more ancient Roman cities. Ajlun was a short stop, but it sure packed a punch!

See all of Jerash here