Time just seems to fly by because another three month work assignment has ended and I’m already back to wandering the globe. This time I decided to explore some of the middle east, beginning in the capitol city of the kingdom of Jordan. It was called Philadelphia for much of it’s history and in the bible it’s referred to as Rabbath, but nowadays it’s Amman. It’s been a prominent hub of trade for thousands of years and consequently, conquered and reconquered by all the major empires throughout history, probably most famously by the Romans, but the Egyptians, Greeks, Byzantines, Nabataeans, and Persians among others got their turns at ruling the area. As you can imagine there are a lot of cultural influences here. Amman is also and always has been at the vortex where Islam, Christianity, and Judaism meet. Despite all that, Jordan remains a calm peaceful oasis in a very turbulent part of the world. So far, nothing but smiling and friendly people are to be found.

The main reason to come to Amman, other than being the arrival hub, is for its collection of Roman ruins. The showpiece is definitely the Roman theatre built in the second century AD. In it’s day it would seat 6000 people, but I’m told it still gets used today on occasion for musical performances. It’s been mostly restored and the views from the top are pretty incredible.

Nearby is the Odeon, a smaller venue that once sat around 500 people for musical performances and was probably covered by a wooden dome. An “x” marks the spot in the center of the stage where the acoustics are absolutely perfect. My voice sounds like it’s coming from outside myself. Don’t worry, no Jordanians or other tourists were harmed as I chose not to sing.

Also attached to the theatre were two museums, the Museum of Popular Traditions and the Folklore Museum, showing traditional costumes and artifacts from Jordan’s several ethnic groups. The highlight for me though, were the collection of mosaics found at nearby archeological sites (see the pics below). The best museum in town however, was the Jordan Museum spanning the countries entire history. It even housed Jordan’s portion of the Dead Sea scrolls and some 8000-9000 year old statues thought to be the oldest in the world.

If the Roman theatre is Ammans showpiece, than the Citadel is it’s heart. The highest hill in Amman as been occupied since the Bronze Age evidenced by the burial caves, this is the actual site referred to as Rabbath in the Bible, it was the site of a massive Temple of Hercules built by the Romans, a Byzantine basilica, and later an Umayyad palace, all surrounded by impossible stone defence walls. One hill, lots of ruins spanning several different cultures and thousands of years, incredible 360° views, one happy traveler.

I had no idea, but Jordan is one of the largest producers of olive oil in the world. It’s good too! It goes really well with some of the best falafel and hummus I’ve been eating every night here. Seriously, they definitely do it right here! It’s also hot here, though thankfully not as hot as I was expecting. It is a desert after all, and the decor shows it. There’s not much color to speak of, every building is basically tan or grayish, but it’s still striking to see views of the city from the tops of the many hills around.

Two other interesting sites in town were the Royal Automobile Museum and The King Abdullah Mosque. The Automobile Museum houses the Royal family’s collection of cars from the extremely old and antique to the best that modern auto making has to offer. Lots of motorcycles, Aston Martins, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Cadillacs, Lincolns, Porches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, as well as all the vehicles used for state functions to this day. They supposedly have the martian rover from the movie The Martian (filmed here in Jordan), but the space for it was empty. What a gyp! The mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque is a fairly modern one, built by King Hussein in honor of his father, King Abdullah, and is the only one that allows non Muslim visitors. It’s a simple yet cavernous prayer hall that fits up to 7000 worshippers covered by a giant blue dome. Though I’ve peaked inside active mosques before, this is the first time I’ve been allowed to actually go inside and wander around. Very cool!

I ventured out on a couple of day trips from Amman as well. First, an adventurous odyssey on the public buses to the village of Iraq-al-Amir. It took two buses to get there and it was pretty easy to accomplish thanks to super nice bus drivers and a couple of super nice locals who helped me out. First was the Iraq-al-Amir caves that have been used for various purposes over the centuries and there’s a really cool ancient Hebrew inscription at the entrance to one of them that says “Tobiad”, which was a prominent Jewish faction that lived in the area during Hellenistic times, before the Romans.

Just a short walk down the road from the caves was the Tobiad built Qasr-al-Abd. Qasr means castle in Arabic, but it’s thought that it was just a fortified villa. It had some great preserved carvings of lions on the corners and panthers on the sides that used to spit water as the castle was originally built on an artificial lake. The village is a very quiet place and I had the whole castle to myself. Awesome!

Well, unbeknownst to me the bus service from Iraq-al-Amir stops in the early afternoon. Why, you ask? I don’t know. Lucky for me Evan drove by and with his limited English and my even more limited Arabic, he was able to get the message across and gave me a ride several miles up the road to where the bus was still running. Once again, a nice local saved the day and I got back to Amman with only one complaint, being exceptionally sweaty.

All the pictures from Amman and Iraq-al-Amir are here

Finally, a tour of the castles way out in the eastern desert. It’s the big arm of Jordan that stretches east, sandwiched between Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Syria. In fact, the only signs I saw on the highway were ones that indicated how far it was to the next country. It’s a seemingly very desolate place.

The area was apparently much greener in ancient times, but to see it now, it amazes me that people were able to live and thrive here. The first castle we saw was Qasr-al-Haranah. Not much is known about it, but it’s believed that it was just a meeting place, an oasis in the desert, and it’s believed to have been built in 710 AD. There’s also evidence that it was built over a previous Roman structure. It’s very photogenic!

Next, Qasr Amra was built as a sort of hunting lodge/bath house for the Umayyads. Inside are some pretty risque, by Islamic standards, and well preserved wall paintings of hunting scenes and nude female bathers. And further out on the edge of the village of Azraq, is Qasr-al-Azraq. It was built by the Romans over previous Greek structures and later used by the Umayyads. It’s claim to fame however, is that Lawrence of Arabia stayed here with his men in the winter of 1917. The building in the middle of the courtyard is a mosque constructed later.

On the way back to Amman, I talked Fouad, my guide, into taking the northern route so we could pass by two other smaller castles, Hammam-as-Sarah and Qasr-el-Hallabat. We also passed by the Syrian refugee camp which currently houses around 35,000 refugees. Jordan had taken in a total of 1.4 million refugees from Syria, though many are starting to go back. Fouad tells me we are about 45 minutes from the border, which is open, but extremely dangerous.

See more of the eastern desert right here

Well, this has been a great start to what looks to be a great middle eastern adventure, but for now, it’s time to say goodbye to Amman. Don’t worry though, I’m going to be in Jordan for a while. Tomorrow I head out for stop number two so stay tuned…