Entering Jordan and the Citadel

Early this morning I made the journey from the centre of Cairo to the airport in order to catch my flight to Amman in Jordan. At 5am Cairo is wonderfully peaceful, and not gridlocked with cars! It had not been possible to approach Jordan from any other route other than this, as the hotels all around Petra (where I am trying to get to) are packed out. Therefore I am staying in Amman, and am going to drive down there instead.

The flight was uneventful, but it was interesting to note that the plane has to fly south and go into Saudi Arabia before turning north to Jordan. The simplest route would of course be for it to head due east over Israel. Without asking why, I am suspecting that planes from Arab countries all avoid Israeli airspace, either through choice, or because they have to. I suppose some tensions still run high!

Anyway, I arrived in Jordan and was greeted by Mr Ali, a local taxi driver, who was only too keen to help me part with my tourist dinars when all I wanted was to get to the hotel. Still, he was incredibly friendly and was extremely helpful in showing me a few sights along the way from the airport to the hotel. My early impressions of Jordan are that it is much more friendly and welcoming a place than Egypt, and also less invasive of your personal space (i.e. if you say no, you are not pestered). Also, the people here seem really proud of being Jordanian, and the amount of times I have been asked “we hope you enjoy our country” is nice to see.

Amman is built on hills, and the urban sprawl looks great from on high

I actually arrived too early for my room, as it was still being prepared, and so I had a couple of hours to kill, which Mr Ali managed to fill for me by taking me to the Roman ruins at the Citadel in Amman and showing me the Amphitheatre, even coming along with me and taking a few photos for me. My love of old things, was enough to wake up my flagging body and I happily wandered around in the Jordanian sunshine snapping away at Roman columns.

The Citadel has had many influences over the years, it was firstly a Roman temple dedicated to Hercules, then later, a Byzantine Basilica was built here (6th-7th century), before the Umayyad Arabs arrived destroying the Basilica and they built a palace here ( 9th century). This was destroyed by an earthquake soon after completion, and it seems like all of these things had been left to ruin since that time until recent years, when preservation and restoration of the mosque (in particular) was undertaken.

The Roman temple to Hercules, or should that be Heracles....

Umayyad homesteads....well, what is left of them anyway....

Take my word for it, there are the remains of a 6th Century Byzantine church

Amman is built on hills, so you can get some lovely panoramas from on high of the whole city. The mountain that the citadel is on is the highest in Amman, and so commands spectacular views of the streets below, with one of the nicest being the view down to the Roman amphitheatre hundreds of feet below. The architecture of the city is gorgeous, really reminiscent of other Arabesque countries in North Africa. Combined with the sound of the mosques calling everyone to prayer, it really is a wondrous feast for the senses.

The citadel affords nice views of the Roman amphitheatre

After a couple of hours here, I returned to my hotel, and finally my room was sorted out. I am actually in a brand new wing of the hotel, and the smell of newness is still on the room!! All I can say is this place is lovely, nice and spacious, beautiful decor, a LCD TV, and more facilities than you could shake a stick at.

My room is smells brand new. I like the office in the corner allowing me to
keep my finger on the pulse of the international money markets. Sell, sell!!

Tomorrow I have arranged for another early start so I can make the long trek down to Petra, where I am hoping to find the Holy Grail that Indiana Jones left behind....I think all these early starts are catching up on me (I was up at 4:30am this morning), as this afternoon I just fell asleep for 2 hours (which is smething i rarely do). I am looking forward to returning to work, so that I can have a lie in....