Tipsy Cat in Jerash and Amman Jordan
Jordan had been on our wish list for quite some time, so we were really excited to finally get the chance to go. Quite unusually for us, we went on a guided tour. We didn’t really fancy hiring a car and driving ourselves (although it turned out that the roads were pretty good for driving on, and lots of people do it), and we weren’t too sure about relying on public transport or bargaining with taxi drivers to take us here and there. We decided to opt for a guided driver tour instead, and this worked out pretty well, especially as there was a lot to see, and we only had a week to cram in as much as possible.
Our adventure started on the plane – when flying over the Med, we were lucky enough flying above the clouds, to see an amazing storm off to the left – and far enough away from us to enjoy it!
We started off our tour of Jordan in the capital, Amman, and although we didn’t get a chance to see much of it, we did get an idea of just how steep and hilly it is. I’m pretty sure the people who live there are very fit indeed, as most of the inclines seem to be at least 1/12. We stayed at the Al Qasr Metropole, and it was very comfortable, had lots of nice art, and was round the corner from the supermarket – and you know how we love popping into local supermarkets to get a real flavour of a place!
For a small country, Jordan is jam-packed with more culture and history than you can shake a stick at, and there’s no better place to start shaking that stick than in the Roman city of Jerash. Dating back 6,500 years, it was occupied by the Greeks and the Romans – the Byzantines in fact, before becoming buried in the sand. Gerasa – as it was known then – was a beautiful, wealthy, city, and is today one of the best preserved Roman provincial towns in the world. There’s so much to see – and it’s a paved town, so make sure you / your human pet if you’re being carried about, wears comfy shoes, takes a hat, and is carrying water (or pomegranate juice that you can buy before your enter). We were there in early December, so it wasn’t blazing hot, but I can imagine it gets pretty sizzling in summer.
The first thing you see is the impressive arch, and the hippodrome, where we met a real-life 2,000-year-old gladiator. He was very friendly and was starring in a chariot race show.
Walking / being carried further down, and you get to the beautifully colonnaded forum, and you can get an impression of just how grand it must have been. Features of the trademark Roman genius can be seen everywhere, with streets running in well-planned directions, excellent pluming works and manholes to ensure good plumbing, and even the paving stones being laid diagonally so that speeding horsies wouldn’t get their hooves caught on the square edges of stones. You can still see the rut marks made by the chariot wheels too, as all the paving is original, meaning that you really are following in the paw-steps of the ancients.
Former shops, and a shopping mall – with central fountain court where, our guide reliably told us, all the blokes used to hang out (presumably checking their wax tablets!) while their wives went shopping (!) – can still be seen. Along with the beautiful temple of Artemis, and the lovely theatre. It really feels like you’re stepping back in time. Just outside the city itself is a nice restaurant which also caters for cats, so perfect if you’re feeling peckish after your long walk.
From there, we went back to Amman, seeing lots of lovely street art along the way, and went to the Roman citadel on top of the largest hill, Jebel Al Qala’a. It’s another great place to wander around, and the views are amazing. You can also see, way into the distance, the greenery surrounding the Royal Palace.
By the way, we can’t quite figure out how to put the photos in a slide show for you, so I hope you could see them OK. More to follow later. Thanks for reading!