Jordanian Adventure

Four years since my last post - blame facebook! This trip is all about Jordan and Israel and I fly into Amman, Jordan, which is a very hilly city that spreads across seven hills just like ancient Rome. My hotel  - the Intercontinental -is very posh and is full of Arabs in traditional dress as there is an important summit in Amman while I am here. One very important (I could tell) man spoke to me in the lift in beautiful BBC English - a bit of a surprise and probably my only encounter with an Arab prince! Security is very tight and our hotel has a machine -gun tank guarding the front entrance – somewhat alarming! Although Jordan is a relatively new country, there is a citadel at the heart of the city that has been occupied since the bronze age, that overlooks the well-preserved Roman forum and amphitheatre. The city has been known by a few names – under the Romans it was known as Philadelphia - the city of brotherly love.  Naturally the first thing I do is catch a taxi to the citadel and after walking around the citadel which is dominated by the temple of Hercules and has fabulous views of the city, I visit the wonderful Jordan Museum which has an outstanding historical display of the development of Jordan over millennia and contains the oldest known statues in the world – around 7500 BC.  The eyes still have ivory inlay and are very haunting. 

However, the highlight of Amman is the wonderful shop called Habibah, selling just two sorts of sweets known as kanafah – a delicious dessert of warm cheese covered in syrupy wheat and sprinkled with pistachios.  I ate it in an alleyway surrounded by locals who, though friendly, find me strange and very amusing, possibly because I am wearing my colourful Queensland clothes whereas everyone else is in black! Jordanian food is very good for vegetarians I'm pleased to report as it has lots of vegetable mezze and dips. The local wine is good too, produced by the Christian people of Madaba and Mt Nebo.  I go on a wander around the downtown area which is noisy and fascinating. The souks are full of scarves and wonderfully embroidered dresses which I can’t resist, a stunning array of vegetables and fruits and weird and wonderful metal implements and is very atmospheric. It is not easy to find one’s way around, though, as street names can vary in spelling and are often absent, but people are generally helpful and it feels quite safe to wander around as a lone woman despite the number of men to women ratio being quite different to Australia!