Jordan - Days 1.5

I returned from a 3 day trip to Jordan yesterday and I must say that I think I may officially love that country. After a 2 hour ride to the Shiekh Hussein checkpoint just north of the West Bank I entered the "terminal" where I had to pay my exit tax of 88 shekels and then get my exit stamp. From there I boarded a bus which took me a 1/2 mile to the Jordanian border. My first impression of Jordanians were that they were extremely friendly, helpful and willing to talk. After paying for a 1 month visa (10 JDs), I had to go through customs and then get a taxi that would take me to Amman. My taxi driver's name was Huwwari and although he didn't know any English, I somehow managed to communicate in my extremely poor Arabic.

We drove through the beautiful and lush Jordanian valley, zipping through a number of small villages where the vegetable markets lined the sides of the road. I couldn't help but smile as I heard the sounds of the vendors shouting out their deals of the day. After being in the valley for about an hour, we turned east and headed up onto the winding mountain roads that would take us to Amman. Once I got to my hotel I was tired from a full day of travel (which geographically should only take 1 hour), but because of border "security" ended up taking 5+ hours, I crashed for the night.

View from my hotel room --- notice the 2 minarets from the mosque on the right side and the 2 crosses from the church on the left side.

After footoor (breakfast) I started walking in the direction that I believed the city center to be in. About 20 minutes later I was downtown with all the glorious hustle and bustle that only the city center of a Middle Eastern country could present. I wandered for hours amongst Amman's many shops and markets and had lunch at a wonderful restaurant by the name of Jebri. I sat outside on the 2nd floor balcony eating hummous, bread, and tabbouleh while filling out my postcards, watching the action on the street below, and smelling the nargileh wafting over from the man sitting next to me.

View from my seat on the balcony -- downtown Amman.

I dropped my postcards off at the post office, picked up my map and headed towards the Roman ruins that dot Amman. The ruins and in particular the ampitheatre, which seats 7,000, are absolutely gorgeous and I was probably only 1 of maybe 10 tourists there. It was fabulous. The men that worked there were again extremely helpful and charming. An old man by the name of Muhammed took me around to show me different aspects of the theatre that I may have missed. At first I thought he wanted a fee, but he said that it was free of charge so he took me around to a smaller theatre near the large one and then up to a bazaar that sold an eclectic mix of old and new. I ended up buying an old ring, thanked Muhammed for his time and headed back to the hotel.

Jordan.... who knew?