Back in Denver there was a mini-market in our neighborhood run by Ahmed from Jordan. When we told him we were leaving for a round-the-world adventure, he suggested we visit his country. Eight months later, when we finally started to plan where to go after Southeast Asia and Nepal, we remembered Ahmed's recommendation and decided to put Jordan on the itinerary.
On July 20, 2014 we left Luxor, Egypt and headed for Amman, Jordan. We arrived right as the sun was setting so we weren't at all surprised when we couldn't find the driver from our hotel right away (we figured he was praying and breaking his Ramadan fast). What did surprise us, however, was how many people offered up their personal cell phones to call our hotel to make sure the driver was on his way (and by people I mean people who were at the airport waiting for their family/friends to arrive…not airport staff). Jordan was quickly growing on us and we hadn't even left the airport!
The next day we set out to see what Amman, Jordan's capital, had in store for us. We headed up to the citadel, a settlement & fortress with artifacts dating back to the Bronze Age, and along the way passed an ancient Roman theater and some colorful stairs.
Once at the citadel, we were greeted by stunning views & the Temple of Hercules. We also learned that Amman was once known as Philadelphia - no wonder everyone in the original city of brotherly love was so friendly!
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| Brian showing his Herculean strength at the Temple of Hercules. |
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| The views from the top! |
Amman wasn't the only city in the region we explored with an intriguing history. We also toured Jerash, one of the best preserved ancient Roman cities in the Middle East. Jerash (known as Gerasa back in the day) has been occupied since the Bronze Age and it was visited by Emperor Hadrian in 129-130 AD.
Then there was Madaba, home to a 6th century map of Jerusalem (discovered in the late 1800's) and some other beautiful mosaics.
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| Don't let the fancy decor fool you. This is the public bus from Amman to Madaba. |
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| The map of the Holy Land. And it's a mosaic! |
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| One of the many other beautiful mosaics in Madaba. This one was the floor of Apostles' Church. |
And finally, we visited the biblical sites of the Jordan River (where Jesus was baptized) and Mt. Nebo (where Moses saw the Promised Land for the first time) and we took a dip … or float … in the Dead Sea.
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| The site where Jesus was baptized. |
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| Brian washing in the Jordan River. |
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| I asked Brian to strike a cool pose that demonstrated how he truly was floating in the Dead Sea. This was what he came up with. |
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| The view from Mt. Nebo. |
We found the people to be lovely and the historical sights fascinating, but what solidified our fandom of Jordan was the food. We can attest that the saying about winning people over through their stomachs is 100% true. Our friend Anwar, whom we met in Egypt, introduced us to Hashem, which remains our favorite restaurant of our entire trip. At this gem of a place we feasted on the most delicious pita, falafel, hummus, fresh tomatoes, mint sweet tea, and french fries. I kid you not - we enjoyed this simple yet superb meal several times a day.
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| Visiting with Anwar at Hashem. We can't thank him enough for taking us here! |
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| Our favorite meal. |
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| So good we had to share. Enjoying yet another meal at Hashem with Heather & Curtis, fellow world travelers whom we met during our tour of Jerash. |
We also have to give a shout-out to Kareem, our other friend whom we met in Egypt while he was on holiday from his studies. He and his friends (all from Central and South America but with Palestinian heritage and studying Arabic in Jordan) invited us to a birthday party and we had a blast dancing to Latin music and conversing in Spanglarabic, a mix of Spanish, English, and Arabic (they all speak Spanish and Arabic, some speak English, Brian speaks Spanish and English, and I just speak English). Thanks Kareem!
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