Our Own Tour Day
Trip Start
Feb 24, 2008
1
2
14
Trip End
Mar 03, 2008
Amman,
Jordan
Monday, February 25, 2008
What a great day we had.
Annie told me that the call to Mosque woke her at around 5:30 AM. Apparently I stirred but have no memory of the call. Annie did go straight back to sleep :-) May it be that way for the rest of the trip.
We got up and were at breakfast at ten to ten, the dining room closes at 10 AM. When we arrived, the waiters looked at us in horror and panic as they had already packed everything away. Never fear, the manageress told us to have a seat and she would bring us some breakfast. She arrived with plates of boiled eggs, tomatoes, cucumber, cream cheese, toast and jam. We sat eating breakfast, drinking tea and coffee and chatting about Jordan until around 12H00 when we decided it was time to move on. We toured the hotel, checked out the empty underground swimming pool, got our stuff together and went off to hail a cab.
Our trusty Lonely Planet guidebook has a guided walking tour that we decided to do, the only difference was that we did it in reverse order. The only problem with this is that we had to keep checking the directions to ensure that we got the left's right and the right's left :-)
I think it is a much better way around of doing the tour as we started off with the ruins of and views from the Citadel, known in Jordan as "Jebel al-Qala'a".
Views of Amman
From the remaining ruins, it must have been quite amazing in its heyday with great views of the Roman Theatre and Forum. There has not been much done in the way of renovation apart from the Domed Audience Hall of the Umayyad Palace where the dome was recreated and looks pretty impressive.From there we walked down the fairly long stairway to the Roman Theatre and Forum, stopping at various places to admire the view and take a photo or two.
When in Rome, or is it that Jordan?! As the locals do, we admired the ruins, wandered around the area and sat and watched the world go by for a while.
On our way to the Souq we ventured into the Nymphaeum. This was an area of fountains and possibly a swimming pool dedicated to the mythical nymphs, young girls who lived in and around the rivers. It is supposedly being renovated but, apart from an elderly gentleman sitting at the works caravan, we were the only people there. No complaints from us.
Then we made for the mayhem of the Souq. First was the fruit and vegetable Souq which was filled with colourful stalls and loud, cheery voices of stallholders shouting out their deals of the day, we bought a few bananas and oranges from a couple of them.
Next we found a coffee and nut shop. A strange combination but a great one for a few reasons; we bought some cashew nuts, savoured the wonderful roasted coffee bean aromas and sheltered from the sudden downpour that turned into hail!
Our backwards route took us past more magnificent smelling coffee bean roasting shops, bread baker where we had to buy a sample, herb and spice shops, material shops, clothing shops selling intricately embroided clothing, risqué Islamic lingerie shops(?), a view of the King Hussein Mosque, jewellery shops with jam-packed windows of gold and silver bracelets, bangles and rings, the ornate Arab Bank building and finally to the start and end of the walk, the Hashem restaurant.
Being serious foodies I am really pleased we bothered to find and try out the Hashem restaurant.
Views of Amman
They serve Hummous, Falafel, Fuul (Fava beans and chickpeas) and flat Khobz bread. Cutlery is not an option so we tucked in and oh what a meal it was. They serve tea with the meal. Our first cup came pre-sugared and VERY sweet so we learnt and asked for no sugar the next time around. This delicious banquet came to a mere 2.5 JD (Jordanian Dinar), about GBP £2 / USD $4!We wandered down the road to Habiba alleyway takeout to sample another Jordanian delicacy, Kanafa. Shredded dough on top of cream cheese, smothered in syrup and absolutely delicious. We shared a small portion and am not convinced we could manage more as it was a BIT rich.
As everywhere else we experienced today, everyone was really friendly and welcoming but almost entirely male dominated, apart from Annie, two brave local ladies and a small American group that arrived as we were leaving.
We wandered off to the street, hailed a taxi and headed back to our hotel to meet our tour guide for the next week, Issa. He will be fetching us at 8H30 tomorrow morning to start the tour.
Comments
Ha...
I have heard of these Islamic lingerie stores. Apparently women in the Arab world spend a LOT on underwear. It's big business!
Louise Brown
TravelPod Community Manager