Amman - lost in the circular maze

  Amman, Jordan
Saturday, March 11, 2006

I arrived from a freezing cold Petra to a freezing cold and wet capital of Amman on the muslim Sabbath (Friday), so the city was looking particularly forlorn, deserted and uninviting. Bit disconcerting that as I had five days to kill before being able to head to Syria and the majority would likely be spent here (as I had to get my camera fixed).


So after picking the best from a pretty bad bunch of hotels I settled in, catching up on the blog whilst watching the rain fall outside and occasionally sampling some of the good and cheap street food found in the old quarter of town.





I needn't have worried too much however - it rarely rains for long in this region I expect and next day the sun was shining over the urban sprawl. Built originally on seven hills (like Rome) it now encompasses nineteen peaks and low level, high density housing is the norm across the city.

Although excavations have found that the area was settled as far back as 3,500BC and that this occupation has been more or less continuous, it is not one of the great ancient cities. Its early heyday was around 1,200BC as 'The Great City of the Ammonites' of Old Testament fame and later in Roman times it was known as Philidephia, but as little as 100 years ago there may have been less than 2,000 residents here after a long period of decline since the end of the Byzantine period.



Hence there are few attractions to keep you occupied. The largest and most impressive is the Roman Theatre with its adjacent Odean and Forum areas in the east of the city. The Theatre could hold up to 5,000 and is remarkably well preserved for this mottled history - usually such structures are carted away stone by stone for later period building materials. Possibly the stone was just too big or medieval residents were just too lazy.



The wings now house a couple of Folklore and Popular Tradition museums which house a variety of period costumes, weapons and everyday implements used by the settled and nomadic people of the region throughout time. Jordan seems to do some good museums so they are worth a look as they are included in the ticket price for the Theatre.



Ladies will like the Popular Tradition exhibition in particular - plenty of intricate silver jewellery and dresses that you wouldn't mind finding good copies of in the stalls on the streets. It also has an impressive collection of largely complete mosaics sourced from old churches and villas around the place.



Apart from a bunch of mosques, about the only other place to visit is The Citadel - perched on the highest hill in town and still sporting a blue domed Audience Hall amongst the excavated ruins of an 8th century Umayyid palace. There's also the last remnants of a Roman temple up there but you have to be pretty imaginative to reconstruct it in your mind from the couple of columns still standing. Views over the city are the best in town from up here too.



The main beauty of the place though is at street level. I don't think the Jordanians are as friendly as the Egyptians but there is still great people to meet in the poorer, more conservative Old City that is commonly known as Downtown today. The streets are usually alive when you get out there and the shops and markets in the side alleys are a good wander to meet them. Because of the hilly terrain and the curving streets that wrap around the hills, it's an easy place to lose your bearings, but it's in no way threatening so you can let your feet take you wherever.

Amman won't be high on my list of places to return to - it's too bland, modern and westernised really - but I did end up enjoying the stay here and I did manage to eventually get my camera fixed. Many thanks to Studio Farouk for the fine work.

Next entry -> Roman Jerash and the Arab anti-Crusader castle of Ajlun

Technotrekker Travel Technologies - OS Software

Finally Microsoft has developed an Operating System that is stable, reasonably secure and hence reliable - Windows XP Professional Edition.

The power goes out in the hostel you're staying at? XP comes back without a hiccup or a Blue Screen of Death. Applications rarely hang or not respond. Plug in a new piece of hardware and most of the time it works automatically. It remembers Folder Settings, is pretty customisable, and Automatically Updates itself if connected to the internet to make the machine as secure as possible with as little hassle as possible. At the risk of mortifying good friends in the IT trade, Technotrekker actually likes it.

Whilst I will still consider options from Apple and Unix in the future, Microsoft has finally come to the party with a competitive OS that is a good benchmark and that will make switching to other options much harder. About time MS!