Travels to Egypt, Jordan and Israel: Jordan

We say good bye to Egypt and hello to Jordan. We are not alone. A group of 5 ladies are traveling to Jordan with Odessy Tours. Amman is also called the White City because everything is built with white limestone and it is situated on 7 hills, like Rome.

We are met by Fadi who walks us thru visa and customs quickly. The airport is two years old and just beautiful. We met our driver for the day Wasef (meaning scriber). First stop is the Citadel.

This is the site of the ancient city Rabbath-Ammon. The two tall columns are part of the Temple of Hercules built around 166 CE during the reign of Marcus Aurelios. Hand from the statue of Hercules

Also on this site is a city built by the Umayyads in the 8th century. Below us are the remains of a roman Theatre build in 161 BC

We stop for lunch at Hasham oldest falafal house in Amman. We got a wrap which was had hummus, falafal, and french fries! Permanti Brothers of Amman.

Wasef took us on a driving tour of the city while we ate lunch. It is nice having staff😜 There are homes that rival the biggest homes in Pebble Beach but you have to know families all live together. They need all that space.

We visited the Royal Auto Museum which is a collection of King Hussein's cars and motor bikes owned by the King. He was a bit of a car enthusiatist.

Day 2 in Amman area we are driving into the Jordan Valley which is part of the Great Rift Valley which extends from Syria to Mozambique. It looks much like CA to us. Lots of olive trees along the road, many nurseries with their spring plants ready for planting. Winter is over. We are having rain today which will knock the sand out of the sky to we can see it.

First stop is Ajloun to visit the 12th century military castle. From here the Muslim army faught of the Crusaders. On a clear day you can see south to the Dead Sea, west to the West Bank and north to the Sea of Galilee.

Next stop is Jerash, a well kept secret! It's called the "Pompeii of the East". It is the largest and finest of the ancient Roman cities found outside of Italy and rivaled only by Ephesus! This area has been occupied for 6500 years.

Temple of Artemis

We spent 2 1/2 hours with a tour guide to see the entire site. An unexpected surprise for sure.

Last stop was As Salt, the capital at the time of the Ottomans. As a result it has great Ottoman architecture and the buildings are all a cream color rather than the white limestone we have seen everywhere else. Jordan just celebrated 100 years of freedom from the Ottoman Empire after WWI when the world was sliced and diced.