February 25th: In Which I Retrieve my Stomach from the mid-Atlantic

Today was spent doing a city tour of Amman. 

After another grand breakfast (it's hard to get used to meals served buffet style again), we had a much earlier start at 9:00 instead of noon. But then we went to bed at 8:00 p.m. instead of 6:00 a.m.!

We began at the Citadel, where there is evidence of habitation from as far back as the Neolithic Period and is considered to be one of the world's longest continually inhabited sites.  The major remains are the Temple of Hercules, a Byzantine church, and the Umayyad Palace- interesting that each major era has a significant presence. The Citadel is located on one of the seven hills of Amman.



entrance to the Citadel with Temple of Hercules in the background

ruins at the Citadel with modern Amman 

Roman theatre from the Citadel



temple of Hercules

 in the Jordan Archeological Museum

We also visited the Roman Theatre at the foot of the hill opposite the Citadel. It had a capacity of 6000 Romans- but they must have sat quite close to one another! There is a smaller, more private theatre next door for the elite.




Barry climbed to the upper tier while I and my fear of heights only made it to the second tier.


Barry's view (That's me in the black in the left middleground.)


my view

There are a couple of ethnographic museums on the site as well- interesting to see the context of the clothing, jewelry, dishes, etc.

We ended our touring day with a wonderful lunch at one of Akram's favourite restaurants. Although Barry's stomach has been giving him some trouble in the last few months, he was able to eat almost everything without any ill effects. I regained my appetite (usually lost when I am jet-lagged) and managed to eat a good amount, too.




p.s. Lots of women and some men smoking tobacco with hookahs in the restaurant!

Not quite a full day but full enough for two tired travellers. Back to the hotel for a quiet night- but no need for dinner!


view from fourth floor terrace of our hotel (near the Turkish Embassy)










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