Trip Day 4 - exploring Amman

Official itinerary:

Amman • Visit the Citadel and Roman Theater 

After breakfast, we explore this ancient city. Amman was once besieged and captured by King David and the Egyptian King Ptolemy, and occupied by the Byzantine Empire and Christian Crusaders. Today, it is a thriving modern metropolis that has taken great care to preserve its historical heritage. We visit Amman's citadel, with its blend of ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic ruins. We'll also have free time to explore the small archaeological museum, with its treasure trove of ancient coins, glassware, and statuary.
After enjoying the views of the Old City, with its 5,000-seat Roman amphitheater and lovely Abu Darwish Mosque, we continue to the older section of downtown Amman. We also walk through the “gold souk,” named for its concentration of gold jewelry shops selling unique local items. After lunch in a local restaurant, we continue our discoveries with a walk in the Jabel Amman area.
Tonight we'll set out for dinner at a local restaurant.

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Monday September 4

Our first "full" (tour) day. 

Breakfast. We ask the attending lady what something we had was  and suddenly she became very motherly and brought a plate with two different yoghurt ... one with and one without salt. And then she brought James something else he should try. 

At 9 am we were supposed to be in the lobby. Our guide Iyad was there with a small bus and driver also named Iyad. 

Of course guide Iyad started explaining things on the bus right away. First stop and we get out for photo-taking. Here is a link about Amman.

The blue mosque which is actually quite new (1987).

Right across the street is the Parliament. 



Also right across the street in the other direction: a Coptic church. We ask whether being a Christian could be a problem here and he said no. He gave us statistics how many numbers citizens, christians, Moslems, refugees etc etc during the day but I really can't recall.



Looking back at all three buildings.



A modern building photographed out of the moving bus. Gosh there was a lot to see.

Another stop. On one side of the road the mountain went straight up. The whole town is a mixture of new, posh and modern but also of dusty and crumbling right next door. 

Across the road the view to the citadel with Hercules temple.



We drive not far and we make the bus driver stop because this picture is just too cute.



A few more turns in the road and we stop again to walk. Amman is very hilly with very steep roads. We seem to be at the bottom now. 

This cafe (red sign) is supposed to be the best and most famous in this town.

Ha-ha, we didn't know we were going to be right at the bottom of our umbrella street. Iyad wants to take a group photo with each of our cameras. 

While we walk criss-cross around Iyad explains a lot. This is the restaurant with the best falafels. Even the King and his royal family like to come here. Iyad buys a portion so we all can have a try. They are very good. Oh yes.

Iyad leads us crisscross through the old town. 

And he buys us all a hot tea on one street corner.  Mixed feeling whether we should drink it but every day I get a little more adventures. 

When they decided all buildings need to be properly numbered (don't know when) this was/is the # 1 building. The first mosque. 

Crossing the street even was an adventure. We went through a souk (market).

A brief stop at the roman theater. 

And then the visit to the Citadel. 

A great view from here. 
A VIDEO from Citadel Hill  (0:39)

There is the first view of the Temple of Hercules. 

I love this. Old and new. 

The Temple of Hercules in the back and a Byzantine church in the front. 

In front of the museum these fingers found of the colossal statue of Hercules. 

Inside the museum several interesting objects. These clay-covered sculls are from a time 8000 to 4500 B.C.

Meeting point: the entry/exit. 

And now off to lunch. 

A nice cozy table. Not everybody there yet though when I take the photo. 

Lots and lots of food. Way too much to try. 

Those two filled things were very nice. 

My main dish. National dish number one (lamb, rice and a cheese sauce). Very nice. Just too much. 

Ah, dessert. 

Back to the hotel for a break and refreshing.  (And trying to work on the blog)

Off to dinner. 

A short drive to a very local place. I was reluctant to take photos. 

When we arrived back at the hotel a wedding just seemed to start in the pool area. 

James and I had a beer at the bar. There is never any alcohol with the meals. It's a mainly Muslim country. 

Back in the hotel the frustration with the blog really started. I couldn't do anything. No uploading to draft or even offline. Nothing but error messages. Something about having reached my photo limit. I didn't know whether the slow internet couldn't handle it, or my app or what. After many tries of different things I gave up for the night. Had to have some sleep. 

Otherwise a great day!