Trip Day 5 - Jerash and Ajlun

Official itinerary:

Discover Jerash and Ajlun • Home-Hosted Dinner 

Today, we'll explore ancient Jerash, the world’s best-preserved and most complete Greco-Roman city. First established as a town in AD 70, it’s a sprawling open-air museum of monumental temples, baths, theaters, and lovely Byzantine churches. We’ll be greeted by the triple-arched gateway built to honor the arrival of the Emperor Hadrian in AD 129. Next to Hadrian’s Arch stands the massive hippodrome, partially reconstructed. Wander through this amazing site and marvel at the Zeus Temple, Oval Plaza, and splendid avenues and plazas lined with graceful colonnades.
We’ll have lunch in Jerash, and then drive through fertile green hills lined with olive groves to Ajlun—famous for its imposing Saracen castle. Built in the late twelfth century by the nephew of Saladin, it is known as Qalat ar-Rabad and dominates the skyline for miles.
Back in Amman this evening, we are the guests of local residents for dinner in their home and a personal glimpse of Jordanian life.

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Tuesday September 5 

I think we started at 9 am (already forgot). The couple from Houston had finally arrived at about 3 am or so. Now we are 12 plus guide. 

Iyad tells as that we will drive about 35 to 40 miles. He uses the time to give us a lot of info. He is Muslim but knows a lot about the Bible. He tells us that here are 95 biblical sights in Jordan. 

After a while we stop to take a guard from the tourist police on the bus(in uniform with weapon). He sits in front next to the driver. A nice young man. We think "uuhhh, is this necessary" but Iyad says it's the law for groups more than 7 and just routine. 

I look out of the window and marvel how different everything looks. Interesting. 
VIDEO!   (3:25 with slo-mo)

Suddenly I yell that there is a tire rolling next to us and sometimes a little in front or behind. It was a site to behold. 

Finally we are at our first destination. This is Jerash.
First we walk through a hall with tourist stalls and at the end is a cafe. Our meeting point at the end. 

Hadrian' Arch is the first thing you see and very impressive. 

A panorama photo (hope it looks better on the computer). Looking at all my photos I find it most difficult to make a selection that gives the right idea about what we see and experience. 

VIDEO!   (0:43)

Looking through the arch in the previous photo you can see the Hippodrom on the left. 

Opposite it (chariot races) is a Byzantine church.  There must have been mosaics everywhere but most have not been excavated yet and some are covered with sand to preserve them. 

This whole place had been destroyed by an earthquake and had been "lost" for a long time. 

Hadrian' Arch from the other site. 

The Hippodrom on the other side. 

Arches under the "bleachers". Not much has changed. 

Straight ahead to the next arch. Actually, the city had 4 arches/gates ... north, south, east, west. The 4 splendid avenues formed a cross. A standard roman city surrounded by a city wall. 

From the other side. 

Going further. On the right used to be all the little shops. You can clearly see the foundations. 

Behind James is the oval plaza which is now turned into a concert evenue for Andrea Bocelli on the 19th of September. 

A look to Zeus Temple. On the right a bit behind is the theater.  

Unfortunately I forgot to take photos.

I have two videos though which give a pretty good ides.
VIDEO 1   (0:48)
VIDEO 2   (0:38)

I climbed to were James is in the photo above too. To the left of him is this "tunnel" which I checked out. 

I found a walkway sloping down on the outside to ground floor. Much safer then climbing down. 

We are still walking further. Here is a lovely view, also of the "new" town. 
VIDEO!   (0:50)

Amazing, the grass is like straw and these are like dried flowers everywhere. Nothing green. No rain. 

There was another temple grander then Zeus'.

Iyad spilled just a little water for us to see that there were mosaics under our feet still not recovered by the Department of Antiquities. 

Forgot what this building is. Sigh. But I went across the way up the hill a little to get a better look. The white roof belongs to vendors who wanted to sell us water. 

And this was really incredible. The roman architects were very clever. Earthquakes can happen almost everywhere. They rounded the edges underneath the huge columns. If you stick your fingers into the crack you can feel it rocking. There was a nice breeze. 

Well, we didn't go any further but turned around here. 

Back across the plaza thru Hadrian's Arch to the cafe. 

The bus took us to lunch. This was a huge oven and fun to watch the baker. 

Short fun VIDEO!   (0:11)

This is the bread which comes out of that oven. 

OMG another spread like yesterday. 

Across from us the Muslim prayer had just started. 5 times a day at appointed times. Written in granite. 

This is my main course. Mixed grill. They always cover it up. 

Was nice. 

 

On the way out we saw that we could have ordered a water pipe. It's "only" tobacco but for about 40 minutes and it is the equivalent to three packs of cigarettes. 

We continue on the highway. Our destination is Ajlun Castle on top of that hill (photo taken from the bus).

It was quite a steep hill at the end. Doesn't look like it here. 

The castle had a moat. 

We wander through the rooms of the castle. This was a Byzantine church with a mosaic floor. 

We wandered through the rooms up to the top. On a sign it said: The upper level of the castle offers breathtaking views in all direction. The view to the north overlooks the mountains of Lebanon, Bisan in Palestine, Lake Tiberius, Al Sheikh Mountain, Jordan'snorthern hills and The Valley Wadi al Yabis. To the west are the scenic hills of the West Bank, the mountains of Lebanon and the Jordan Valley. On a clear night, one can see the lights of Jerusalem. 
VIDEO!   (1:06)

 

 

On a way down we poked into some more rooms. 

 

 

Time to go back. Iyad asked whether we wanted the opportunity to go into a liquor store. While James was getting some beer I walked a few steps to take a photo of the castle. 

Back to the hotel. Refreshing and off to dinner which was hosted by a local family. It was a very sweet couple with four children. Hadi, the husband/father, spoke very good English. First we were offered little cups of coffee (espresso size) which was very nice. 

The main dish was something else. 

I made a VIDEO (asking of course whether it is alright ... 0:43).

First came the pots which looked like they were full of rice. Then they put the trays on and turned them upside down. 

After that they lifted the pots and hers came out perfectly. "Upside down chicken" because now pieces of chicken like legs and breast where on top. There were no veggies in this version. She sprinkled some almonds over it and served. Very nice. 

I found this on the internet: Maklouba translates to ‘upside down dish’, and features roasted vegetables, a meat of choice and an accompaniment of spiced rice. But it is presentation that counts here, because these ingredients are not plated side by side. No, that’s too easy. Jordan clearly took a look at pineapple upside-down cake and scoffed “please, we’ve done this for hundreds of years – with meat.”  Please note that this dish can also be spelled magloubeh, maglouba, maqluba, makloubeh and sometimes ma’aloubeh, and has its origins in the Middle East generally, not only Jordan.

After the meal the older children helped clean up without being asked. 

Then hot tea and cake was served. 

The youngest child was so cute. He went to his father for some cake. 

The oldest a girl and three boys, all very well behaved. It was fun. 

I hope they liked the host gift from Virginia.