For today we arranged all-day trip to northern part of Jordan. We wanted to visit historical site in Umm Qais, Aljoun castle and ancient Roman city of Jerash. But before we went for an enrichment of our historical knowledge, we needed a breakfast. And as usual Hashem's falafel, was our choice with a slight difference. This time we ordered bigger falafels with sesame.
Unfortunately they weren't as awesome as the original small ones. Nevertheless, we ate them all and went back to the hotel to wait for our driver. Suddenly a black Mercedes parked in front of the hotel and tall dark guy came in to the hotel. A guy on the reception told us that this is our driver for today. We looked at each other, said YOLO, and went in to the car. Right after we got out of Amman, the driver stopped and asked us, if we want some coffee or some other refreshment. We weren't really sure what is going on and we responded with everything is fine. He came back with two sodas and two packs of biscuits for each of us. We were still not 100% comfortable with that much hospitality and generosity.
At first we went to the most northern place of our trip, Umm Qais. Somewhere on the way to Umm Qais the driver turned out of the way with explanation of better countryside. Things got weirder and weirder and at some point we weren't so sure about everything anymore. But it turned out that he just tried to really show us all beauties of Jordan. After some strange dead-end roads we finally arrived to our first destination. The old Roman ruins (Umm Qais) are located near to the border with Syria. At the entrance to the ruins there was a man selling roasted peanuts. He was a nice man and gave us peanuts for free.
We entered the place and at the top of the hill there was again amazing view. We could actually see the See of Galilee.
Beside the view we also saw some remains of Roman empire.
And as expected the Roman theater.
We proceed to our next destination, Ajloun castle.
This fortress was build to protect Jordan from invaders from Syria. It also controlled the entrance to the Jordan Valley. Therefore, the view was really breathtaking.
After Aljoun castle we went to the ancient Roman city of Jerash. We arrived to the entrance of the ancient city. The driver proposed 2 hours for whole ancient city walk-through. We paid entrance fee and when we came inside the place we was speechless. It was so magnificent...
It was actually very small place and we didn't know why the driver proposed 2 hours to see such a small site. Since we had so much time we walk around and suddenly...
... we entered the ancient city of Jerash. It was gigantic. So we started to explore the city. At first we saw a huge hippodrome.
After the hippodrome we entered to the Oval Forum through the door.
We walked through all sizes and sorts of colonnaded streets...
... in order to reach all sights. And of course there is no sight without theater.
Next in line came the Artemis temple.
And on the way back we also saw Zeus temple.
We were a little disappointed on how Jordanians didn't protect their rich heritage. In the ancient city there were a lot of locals, who were selling goods and didn't care about the site. We also saw a shepherds on the site.
Two hours were barely enough to explore entire ancient city of Jerash. And the driver was happy that we made it in proposed time. It was time to go back to Amman. We were hungry and thirsty. To satisfy our hunger we tried one more local speciality called mansaf. Mansaf is a dish made of lamb cooked in a yogurt and served with rice.
After dinner we decided to treat ourselves with fruit shakes: one strawberries with mint and the other one with blueberries, yogurt and ice cream.
Greetings,
Boris & Jerneja
Unfortunately they weren't as awesome as the original small ones. Nevertheless, we ate them all and went back to the hotel to wait for our driver. Suddenly a black Mercedes parked in front of the hotel and tall dark guy came in to the hotel. A guy on the reception told us that this is our driver for today. We looked at each other, said YOLO, and went in to the car. Right after we got out of Amman, the driver stopped and asked us, if we want some coffee or some other refreshment. We weren't really sure what is going on and we responded with everything is fine. He came back with two sodas and two packs of biscuits for each of us. We were still not 100% comfortable with that much hospitality and generosity.
At first we went to the most northern place of our trip, Umm Qais. Somewhere on the way to Umm Qais the driver turned out of the way with explanation of better countryside. Things got weirder and weirder and at some point we weren't so sure about everything anymore. But it turned out that he just tried to really show us all beauties of Jordan. After some strange dead-end roads we finally arrived to our first destination. The old Roman ruins (Umm Qais) are located near to the border with Syria. At the entrance to the ruins there was a man selling roasted peanuts. He was a nice man and gave us peanuts for free.
We entered the place and at the top of the hill there was again amazing view. We could actually see the See of Galilee.
Beside the view we also saw some remains of Roman empire.
And as expected the Roman theater.
We proceed to our next destination, Ajloun castle.
This fortress was build to protect Jordan from invaders from Syria. It also controlled the entrance to the Jordan Valley. Therefore, the view was really breathtaking.
After Aljoun castle we went to the ancient Roman city of Jerash. We arrived to the entrance of the ancient city. The driver proposed 2 hours for whole ancient city walk-through. We paid entrance fee and when we came inside the place we was speechless. It was so magnificent...
It was actually very small place and we didn't know why the driver proposed 2 hours to see such a small site. Since we had so much time we walk around and suddenly...
... we entered the ancient city of Jerash. It was gigantic. So we started to explore the city. At first we saw a huge hippodrome.
After the hippodrome we entered to the Oval Forum through the door.
We walked through all sizes and sorts of colonnaded streets...
... in order to reach all sights. And of course there is no sight without theater.
Next in line came the Artemis temple.
And on the way back we also saw Zeus temple.
We were a little disappointed on how Jordanians didn't protect their rich heritage. In the ancient city there were a lot of locals, who were selling goods and didn't care about the site. We also saw a shepherds on the site.
Two hours were barely enough to explore entire ancient city of Jerash. And the driver was happy that we made it in proposed time. It was time to go back to Amman. We were hungry and thirsty. To satisfy our hunger we tried one more local speciality called mansaf. Mansaf is a dish made of lamb cooked in a yogurt and served with rice.
After dinner we decided to treat ourselves with fruit shakes: one strawberries with mint and the other one with blueberries, yogurt and ice cream.
Greetings,
Boris & Jerneja
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