January 8, 2026

hfalk3
4 days ago
9 min read

Amman, Jordan

Our first full day in Amman. Amman is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is the capital and largest city in Jordan with somewhere between five and six million people. Jordan itself, as a country, is relatively new. The area now known as Jordon became a British protectorate after World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. It wasn’t until 1946 that Jordan gained independence and officially became known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

It is going to be a very nice day. It is just 06:00 and it is 12°C (54°F) and is going up to 21°C (70°F), the sky a a beautiful light blue with a few fluffy, wispy clouds. We all slept pretty well, but we also went to bed very late. I wrote for a while and then used the Nespresso March to make Mary coffee. It took three pods to get a reasonable cup of coffee.

Just before it had gone 09:00 we met Harry V in the lobby and headed to the breakfast room. They have a lovely spread for breakfast including an omelette station. Not Hotel Gallia nice but still a good selection of breads, fruits, meat and cheeses. After breakfast V headed back to his room as he forgot something.

Just as he came back we were greeted by Dr. Sami Al-Hasant who will be our guide, not only for today about also for we return on the 17th and go to Petra. Later we will find out that he lives in Petra. However, today we are going to see something of Amman.

Professor Sami takes us out to the car where Khalil, our driver, is waiting. Khalil is a common Arabic name linked to the title "Friend of God" (Khalilullah) given to Prophet Abraham. Which maybe prophetic give how people drive here in Jordan. Like the Italians the lines on the street are nearly suggestions which one can chose to follow or not. The roads, or streets in town at least, were once goat paths and wind around, up and down. Each and every intersection is a pinch point, and the traffic often just comes to a stand still until the lead car makes its move. Then the dam breaks and all the car rush to fill in the gaps. It is best to just rely on the fact that Khalid’s car isn’t all banged up.

Our tour today starts with a ride through the city. A lot of little shops, not yet open this morning, a few small “malls”, things are divided almost equally between Arabic and English, but there are few American stores. We are used to seeing a number of McDonalds, Burger Kings and Kentucky Fried Chicken places, there weren’t many, although there was a large billboard for Popeyes Louisiana Fried Chicken, didn’t spot an actual store just the bill board.

Much like Roma, Amman was initially built on seven hills, not it has expended to nineteen. Off in the distance we can see a few high-rise buildings, but for the most part the are limited to four stories, and Professor Sami says they all are a basic tan color. In part because of the building material available, sandstone, and because it was so dictated by the government.

On Jabal al-Qal’a, fortress mount, sits the Amman Citadel. This L-shaped hilltop towering over downtown Amman is an archaeological site, and is considered to be among the world’s oldest continuously inhabited places. Interestingly however it isn’t an UNESCO World Heritage site. Seems like it should be.

There is evidence that as early at 1800 BCE the hill was fortified. It is known to have been the capital of the Kingdom of Ammon around 1200 BCE. Then a number of successions to the major powers of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Ptolemaic, Seleucid, Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad empires. It declined for a while after the Umayyads and basically became a pile of ruins used sporadically by various Bedouin tribes and seasonal farmers.

Many of the structures still visible at the citadel site are from the Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad periods. One of the major remains is the site of the Temple of Hercules. And now we get into an archaeological problem. That is a site which could be interpreted a dozen different ways. There is an inscription on the temple which indicates it was built during the period when Geminius Marcianus was governor of the Province of Arabia (161-166 AD).

The description of the temple is that it stood on a podium 43 m by 27 m (141 by 88 ft). The temple itself measured about 30 m by 24 m (98 by 79 ft), with an additional outer sanctum of 121 m by 72 m (397 by 236 ft). There was a portico at the front of the temple which appears to have had six 13.5 m (45ft) tall columns. However there is no indication that there were columns standing along the sides of the temple, as was the case with some other Roman temples. Some archaeologists interpret the lack of remains of any additional columns as an indication that the temple was probably not finished, and believe the leftover marble was used to build the Byzantine church nearby.

The remains of the temple and of the statue found near it offer reason to believe that the Amman temple was comparable in size with many of those in ancient Rome. But was it built to honor Hercules? Many archaeologists drew the conclusion that it was Hercules from the marble fragments of a colossal (13 m (42 ft) tall status. However, all that remains of the statue are three fingers and an elbow.

So the question is – who was the statue depicting? One archaeologist, a C. Kanellopoulos, wrote that while the hand fragment (the three fingers) and elbow fragment look in every respect as being part of the same statue. The muscular structure around the elbow excludes the statue from depicting Hercules. He seemed to think the fingers were to slender for a man, and that the fingernails looked feminine. Professor Sami stuck with Hercules. Who knows? It is large, looks like a lot of Roman and Greek temples we have seen. And it has an inscription which indicates it was built in the late 2nd century.

Ok, moving on, there are also the remains or ruins of a Byzantine church. There are several Byzantine churches in Amman from the 4th of 5th centuries AD. The one near the peak of the citadel hill is probably from the 6th century AD. It is difficult to see it and you probably wouldn’t if you didn’t know it was a church. Professor Sami and his later pointer were able to help us make out the structure and layout of the church. Once he did it was obvious.

Next to the Byzantine church, and just above it, was the Umayyad palace. The palace was built by the Umayyad Caliph Hisham bin Abd a-Malik in the early to middle 8th century. It is positioned at the northern section of the upper level of the Citadel. It is believed that the palace served as an administrative building or the residence of an Umayyad official. The complex contains an audience hall, four assembly rooms, and a colonnaded road. The palace architecture blends the Byzantine, Sassanian, and distinct Islamic styles.

The restoration of the palace is an on going effort involving the Spanish Archaeological Mission in Jordan. The project started in the 1970’s which included virtual reconstructions, structure consolidation and the rebuilding of the audience hall’s dome with modern materials in the late 1990’s. Archaeologists have been working at the site since the 1920s, including Western and Jordanian-led projects, but a great part of the Citadel remains unexcavated. Professor Sami suggests, somewhat ashamedly, that the Jordanians themselves don’t really care about their archeological history and tend to just build over things.

We saw a great number of different parts of the citadel. There is still a lot of work to be done here, and a lot of potential. As we are getting ready to leave, we stop and take in the views of Amman. Amman is a large spread-out city and the view from up here is quite breath taking. Below us in the valley in the center of the old city there are two 2nd century Roman theaters, and a colonnaded plaza.

So we leave the hilltop citadel and drive through the old town. Traffic is still a mess. It is hard to believe they have any public transportation system because driving through this mess would make keeping any sort of schedule impossible, but we pull up along side a bus. Yes, it is a smaller bus, maybe 20 passengers, but still a public bus. We weave in and out of traffic towards our obligatory tourist stop. Professor Sami says we aren’t obligated to buy anything, and they only stop here because the bathroooms are clean. Yea, right.

The shop we stop at is very nice, and yes they have clean bathrooms. Yes, they are willing to ship anything home, no problem. First, we don’t need anything. The chess sets are beautiful. The curved Arabian scimitars are beautiful. The mosaic are work and pendants are wonderful. Even if we did buy something we would have to send it home. I doubt I could get a large scimitar through customs, even if it would fit in my checked luggage.

The traditional Arabic coffee sets featuring the long-spouted pot called a dallah, coupled with the small handle less cups called finjaan, are beautifully made and looked great. Some are made of porcelain some of brass, and are often decorated with gold leaf. These handcrafted pieces reflect significant artistry and have significant cultural meaning. They are designed for ritualistic hospitality and made to serve coffee brewed with cardamom and served hot in small portions emphasizing generosity and tradition. Coffee is a cappuccino in the morning to help wake us up. Again, while beautiful neither practical or purpose serving at home, wherever that is.

We did get trapped by the Dolmen natural Dead Sea products. My weakness was the Dead Sea Bath Salts. Hey, I like a good tub soak and bath salts just make it better. There was a three for two “sale” on intensive body butter, so I got one, the free one, for myself. It was a total of 420 Jordanian dinars, a little less than $600 US, to get out of the store. Oh, well. At least these are things we can and will use. It is one of the things I’ll use when we get back to the hotel this afternoon.

From the restroom and lighten wallet stop we headed to lunch. Lunch is at Supra Restaurant. It was chosen because it serves a wide variety of Jordanian “homemade” dishes. The restaurant is housed in a lovely old villa in the Old Jabal Amman downtown area on the famous Rainbow Street. Ok, why is Rainbow Street famous? It is famous for being a vibrant cultural and social hub, a blending of old-world charm and modern trends. It is known for its bustling cafes, restaurants, art galleries, and shops. It si located in the historic Jabal Amman which was it own unique architecture and nearby cultural sites like Souk Jara.

The restaurant itself is said to combine the local Jordanian element with a contemporary touch. The exteriors open into a vibrant open-air rooftop which offered magnificent views of the old city. The food is said to combine the elements and aromas of the Jordanian kitchen and capture the spirit of the Jordanian palette through it wide selection of dishes and Levantine cherished beverages of arak, wine and beer.

I wish I could tell you what we ordered, but that was all done before we even got there. I tried to take a stab at it looking at the menu and thinking about food that was place before us. Forget it! There is simply no way. I have no point of reference. Jordanians, the like Spanish, are into tapas, although here they are called mezze. They come in two varieties – hot and cold. There is a lot of yogurt and lamb. No pork this is a Muslim country. We tried a Hugh variety of dishes and were unable to finish even a portion of them, however they should not be interrupted as we didn’t like them. We did! Photos below. Sorry about not knowing which is which.

After the very filling lunch, we headed back to the hotel. At first we didn’t think we would want any dinner, but later we decided that getting a little something would be a good idea. So, we headed down to Nur just off the main lobby. The description was “Lebanese gastronomy through a contemporary lens curated by culinary experts. Set in a space that evokes a grand Damascene home, guests are transported to a bygone era, where delicious homemade dishes, eclectic art, and distinctive décor awaken memories of the past. Nur is the prefect spot for relaxed dining with a Levantine flair”.

Mary chose “shoshbarak” which is Lebanese tortellini, garlic yogurt and white rice. V chose Kebbeh Nayyeh (fresh raw minced beef, cracked wheat, onions and spices). I chose the “One Meter Kabab”. Turns out is is a one-meter-long sausage with out a casing, French fries, tahini, grilled vegetables and pomegranate molasses. Silly me. The name itself should have given it away that it more food than all three of us could eat.