Today was another busy day for the Baldwins. We ventured out to find the Roman ruins located in Amman. We left around 10:30 A.M. and Jake fell asleep about 3 minutes into the trip, which turned out to be a good thing. It should have take about 20 minutes to get there, but after about an hour and a half, we finally figured out how to get there. We were using a city map that only has the main roads. My iPhone wouldn't pick up satellites and the Garmin we just paid JD 240 ($338 USD) was sitting comfortably back on the kitchen counter. We got SO close on our first try, BUT traffic is terrible and Jordanians are CRAZY drivers, so we got pushed into the wrong "lane" and had to take a right where we needed to go straight for one more block then take a left and we'd have been there. The right put us on a one-way street full of vendors, stores, and traffic, which spun us around and got us going in the complete opposite direction of where we needed to be, but we finally made it, and it was worth it!
We went to the Roman Theater and Odeon, where our JD 1 ticket also got us admission into the Folklore museum and Jordan Museum of Popular Tradition.
Then we made our way up to the Amman Citadel, which also contains the Archaeological Museum. We didn't go into the museum because we didn't want to press our luck with Jake, but spent an hour or so enjoying the open air museum and sites of the Citadel. Below are some pictures from our day.
The above picture is of the Roman Theater. It was really big. I'm sure it doesn't compare to the Colosseum in Rome, but I was surprised at how big it really was. With the city built up all around it, the size from the outside was underwhelming, but once we went inside and walked up some of the stairs, it seemed so much larger. The top photo is a panoramic view from inside the Theater. The bottom left is a view from above at the Citadel (I think the building on the left is the Odeon). The bottom right is another view from inside the Theater.
The top three photos in the picture above are of some of the statues that once surrounded the Theater or were placed somewhere within.
The above picture is of some bracelets in the Museum of Popular Tradition. Most of the exhibits were of clothing, jewelry or other body ornaments. The signs offered descriptions of the items and who wore them.
After the visiting Theater, we grabbed lunch at Hail Restaurant and Cafe. It was right next to the Theater and it was empty at 12:45 P.M. Chris asked the man if it as open and he seated us outside, handing us two menus then walked away. When he came back we began to order off the menu. He stopped us and pointed to five items we could choose from, so we switched our order completely and ended up with two kabobs. The food was once again, very good. Jake sat still better than usual, and we enjoyed our lunch.
Below is a picture of Jake "reading" the menu. He really does pretend to actually "read" and makes up stuff, usually spouting out any word that pops into his head at the time (usually something about Mickey, keys and locks.
Then we made our way to the Amman Citadel National Historic Site. This was also very grand in scale. Referred to locally as Jabal al Qala'a, the Citadel is one of Amman's oldest known places, perched on top of one of the city's high hills. This summit has been used as a settlement and fortress for millennia, dating back 7000 years according to some estimates, to the time of the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley. It has witnessed numerous sieges, wars and earthquakes.
Chris and Jake are on in this picture (left) at the base of the temple if you look closely.
The above photo show you where the remains were in relation to the actual temple as it once stood.
The middle right photo above (and below) is a photo of the Umayyad Monumental Gateway. It was the formal entrance into the Umayyad palace. Visitors would be screened here and then wait to be announced to the governor before entering the palace beyond. The bottom photo was the view from beyond the Umayyad Monumental Gateway.
The middle right photo is of some of the cisterns that held water for the Citadel. Because there is no natural water at the top of the hill, they had to capture each drop of rainwater that they could, not letting any go to waste. The bottom right (with Jake pointing to a kite flying nearby, and Chris), is the ruins of the entrance into the Umayyad Mosque.
Above is a photo of the water cistern or "Birka" in Arabic. The cistern supplied water to the baths latrines, and other areas of the Umayyad settlement.
Jake is our little Tour Guide.
Chris and Jake taking a break.
Below are a few pictures from our drive to and from our adventures today. All are taken through the car window so I don't have much history behind anything in the photos, but thought they were worth sharing as "neat" photos. I'm not sure which mosque is below, but there was a huge church directly across the street.
(Below) This is the back of a bus. Apparently the words faintly written with a Sharpie on the back of the bus are the places the bus stops. Want to go downtown? This is the bus for you, "Downtown" is so officially written on the back of the bus...who wouldn't want a ride? To be fair, this is not the wealthy neighborhood we live in, so I guess you get around however you can get around. We still found the Sharpie font funny.
Above is the bridge that takes us back into our neighborhood. It's a really interesting architecheral structure and thought it was worth posting.
And...
Just a few selfies to leave you with...
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