Jordan and Italy--and now We're Back!

 

The North Theater (yes, there's two) at Jerash, and the modern city beyond.

Yes, our month-long trip has ended, and we’re back in our apartment in Montpellier. Spring is well underway here, the trees are leafing out… but we’ve talked of that before! Now we want to know about Jordan. And Sicily, and Rome. On this extensive and carefully planned trip we were joined by Paula’s long-time friend Sue and her husband Alan. 

Well, we did start out in Paris, where we met Sue and Alan, but that was a short stay, and long ago. The traffic was terrible, there were overflowing garbage bins (some on fire), the manifestations (demonstrations) were ongoing. It rained.

 

The Lady and the Unicorn, one of the fabulous tapestries at the Cluny in Paris.

But it was still Paris! We had a good time regardless, with a visit to the Musée d'Orsay, the Cluny and its fabulous Unicorn Tapestries, a boat trip on the Seine (finally!) in the rain, and some general strolling around. But our real interest was getting on to Amman, and Jordan.

          Amman, and Jordan

We flew into the Amman airport just as sunset gave its golden glow to the desert surroundings. We were met by our driver, Hamdan, who was very personable and outgoing. We would spend a lot of time with him on the road!

(I should mention here that Paula and Sue had spent many weeks, starting six months in advance, planning and setting up this trip. Our entire itinerary, including where—and when—Hamdan would drive us had been set up well in advance.)

 

Hamdan--and his car--with Paula in front of our hotel.

By the time we arrived at our hotel (The Y Hotel, associated with the YWCA; very pleasant, in a non-descript part of town) the sky was mostly dark. We needed dinner; what ended up being our one outing into Amman was to a recommended restaurant a few blocks away. 

They served chicken; it looked like a fast food place, with many young people energetically coming and going. We were seated at a table covered in chicken bones, but the waiter grabbed the corners of the clear plastic sheet and whisked that all away, replacing it with a clean plastic sheet. We got piles of incredibly wonderful roasted chicken for very little money, and soon our table was again covered with bones. A large group of noisy young folks arrived just as we were finishing, and we were glad to leave them our table, watching as our mess was whisked away and another clean plastic laid down.

 

Night life in Ammon! Or, at least, ours.
(Photo: thanks, Google!)

That, and endless traffic in the rain, was our experience of Amman. 

The next morning we were off, in the rain, to  a) find SIM cards and  b)visit nearby Roman ruins. Driving in Ammon is not quite as free-form as some places, but the rules of the road were certainly taken only as suggestions. Hamdan was quite at home, weaving in and out. A few days later I met an English fellow who had driven himself through Ammon; he said you just had to intuit what the other drivers would do. I was very glad it was Hamdan behind the wheel, and not me!

 

The Oval Plaza at Jerash.

          Jerash

A massive Roman city, quite magnificent in its day. Now it’s all a ruin, of course! But it’s clear, from the rows of columns, and temples, and amphitheaters that this was a large and serious city. There is evidence that Jerash was preceded by a Greek city called Gerasha, settled by soldiers from Alexander the Great’s army in 331 BCE. By the time  the Roman Emperor Hadrian visited in 130 CE Jerash was a very prosperous city.

 

South Gate, aka Hadrian's Arch, built to commemorate the visit of the emperor in 130.

Alan and Paula explore the back side of the Arch.

 The long colonnaded streets and vast public squares are impressive. Most striking, though, is the extent of the city. It’s really huge! We spent most of the rainy day wandering through the unearthed streets. We’ve been to Roman ruins from Morocco to Spain and on into England, but these are the most extensive we’ve ever seen. (And just a note: it ain’t the month of May yet, but those March showers brought out acres of beautiful green grass dotted with tiny yellow flowers. Made the rain worthwhile.)

 

Mosaic floor of a church built around 530.

Sue and Alan singing in the rain.

Seen on a stroll along the Cardo Maximus, the main colonnaded street.

Paul, hiding his camera from the rain.

View towards the Temple of Artemis along Cardo Maximus.

Sue and Paula at the far end of Jerash.

Temple of Artemis (what's left of it!)

A guide at the Temple took this wonky photo!

A final look at Jerash across the flower-dotted fields.

    Mt. Nebu

The next day we climbed Mount Nebu, where Moses stood to look into the Promised Land (he was not allowed to enter because he had displeased the Lord; at least, that’s what’s written in the Old Testament). 

Well, more exactly, we sat in the car as it climbed to the visitors’ center at the top. The day was gray and rain never far, but the view of the fertile valleys, and the tip of the Dead Sea, was still impressive. And it slowly sank in: this was the true Bible country, the Old Testament land where it all happened. Moses and the other prophets, John the Baptist, Noah and his boat, Lot and his salty wife. All long before the Romans came and built those extensive colonnaded streets in Jerash.

 

View from Mt. Nebu, still impressive even in the rain.
(And that must be the Dead Sea, 'way over on the left.)

After a bit we trouped back to the car and drove down the mountain, impressed and humbled.

         

          Petra and Wadi Rum

We’ll come back to these places in another blog; there’s just too much to say about them!

 

          The Dead Sea

Our last two nights in Jordan were spent in a luxury resort on the edge of the Dead Sea. It was a bit strange, given that we almost never go to resorts. Add in that this place was nearly deserted, and it was quite bizarre.

 

Us, live from the Dead Sea.

The resort—one of several in the area—was a well-landscaped complex with pools and several five-story buildings. Our apartment was large and well-appointed, with views out over the Sea. But this was Ramadan, the month-long period when devout Muslims around the world fast during daylight hours and focus on praying, internal reflection, and reading the Quran. Not exactly a good time for believers to go to a luxury resort! We didn’t mind being alone, but it was a bit strange.

 

Floating--quite easily--on the Dead Sea.

We did make our way down the path to the edge of the Sea (a small, rocky beach), where two Russian women gave us some tips: don’t soak for more than 15 minutes, don’t, really don’t get the water in your eyes, and oh, by the way, that big urn up near the shower is the mud bath. 

Mud bath time!

We all floated around for a bit (and yes, it is very easy), lay in the sun for a while, then found the urn and covered ourselves in the black mud. A bit more laying around, and we carefully entered the water again to let the mud dissolve away. 

Aside from that, the other thing we did there was go to dinner. We found a wonderful seafood restaurant, open before sunset to those not fasting, where we had a great fish meal. It was so good, we went back the next evening and had the same meal! 

Then Hamdan showed up at the resort gates at midnight and took us to the airport for our 3AM flight to Palermo, Sicily. Good bye, Jordan. And thank you, Hamdan!

After our midnight ride to the airport... good bye, Jordan, it was a heck of a trip!

Next up: We're not hardly done with Jordan yet: there is still the incomparable ancient city of Petra, carved into the rocks, and the orange desert of Wadi Rum. Much to tell still! 

24 April 2023

On the Road in Jordan and Sicily

 

Paris at night, in the rain.

Well. We’ve been on the road, and things have been happening too fast to keep up, let alone write about! But let’s try to recap.

 

Our trip started about two months ago… well, the calendar says three weeks. It just feels like months. We went to Paris. Thanks to train strikes, though, we had to cancel our first three train reservations. Finally, we flew, arriving a day late to meet our friends, Sue and Alan from Oregon. Again, due to strikes, the sidewalks were stacked high with garbage bags. And, it rained. But we managed to have a good time anyway (hey, it’s still Paris!) 

Then we flew to Ammon, Jordan, and things really started happening. We didn’t get to explore Ammon itself, because we kept going elsewhere. Specifically, the incredibly extensive Roman ruins at Joresh, and Mount Nebu, from which Moses saw the Promised Land (which he was not allowed to enter because of his moment of doubt). Legend puts his grave on the mountain, although no one is quite sure where, exactly. We were thrilled, though, to look down on the Dead Sea, and the fertile valleys surrounding it. This is biblical territory. Lot and his salty wife. John the Baptist. Noah (the guy with the ark). The aforementioned Moses, and his brother Aaron. Amazing!

The ancient Roman city of Joresh. Rows of columns!

Paula and I surrounded by tall columns, the remains of a temple to... some Roman deity!

View from Mt. Nebu; that's the Dead Sea on the left.

But before we really could grasp the full significance of all that, we were off to Petra, an ancient city carved out of cliffs. Made famous socially (sadly! as it was already famously historical) by an Indiana Jones movie where Indy rode past the incredible façade known as the Treasury. We spent the day winding our way through the siq, the narrow slot between fantastically high and fantastically colored cliffs. We returned to our hotel tired and sore, only to do even more the next day.

 

The temple called the Treasury, carved into the rock face at Petra.

Our second day of hiking at Petra took us through this landscape...

...to get to this, called the Monastery; also carved into the rock.

After that our trusty driver, Hamdan, took us the two hours to Wadi Rum, a protected desert area, where we spent a couple of nights.

 

The desert at Wadi Rum. Quiet... and orange!

The desert is quiet. Very very quiet. And orange. And quite intense in its tranquility. (Well, at least until the water truck came by and spent a half-hour pumping water!)

 

One feels very small out here!

After that it was a four-hour drive (Hamdan again!) through the Jordanian desert to the north shore of the Dead Sea, where we spent a couple of nights in a high-rise luxury condominium resort. That was pretty much empty, except for us. (It was the start of Ramadan, a month-long period where the Islamic faithful refrain from eating and drinking—and smoking—during daylight hours… so things were a bit slow!)

 

Sue and I, not dead but floating on the Dead Sea.

Then we were back in Hamdan’s car at one in the morning to get to the airport for a 4AM flight. After a couple of stops (Athens, Rome) we landed in Palermo, Sicily for the next phase of our trip.

  

So, that’s the overview. There is a lot alota detail to fill in, but tomorrow morning we’re off to the Roman mosaics at the Villa Romana del Casale, somewhere in the middle of Sicily. We have many, many tales to tell. But we’ll catch up eventually!

  

Overview of the Roman ruins at Joresh. Did I say they were extensive?