By Layla
A short plane ride (punctuated by an excellent re-watching
of the film Spy), an impressive whiz through customs, and hey presto: our
European wintery holiday had been transformed into a Middle Eastern
extravaganza. (Albeit the weather had not changed as much as we’d hoped...)
Having checked in to the very pleasant Heritage House Hotel near the First
Circle in Amman, we popped round the corner to Books@Cafe. Only hours after
looking at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, we were ensconced in a charming,
busy little bar/restaurant over an English-language bookshop tucking into our
first dose of hummus. Afterwards we strolled around Rainbow Street, enjoying a
rather pathetic but well-meant Christmas tree, and young boys in the square
doing some crazy synchronised dance and being impressed at how nobody hassled
us at all. An excellent first evening in Amman.
It was unfortunate to start Christmas Day with an alarm, but
holidays, of course, are no time for relaxing. And we clearly had to wake
especially early to exchange presents. I was delighted with my extravagant
array of books from Roz (including a newly translated Haruki Murakami – my
favourite author!) not to mention a selection of top Japanese animated films.
In turn I gave her some cool jewellery, various silly nonsense, and best of
all, a domino game about the geography of Europe. Well pleased, we had a quick
breakfast and then hopped in a car (with driver) and headed north, destination:
Jerash. Jerash is an old Roman provincial town and quite delightfully (a) it is
impressively preserved, so we could imagine people going about their business
in Roman times, (b) there were hardly any other visitors, and certainly hardly
any non-Jordanians, and (c) the sun came out and it was delightfully warm. What
an excellent, if off-beat, way to spend Christmas! We roamed all over the
ruins, climbing into temples, and strolling along market streets, and sitting
in the hippodrome, and the local theatre. Fabulous. From there it was off to
Aljoun, a Muslim Castle whose purpose was to defend against the Crusaders. A
cool castle, and we walked all over it, finishing in a brilliant view from the
top.
Back in Amman, we headed to a fancy café, Wild Jordan, for a
very late Christmas lunch of halloumi sandwiches and a few games of Europe
Mapominoes. I won. Just saying… Afterwards we went for a stroll to find the art
house cinema but since it wasn’t open, we had tea in a hipster coffeeshop (the
area abounded with these, rather unexpectedly!). Then we stuck our head in at
an art opening, before going back to our hotel to watch the first of my anime
film Christmas gifts: Summer Wars. Quite mad, but most enjoyable. It finished
just in time for our reservation at a fancy local Jordanian restaurant where we
finished Christmas in fine style with a spread of delicious mezze and even a
little Christmas décor.
The following morning we embarked on a walk through Amman’s
downtown, and up a giant hill to visit the ruins of the Citadel, then down to
the Roman Theatre, and finally we wheezed our way back up a thousand steps to
our hotel. Amman is a really nice city but there is something unpleasantly San
Francisco-ish about its many hills! We bid farewell to said hills in a taxi
bound for much lower climes: the Dead Sea!
Strange how 45 minutes of driving can bring about such a
change in weather. Suddenly, below sea level, we were warm and ready to float!
The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest seas in the world. I sampled its floaty fun
back in 1999, from the Israel side. I remember it being chaotic and a bit dirty
and not as magical as I’d hoped. Turned out I’d just done it wrong. This time
we checked into a fancy (but not especially expensive) hotel, and entered the
water from their private beach. And what fun! Beautiful, serene, pearly vistas.
Hilariously floaty water – not really possible to swim, but entirely possible
to read the paper while floating. We applied the Dead Sea to make our skin
extra-beautiful. And then took a little golf cart to bring us back up to the
hotel when we had had our fill of floaty fun. We finished our water fun in an
outdoor Jacuzzi, followed by a quick swim. What a fun day! That evening we read
our books in the bar, had dinner at a disappointing Italian restaurant, and
finished off watching 21 Jump Street at the hotel’s cinema. And feeling very
positive indeed about the Dead Sea.
This morning we were up far too early because whenever you
book anyone to take you anywhere, they always want to start early. We had a
delicious breakfast from the hotel’s extravagant spread, then bitterly waited
for a slightly late driver. He eventually turned up, accompanied by his small
daughter, ready to drive us anywhere we wished.
Today’s plan was to go down Jordan’s famous King’s Highway,
a road that winds past all sorts of interesting sights. Our first stop was
Mount Nebo. This is allegedly the spot from which Moses first saw the Promised
Land. Quite fun to be there, with the same view (albeit a tad obscured by
mist). We also saw a church, and the first of what would become a theme of
today: ancient mosaics.
If you’re in the market for ancient mosaics the place to go,
of course, is the Christian town of Madaba. We took a walk around the town,
visiting all the key mosaic sites. There was a little church with a full floor
of mosaic tiles, the centrepiece of which was a woman representing the sea,
surrounded by imaginary sea creatures. There was a vibrant floor mosaic
depicting a topless Aphrodite spanking Eros, and some rather good ancient wall
mosaics of townhouses. And of course, the most famous mosaic, housed in a Greek
Orthodox Church: the first known map of Palestine. We also enjoyed the nearby
café… and then headed to Wadi Mujib, Jordan’s answer to the Grand Canyon, for
some fabulous views.
Soon we were off again, this time to Kerak to see the finest
example of a Crusader castle in the desert. After a quick but tasty lunch in a
local place where our driver seemed to have friends, we headed up to the
massive castle. And proceeded to get fairly lost in its labyrinthine corridors.
Still not sure whether we saw any of the
main sights of the castle, but we walked around it for an hour, climbed the
turrets and had lots of fun. And then, after some more amazing views of
otherworldly desert cliffs and rolling landscapes, we arrived at this evening’s
destination: Dana!
When we told our Jerash driver we were doing to Dana Nature
Reserve, he laughed at us. “But it’s one of the best nature places in Jordan!”
we told him. “But it’s cold,” he responded. Our driver was not lying. Having
had a pleasant, if chilly dinner, we are currently huddled by an old gas heater
in an otherwise unheated and flimsy hostel pseudo living room. The hotel
workers are wearing ankle-length sheepskin cloaks. Roz and I are wearing seven
layers of clothing including four jumper layers, listening to the wind
literally whistling and hoping that our planned 6 hour hike in Dana Nature
Reserve tomorrow is worth it all!
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