Take a ride with me through Amman. We start between Douar Sadis (6th Circle — Amman’s major roads converge on ‘circles’ or roundabouts) and Douar Gamis (5th Circle), right around the place where I work. The big building you see on the right is the Sheraton Hotel. We travel down through the tunnel to Zahran Street, a long street lined with nice sidewalks and plenty of trees. It’s a great area to live in, but you need some serious cash. You’ll be neighbours to the king, living in Zahran Palace. The big rounded building you drive straight at is Hotel Le Royal, a skyline landmark in Amman. After Zahran Street, we pass to the Third Circle (Douar Thlatis), Second Circle (Douar Teini) and First Circle (Douar Owal), getting us into the neighbourhood called Jabal Amman. This is a lovely authentic neighbourhood with thousands of steps and old houses. We end in Rainbow Street, at the doorstep of one of my favourite bars/restaurants: Books@Cafe.

I like antiquity and history, and I like to explore urban areas. Instead of walking the usual path home, take a right at the crossroads and see what happens. If you find nothing or a deserted place, what was there at some other point in time? Petra - Jordan’s most famous tourist attraction - is always swarming with people, but it offered me the thrill of just those thoughts.

Petra is, in fact, an entire city. You’re guided through it along a path. And although it is busy with tourists you’re in absolute awe of the surroundings, soon forgetting all about the chitchat and footsteps around you. The Siq, a gorge of a few kilometers long with steep walls shooting up beside you, guides you to a sandy plaza, well-known from all tourist pictures. The Treasury, a huge Corinthian style temple cut from the rose-red rock, rises up in front of you here. And this is just the start. The trail continues on to a valley with houses and temples cut from stone on both sides. Most striking were the caves, the steps and the colours. Caves could be found everywhere in the city, and I entered a couple; basically, most of them are squarely cut rooms with high ceilings, some of them with an elaborate entrance. Also, you find carved steps everywhere, sometimes in the most amazing locations. How people ever got up there absolutely baffled me. Finally, the colour of the rock is stunning. In essence the site is a rosy red, but especially where the outer layers of rock were cut away, an unendingly more brilliant spectacle of colourful lines and patterns may be seen. Beautiful.

As I experienced when walking through Pompeii, I find myself intensely trying to imagine the city in all its glory, filled with people and carts, filled with sounds other than the snapping of camera shutters. Some 20,000 Nabataean souls working and living in their regional trade capital on the edge of the desert, supplied by an intricate network of waterways and trade routes. A Roman-style theater holding 4,000 spectators, enjoying theater and drama. It was harder to imagine than a living Pompeii because of the difference in preservation and my lack of knowledge of ancient Arab cultures, but the living city did appear in my mind’s eye. Simply amazing!

Click on the Flickr account on the right hand side for some pictures!