Petra

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!

 

Snow!

Welcome to the seven mountains of Amman. Last report featured a hot spring day, this one will highlight snow, hail, wind, and lot of rain. On Wednesday, a cold front rolled in. Rumour had it that it might bring snow on Thursday. I didn’t believe it. Come on, I was Amman for God’s sake. Right?

Wrong.

I got was texted at 8:15, telling me that work was off due to the weather. What weather exactly, I wondered? I looked out of my window, seeing a light dusting of snow and some rain. Not the weather to walk around in your shorts, but definitely not the weather to cancel a whole day of productivity either. But as I wandered out to get breakfast, it started to snow more heavily. Some random observations.

• With heavy rain or snow, Ammani public life stops. Shops close, offices close, ministries close.
• With heavy rain or snow, Ammani streets become rivers. Where’s the drainage? I’m wading here, guys.
• Kids make snow men from an inch of snow. It’s an art, I guess.
• Drivers tend to stay off the streets in bad weather. Those still driving are taxis or just plain mad.

It didn’t snow that much during the day. Mainly wet snow, disappearing on the roads creating mud. But at sunset, the show started. Roads become ice skating rinks, the snow thickened and you could see cars skidding in turns. Then in the morning, it was all gone, like nothing had happened. In conclusion, another nice surprise in Amman.

Check out the Flickr box on the right for photos.

 

King Hussein Mosque

Yesterday, I went into a mosque for the first time. Abdallah was my tour guide for the day, a true Mexican-Jordanian and thus fully deserving the nickname I give him — ese, and as we sped through the traffic around the big malls (City Mall, Mekka Mall, Carrefour) up 8th Circle, he told me about his family business and decided that I should be introduced. His father has a little plant shop next to City Mall called Bloomz, which imports most of its products from the Netherlands; we had a cup of tea and I was shown around to everybody. We walked around back to the main entrance of City Mall, now in its final stages of construction and partly opened to the public. Abdallah’s family actually owns the construction site and the huge mall buildings, plus some million-dollar villas on the hill overlooking the site.

So, back to that mosque. I went to the King Hussein mosque up the road from 8th Circle. A huge thing, and wow, it was beautiful. It holds up to 3000 people praying inside and on Fridays, the mosque itself and all the surrounding area (all white marble plateaus with well-kept gardens) is packed with some 8000-10000 people. I was not allowed to take pictures, so a description should suffice. The inside was humbly empty, yet subtly decorated. Red Turkish carpet, warmed by central heating, covered the entire surface of the mosque; 8 wooden doors provided entrance into the central area. None of the doors had any nails or glue in them, yet each one was beautifully engraved with flowery ornaments. In the center of the mosque was the sheikh’s area, from where he preaches to those gathered. Above this small area was the mosque’s dome: a 5-ton golden chandelier was hanging from the ceiling. Here and there, small crooked wooden tables held two or three Qur’ans. We walked around for a while and then left, just in time to see the sun set behind the hills of the King’s Palace in the distance.

Incredible.

 

My Saturday is your Sunday

Today’s weather: clear blue skies, pretty warm (16C), with a light breeze. Eeeexcellent. Yet, I’m inside right now with a great wireless connection at Books@Cafe, spending my Saturday — last day of the weekend. Books is a restaurant and a bar in the heart of Amman, on Bin Omar al-Khattab street, also known as Mango Street. Note that this last bit of information does not matter to any of the taxi drivers around. Basically, these guys only know how to drive to shopping malls and major hotels. This can be a bit of a pain, as you have to guide them yourself (not a viable option when you’ve been in the city for 2 weeks) or you have to call one of your more knowledgeable Arab friends to allow for an explanation of the route over the phone. Sometimes, I wonder if the taxi drivers just play ignorant to buy time and distance and with that, some extra Dinars. During the day they’re stuck to meters (getting you around the city for 1 or 2 Jordanian Dinars) but during the night they use their own prices. Welcome to the wonderful world of haggling.

Yesterday I met up very early in the morning (07:30 – early, considering I had a rough night with little sleep on Thursday) with a colleague, Layla. We were both inspired by last week’s bike tour of the Jordan Valley and decided to tag along with a few more. Yesterday’s route covered the same part of the Jordan valley as last time, but the wind had picked up considerably and made the trip a bit harder. Again though, the scenery was mind boggling. Pictures to come. While cycling through the agricultural parts of Jordan, you’re looking back at the mountains hiding Amman and at the West Bank with the city of Jericho in the middle. The farming people you encounter are very simple, speak no real English and live in Bedouin tents on the land, surrounded by their livestock and well-dressed children (Layla: “My God, is that kid naked?”).

Today’s an easy, relaxing day. I think I’m going to check out one of the walking routes mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide to Amman, taking me through the gold souk (the traditional Arab marketplace) and the downtown area.