Exploring Amman and the Amman Citadel: Week 3 / Day 19 / Jan 29

Posted February 2, 2019 by davehartsough

Amman, Jordan: Before doing anything too major we decided to get out early in the morning and get our bearings in the city. Based upon our host’s instructions we headed down the hill into the center of downtown and began to walk from there. Although it was not too early (about 8:30 AM), I was a bit surprised by how few shops were open yet.

Despite the streets being uncrowded we were still engaged in a number of conversations. We had several different people come up to us on the street to ask where we were from – some even guessed Germany. After a brief bit of chit chat, they would welcome us to Jordan and wish us an excellent visit. The overall welcoming attitude of the city and the people is not something I can imagine happening on the streets of Boston or New York City.

We walked along the main street we could see from our apartment and past several bakeries that had a number of breads and sweets out on display. Food was surprisingly cheap as we bought two breakfast breads (basically a large circular bread with a fried egg baked into the top) and a coffee for about $2 US. The coffee here is Turkish coffee, meaning that many spoonfuls of coffee grounds are stirred vigorously in boiling water over a flame and then poured without filtering into a cup. It is a good idea to let the grounds settle for a bit before beginning to drink – unless you like gritty coffee grounds that is. Protip – do not absent mindedly swirl your coffee cup as you drink or else you will resuspend the sludge that has settle to the bottom.

As we continued we ended up at the Roman amphitheater located in the center of town. From in front of this location one can just make out the Temple of Hercules up at the Amman Citadel on top of the opposite hill.

Heading across the street we ended up in the gold district. This area is packed with shops selling gold jewelry. From what I have read online the prices for gold jewelry are better here than almost anywhere else in the world. But, being cheap, it is still gold and it is still expensive. So, we just looked at the windows.

We wandered around a bit more checking out some other streets before heading up to the Citadel.

The Citadel is a large complex atop one of the mountains in central Amman. This site shows evidence of people having lived there as far back as 8,000 years ago (makes “historical Boston” seem kind of cute by comparison). From up here one gets an excellent view of the Roman Amphitheater and surroundings that we had walked by earlier.

The most dominant feature of the Citadel is the Temple of Hercules built by the Romans. While not as grand as it once was, several columns of the temple remain standing.

Located near the temple are some old tombs and other statues.

Continuing on we saw the hand that was once part of the statue of Hercules.

Walking to the other side of the temple complex we get a sense of how big it really is.

There were a number of random pieces of engraved stone and what appear to be crypts lying about outside.

Leaving the temple area we headed back towards the Umayyad Palace that dominates the other side of the hilltop.

This palace complex was built during the first half of the 8th century. Shown above in the right picture is the monumental gate of the palace viewed through the doorway of a ruined mosque.

The monumental gate has been partially restored (primarily the roof) due to damage over the centuries. The interior of the gate complex is still quite impressive in scale and workmanship.

Continuing through the gate we end up in the central portion of the palace complex where the living quarters were. Although mostly ruined now, the basic shape of the rooms is still visible and the commanding views from this high perch are clear.