Amman, Jordan: I decided to take a stroll around some of markets again this morning. Although not as chaotic as the souks in the Marrakech medina, things can still be a bit crowded here.
I have always been a bit self-conscious about taking photographs in market areas. Taking pictures surreptitiously is difficult to do and usually produces pretty poor pictures. I also do not want to annoy the shopkeepers while they are just trying to do their jobs. I finally happened upon the brilliant strategy of just asking, “Excuse me, can I take a picture of your shop?” Amazing, right? In pretty much every case the shopkeeper was more than happy to have the picture taken.
The only person who was irritated with me was the young man in the last picture. He was upset that after I took a picture of the butcher shop across from his silverware stand I started to walk away. He wanted me to take a picture of his stand too, which I was happy to do.
The variety of goods being sold in the market was pretty wide. In addition to the usual market fare there was also a variety of chickens, other fowl, and fish being sold live.
There was also this shockingly large rabbit that the shopkeeper really wanted to make sure I got a picture of.
Every square foot is taken advantage of in the crowded shop areas. Shown below is an alley which is packed with shops selling various small appliances.
Continuing on I wandered back through the market before getting some lunch.
I stopped in at a small shop to get some hummus and pita for lunch. From the table I could watch the passing shoppers in the market.
After lunch I left this market area and continued on to another one nearby.
Inside this market area was again a dizzying array of fruits, vegetables, fish and meat for sale.
The high point of this market occurred after I took the last picture shown of the man skinning some garlic. After I took this picture I stood off to one side to try to figure something out on my camera (he wanted to see if I could send him a copy of the picture right then, but I could not figure out how to transfer it to my phone). As I was fumbling with my camera I was standing behind a large stack of produce. Two young ladies stopped in front of me and one of them turned to ask me in Arabic something about the fruit. I replied that I did not speak Arabic and could not help her. I am not sure what the Arabic version of the look that says “You are a moron” is, but I am pretty sure that one of them gave the other one that look after she tried to talk to me.
Located just outside this market was an ancient Roman Nymphaeum (monument to the nymphs). It was absolutely deserted and, according to the signs, was considered an eyesore up until its recent restoration. I was able to wander around and take some pictures with absolutely no one else there.
Leaving this area I headed over to the Roman amphitheater. This large complex was not particularly crowded, but there were a lot of families out this day. Rather than an archeological site it seemed more like a giant playground. The steepness of the steps could be a bit daunting at times and the sense that you are going to fall down all of them is pretty persistent.
I was pretty amazed at the lack of guardrails and the ability of people to stand right at an edge that was about 40 ft above a stone surface below.
Located next door is a much smaller theater that seemed to be completely ignored.
At this theater there was only one staff member sitting in a chair. I think he was a bit bored. He took me by the arm and walked me to what he considered to be all of the best pictures at this site. I had my own artistic director briefly.
Walking back across the main square there were many people out enjoying the day kicking a ball around or smoking shish.
A universal truth would appear to be that boys will want to photo bomb if you are taking pictures.
Finally, I think the high point of my wandering was seeing one of the groups kicking a ball hit one more than a little too hard . The ball flew and hit one of the people in this group right in the back of the head.
I finished things up by continuing through some more markets and heading back to the apartment.