Today was a later start – the bus didn’t leave until 9 am – and we drove north of Amman for about an hour to the city of Jerash. The terrain was sandy and hilly though there were pockets of reforested areas and olive plantations. At one point the bus stopped near a rushing stream where a number of horses stood ready to take tourists for a trek into the nearby hills.
Jerash itself is a city of about 50,000 with a history that extends back to neolithic times. It has been occupied by every group of invaders found in this part of the world. At times it has even been completely deserted but then re-occupied at a later date. According to Wikipedia Jerash has the best preserved Greco-Roman ruins in the world outside of Italy.
Hadrian’s Arch leads into an amazing series of temples, roadways lined with columns, an amphitheatre, a huge plaza and even ancient manhole covers. The heat was pervasive and after about an hour of walking, part of our group chose to seek shade and rest while the rest of us hiked up to check out the Temple of Zeus and an extremely well-preserved amphitheatre. Between the two, Basel pointed out a pepper tree and encouraged us to taste the peppercorns. They were really good.
In the amphitheatre, Basel demonstrated the amazing acoustics. Three men dressed in traditional garb came into the theatre playing a bagpipe and a drum. Sadly, they played Amazing Grace but eventually played a bit of traditional music. They even got a few people up dancing.
We headed back down the hill and picked up the rest of the group, heading north out of the plaza towards the Temple of Artemis. The roadway was paved with rocks laid in a diamond pattern so that wagon wheels would not get caught in the cracks. Deep grooves from the wheels could be seen in the rocks.
The heat was impacting the entire group by now so we headed back to the start where we bought wonderful fresh fruit drinks and rested in the shade.
From Jerash, the bus took us to a Women’s co-op funded by UNESCO where we ate a delicious lunch and then sat and talked to three women and a couple of young men who all worked at the co-op. Basel acted as interpreter for our questions and their answers but eventually Ted got a few of them to practice their English.
A number of us bought some pomegranate molasses that is made there. I believe they had used it in the dressing of one of the salads that we ate at lunch. I’m looking forward to trying it at home.
Back to the hotel for supper. Tomorrow we leave here and head for Petra.