Exploring Amman archeological heritage

This was a proper restful night. And since we have two full days in Amman, we can do big half days of visits – and it’s going to be at a slow pace. 

We have a nice breakfast and then get our simcard sorted at the nearby shop before walking to our first visit: the Nymphaeum.

It’s a Roman public bath structure, or what is left of it, and it’s right in the center of Amman. The site is free of entry but the guardian asks for a tip. Few boards explain the function of the edifice. It’s an interesting site.

About 5min walk away is the Roman Amphitheater. It’s been renovated and looks grand. We arrive there and walk all the way up to enjoy the acoustic. On the floor you don’t hear so much, but as you gradually walk up the stairs, the sounds carry and so does the noise of the city.

We sit on the last steps for a little while, looking at the citadel in front of us – and the long and steep staircase to get up there waiting for us.

Once our courage is gathered, we go and visit the two small museums that showcase Jordan cultural heritage and information about the various tribal groups and Bedouins lifestyle or traditional clothing. 

We also walk around the Odeon, a mini version of the amphitheater just next to it.

And it’s time for the stairs. It takes a good 20min to get up there through those staircases that go straight to the top.

The citadel is a major visit in Amman and yet, there are hardly anyone. I know we are in low season, but this is really deserted almost. No big groups, apart from 8 Japanese and a guide.

It’s an interesting site because it was successively and continuously occupied from the Bronze age to the Umayyad period. You can see ruins of Hercules roman temple, an Umayyad city, byzantine church. The site has a lot of explanation sprinkled around all the monuments. It took us a good 2h to explore it all. There is also in the center, the small archeological museum.

I am quite confused with the timeline, the civilization and the names during this visit. But I think our visit of the Jordan museum tomorrow should help set up a good historical reference for the rest of our trip.

Without realizing it, it’s about 1:30 pm when we start walking down the hill and back into where our hotel is. Along the way, we pick a restaurant that seems to cater to locals. The front has large platter of sweets and at the back is the restaurant room. They only serve a handful of traditional dishes, and that suits us just fine. 

We order the national dish of Jordan, the Mansaf. It’s a plate of spiced rice, with meat and roasted almonds. On the side is a warm fermented goat yoghurt. I ordered mine with lamb and alexis got his with chicken. It’s absolutely delicious ! 

You will love it if you like goat cheese and strong dairy taste, because that yoghurt packs a punch. But the entire flavor combination works.

It’s extremely filling, and we are again, pretty sure that we will skip another meal tonight or find a small mezze to get us through the night. 

As we make a longer walk to digest all this food back to the hotel, I tease Alexis of his pregnant belly. 

The rest of the afternoon is just a long nap, until it’s time to brave the steps back up rainbow street to the hammam.

I booked a Moroccan experience, which includes a body mask on top of the scrub. We go from jacuzzi, sauna, hammam and then care, shower and back again at least twice. Our skin feels good and the warm waters did help loosen up some kinks in our backs and legs.

It’s a pleasant feeling to walk outside as night has settled in and the weather is a little cold.

On the way back, we buy a shawarma to share. This was the right quantity to get us through.