Posted by Kanga.
Another one of our favorite water features –
Is now wrapped in a death shroud.
The reasoning is
“The future is clearer. We’re clearing away obstacles to make way for better shopping. Project: Opening sight lines. It’s all happy-ning.”
I have no idea what will replace this distinctive fountain, but it sounds like it will be more kiosks selling stuff. Very sad.
Posted by Kanga.
Hello Kitty and Spaz Cat? or Winky Cat?
Snoopy and Random Duck?
Alacrity? “Brisk and cheerful readiness.” I guess it fits.
We find that they are putting “Angry Birds” on everything, whether relevant or not. “Welcome to my little world. Let’s play together.”
“Train Energy Powerful: Too courageous to be met with”
Serving spoon, anyone?
Posted by Kanga.
We’ve done it again – found another good restaurant.
We ventured out to try a “new to us” restaurant. As we drove up, we checked to see if the restaurant was busy and were a little concerned that there were only two tables occupied by customers. But, we checked the time, which was 8 pm, and realized that it wasn’t the local dinner time, yet.
There didn’t seem to be any menus to choose from, so we had to ask the waiter what they offered. We decided on mixed grills and asked about salad. He assured us they had salad. First came the soup which was tangy and had onions and liver in it.
Then came the salads – two rocca (arugula) salads, cabbage & tomato & cucumber salad, and tabouleh. Also, two small plates of hummus. The salads were perfect.
And then the mixed grill – chicken tikka, lamb tikka, kabab, lamb chop, and arayes (spice mincemeat-filled oven-baked flatbread sandwiches).
The waiter brought us tea to finish the meal without our having to ask. It is like he read our minds. The bill came to 62 AED ($17.00). New Damascus is located in Fujairah, just north of the souk.
Posted by Kanga.
Our last site to see was Jerash. It was established by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C. and later expanded as a Roman city, one of the Decapolis cities.
Much of the city was toppled by the earthquake in 749 A.D., but it is one of the best preserved sites.
The pillars of the Temple of Artemis remained standing despite the earthquake.
We had a guide and it was worthwhile. Sometimes the guides can get in the way of the experience (such as the one at the Citadel). This guide went slowly, told us important information without it being too much and gave us lots of time to take pictures and enjoy ourselves.
To see all the pictures, click here.
Posted by Kanga.
Our last day of site seeing in Jordan started with Ajlun Castle. It was built by a nephew of Saladin in 1184-1185 A.D. and enlarged in 1214-1215 A.D.
Before we even got into the castle, we encountered a bus load of Nigerians who all wanted to have their picture taken with DaddyBird. Some even decided that they needed a picture with me also.
The castle was larger than it appeared and very interesting. To see all the pictures, click here.
Posted by Kanga.
We headed out for dinner. First was shwarma at Al Reef. (3.00 dinar $4.25 for four)
Followed by falafel sandwiches at Al Quds Falafel. (1.40 dinar $2 for two)
Followed by one of everything at Hamish Restaurant. (6 dinar $8.50 for full dinner for two)
Posted by Kanga.
After Wadi Rum and Petra, it seems to be downhill. Perhaps we should have reversed the order of our itinerary.
On our way to the Dead Sea, we stopped at St. George Church in Madaba where there is a mosaic map from the 6th Century. Neither of us is very interested in the Byzantine era. I enjoyed some of the newer mosaics that were hanging in the church (21st Century).
We also stopped at the Mosaic School, where we were briefly (very briefly) shown how new mosaics are made in a small workroom and then ushered into the expansive gift shop. The school teaches Jordanians, some of whom are physically disabled, how to create and restore mosaics. They do good work.
Next was Mt. Nebo, where there are more remains of mosaic flooring from a Byzantine church. The view of the Jordan Valley was lovely, despite the cloudiness.
By mid-afternoon we were at our Dead Sea hotel, ready for a late, late lunch and a long nap. Testing the waters waited until the next morning.
See all the pictures – click here.
Posted by Kanga.
You knew it would happen, right? A post about stray cats during our vacation is traditional.
We saw this tom three times on our trips up and down the siq (canyon). He clearly has a territory that is his niche. There is a patch of bamboo and a large crack going away from the path area, so there is probably a whole ecosystem that provides for his needs.
Since we were walking out on the second day, we could stop to have a little chat with him.
He was very sweet and very clean (except for his dusty paws). It would appear that he has a pretty cushy life just sitting around, licking himself, and watching the tourists go by.
The cats in this region aren’t Arabian Maus, like our own Oliver and Bert. These cats have shorter legs, shorter spines, and rounder faces. They are very nicely proportioned, medium sized cats.
He even made himself right at home on DaddyBird’s shoulders.
We tore ourselves away and went further up the trail. This little female came running with her tail in the air when she saw us.
She also was happy to get some attention.
Until the dog came…
And she had to take defensive measures.
All the stray cats we’ve encountered in town have been very skittish and defensive. It was nice to encounter these two, who have it pretty good and can afford to be friendly.
If you would like to see all the pictures from our second day at Petra (222 of them) click here.
Posted by Kanga.
Our first day at Petra started at 8 am. We met our guide, Abdullah Al Nawafleh, bought some hats to shield us from the sun, and headed in. To ease the experience we hired a horse drawn carriage. Abdulla negotiated it so that he could drive us in and another driver would come to pick us up at the other end around 2 pm.
The horse drawn carriage is a rough, rough ride. We were bounced down the path. Luckily, Abdullah stopped occasionally to explain the features along the way giving us a bit of a break. The path in is all downhill. We felt sorry for the poor horse who slipped occasionally on the rocks.
We had a marvelous time. The tour was informative and enjoyable. We had a few hours on our own, mostly spent in the Roman part of town. We started to climb to the Monastery, but I was not up to it. We came upon a trinket stall along the way and the Bedouin woman invited us to stop and rest on her bench. I took her up on the offer. She also offered us tea. We accepted not realizing that she would have to start a fire and make the tea for us. A couple of tourist police on their way up and a German couple on their way down joined us. It was quite pleasant. We bought a necklace from our host. She was very gracious.
Then we headed back to our rendezvous point for our carriage ride back to town. It was a bumpy ride back and a bit worse because there were no stops to alleviate the experience.
You can see all of the 390 pictures here.
Day two, we go in slow on foot.
Posted by Kanga.
Wow, this was an eventful and amazing day. I took 341 pictures – click here to see them.
We started with the Citadel, the top of a hill in the heart of Amman which has a wealth of archaeological sites dating from all periods – early bronze age, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, etc.
From here we went to the Roman amphitheatre at the base of this hill.
There is also a small museum there. While looking at this dress, a young woman standing next to me asked “Do you like it?” I said, “Yes, it’s beautiful.” She said “Not so much.” I’m guessing, but there seemed to be a group of students so she may have been a Jordanian university student. Too bad she doesn’t appreciate her own past. Since I’ve made clothing and done embroidery, I have a better appreciation for what kind of work went into creating this beautiful dress.
Next we were on the road to Wadi Rum. This took about three hours.
Wadi Rum is a large area of limestone formations. We rode in the back of a jeep pickup driven by a bedouin who lives in the valley. It was an amazing time.
We stopped a couple of times to see petroglyphs.
We stayed for sunset, then it was back to our tour driver so we could head to our hotel in Wadi Musa. Tomorrow we explore Petra.
We are having an amazing time.
DaddyBird
kangayayaroo