We didn't get to bed once we arrived until about 1:15a.m. I set an alarm for 7:00 so that we could take advantage of the cooler morning temperatures to go to the ruins. Of course, we woke up at 5:00 cause that's how we do things. Rebecca had woken up several times during the night for the call to prayer which apparently had gone off at 3:00am and some other time but I slept through it. We had our first look at what was outside our window and here it was.
It was only around 70 degrees with a cool breeze so we headed out to eat at a restaurant called Hashem. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like the hype around this place. I watched dozens of vlogs about Amman before coming and probably read a dozen blogs about it and they all said to eat here. I guess Cafe du Monde gets this sort of thing but I don't know where else. Anyway, we walked downhill (Amman is built on seven hills and we're near rainbow street which is the top of one of them) and barely passed another person so early in the morning. We took some streets down the hill but there are also a lot of hidden stairways you can take. We found it in about 15 minutes.
They don't bring you a menu. Everyone eats the same thing. Their big thing is hummus and falafel but we also asked for ful which is a kind of mashed-up fava bean thing. When you show up they put a plastic cover on the table and bring you a plate of mint, onions, tomatoes, and pickles and they brought us french fries and 3 enormous pitas.
Here is another picture of the restaurant.
As you can see, it's just a bunch of tables sitting in an alleyway. It was delicious. Apparently, the place is packed most of the day, but we were very early. There were only locals and for most of the meal Rebecca was the only woman.
Our second order of business was the citadel but we had time to kill so we went in search of a coffee. I like tea as much as the next person but I needed coffee. We didn't get a picture of it but we walked up a little dark alley and there was a guy in a little alcove making coffee so we ordered two - one with sugar and one without. It was Turkish coffee which I've had before and never particularly liked but this was good. The barista was very nice and put two plastic chairs in the alley for us to sit on but as soon as we got ours we took them to walk with. I've noticed the teas and coffees are served at about 210 degrees! I mean, they're crazy hot.
As 8:00 approached we hired a cab to take us up the hill to the Citadel. It is on top of one of the seven hills and sort of looms over the old city. Here are some pictures and a video
It's pretty impressive how they have restored some of these sights. I also don't think I've been to ruins like these where there are so many separate rooms and nooks and crannies. Nooks - yes. Not so much crannies.
Walking around ruins here is much different than in Greece. You're able to just sort of walk all over the place if you want. Here we are after climbing up to Hercules's Temple.
Here is a view of the Roman Amphitheater where we headed next.
There was a small museum which had this sad display of baby coffins.
We walked around for about an hour and a half and saw some amazing views of Amman. We also saw a lot of flocks of pigeons which are apparently trained flocks that hobbists send around the city to compete.
We walked down the hill which was pretty trecherous. The paving stones are very slippery and the pitches are very steep. The views were good though.
The theater is really astonishing. We climbed to the top which wasn't bad but the walk down was about as trecherous thing as I've ever down. The stairs are crazy slippery, uneven and even sort of point down from wear. The hight of each step is never the same from step to step. And of course there are no railings or anything to hold on to.
By this point we were ready for a siesta and so we found a cab to take us home. But he had other ideas and wanted to take us to the Blue Mosque which is the only mosque in town where tourists can enter. We had decided before we came that we weren't going to go; partially because it's not an old structure and not crazy impressive inside, and partially because Rebecca, as a woman, was going to have to wear a robe to go inside. All of this will become clear when you see the following pictures.
He was a very nice man and it was an adventure. The people at the mosque wanted us to stay and have tea (and buy a souvenir) but we told them we were really tired and they let us go. The driver, Khaled, drove us home and gave us a tour. The good news is, he is also going to take us to meet our tour guide tomorrow and to the airport on Wednesday to get our car.
It wasn't quite noon yet so we planned on having a little lie down and then some lunch. 2 hours later, when we woke up we sort of forced ourselves out to eat at a restaurant called Sufra. It's another restaurant that everyone seems to know. Here is what we had.
Moutabal - their version of baba ganouj, tabouleh, stuffed grape leaves and fatoush. Khaled told us their national dish was Mansaf so we had that too. All with fresh pita baked right behind Rebecca.. Mansaf is braised lamp served over saffron rice. But the lamb is brased in a reconstituded dried goat yogurt which they also bring you a bowl of the yogurt sauce to put over the top. If you like lamb then you would love mansaf. Ironically, Yvonne Gonzales told me about an article in the NYTimes about a controversy in Jordan with some restaurants who are serving "Mansaf in a cup." Traditionally it's a social dish where people sit around a big platter of it and using their hands, they make of a ball of the rice and lamp with their right hand and then dip it in the yogurt. There was a man eating it this way next to us. It looked a mess.
We both knew that there wouldn't be another meal. We were stuffed! We had a walking tour of Amman booked for 6:00 and had an hour we could go back to the apartment and hang. We've been lucky with the weather and it was only about 84 degrees but the sun is intense (Rebecca said she thought it felt like we were closer to it here. I think she's right.) and so being inside was good.
Our evening walking tour was really interesting. It started back down the hill near the Roman Theater. Our guide's name was Mohammad (of course). I wonder what would happen if you walked into a crowded room and yelled "MOHAMMAD!"? Would 3/4ths of the peope there answer? I meant to ask him if he was called anything else by his friends but I forgot.
Mohammad talked to us on a rooftop hotel for about half an hour to give us a history lesson of Amman. It turns out, it's only about 100 years old as we know it. And 100 years ago, only about 3000 people lived here. Now there are 4 million.
Here are pictures and videos of our walk.
I thought I'd start out with the dreaded squatter!
In all, we walked 10 miles yesterday and even walked back up the hill to go home at the end of the night. We shan't be doing that again!
By the way, look up the dessert Kunafa. It's one of the best food stuffs I've ever put in my mouth!
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