Hark, hear the pipes calling

 Our first day in Amman I spent mostly napping. It had been a long couple of days and apparently I needed the rest. This is fine because Day 1 on G Adventures tours is always an arrival day with nothing scheduled until later in the afternoon for our first briefing.

Because of my travel schedule, I booked an extra night. I arrive at the hotel at  probably 2330, wild-eyed and exhausted. The lobby is bright and busy. The front desk staff is very friendly and informs me I've got an upgrade and my share will be joining me. Awesome. I take this to mean that I have a better view or a quieter location. Oh no. 

We meet for our first briefing and we go out to our first dinner where we learn a few things:

1) Lemon mint is the most amazing drink ever. It is exactly how it sounds, blended together. It is perfect and tonight we have the first of many.

2) "Vegetable platter" most likely means rice, vegetables, and a lamb chop. This is not a vegetarian dish. We don't want to insult the Jordanians by asking for it without the lamb chop so we just don't order it.

3) Menus are very literal. "Platter of tomatoes" means a dish of warmed, seasoned tomatoes. That's it. Ask me how I know.

4) Pita bread is life.

 The following day we head to Jerash. This is an ancient city that reflects how a lot of Jordan is.

Over the centuries, many empires ruled this area. Neolithic, Greeks, Romans, Byzantine, and Ottoman to name a few. This place is old. It is very old. It is also not well preserved because it has no protection; despite all logic, it should be a UNESCO site. Because it is not and because history, the site remains mostly uncovered and built upon by the modern city of Jerash. Our guide lets us know that what we will see today is about 30% of what it once was. Over time the locals have pillaged the site and used the building materials (sandstone) for their own homes. It hasn't been excavated as much as it should because archaeologists are expensive, yo.

This area has a real sense of place. You get the feeling that you're somewhere important, somewhere actually ancient; not in a place that's been sanitized to look ancient. You actually feel that you're walking in the footsteps of people from 5 BCE.

The first thing we're greeted with is Hadrian's Arch. Obviously built by the Romans to honour Hadrian, the emperor of the time. 

Inside the arch we see the Temple of Zeus and the hippodrome. Apparently an episode of Top Gear was filmed at the hippodrome with some fast cars and some dude. Clearly not a UNESCO site.

Temple of Zeus.

This is not the largest temple on the site. That would be the Temple of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. This temple is in a much higher and more prominent spot. The people of Jerash cared more about the hunt and prosperity than they did the king of gods.

As with most Greco Roman cities, there is a plaza at Jerash. What's unique about this plaza is that it is ovular - it is designed for efficiency. You don't need to go around the entire plaza to get to where you're going. There is a north-southand an east-west thoroughfare that you can use to cut through.  Do you think I was smart enough to get pictures of this? Because I wasn't.

Further in is a theatre that can seat 5000 people. The steps up to the top are very steep - steep enough that this fat and top heavy girl needs to slide on her butt to get down. 

 

The theatre has really excellent acoustics that many concert halls and arenas could learn a thing or 12 from.

Inside the theatre is a man with the Jordanian military who walked around playing Scotland the Brave on his bagpipes. Apparently the Jordanians (and possibly by extension, all Arabs? I vaguely recall this but it was hot and I am still in awe of where I am so my listening skills aren't the best) adopted the bagpipes because colonialism. At any rate, this is the brownest person I've ever seen touch a set of bagpipes, let alone operate them.

Tomorrow: learning lessons about following directions.