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Wadi Musa → Amman 157.8 mi (254.0 km) |
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Marhaba, liljamie!
My Jordanian adventures didn’t end at Petra! Oh no. Although it was far too hot to linger in the Rose City into the afternoon, I had transportation, and it would be a great shame not to put it to use visiting some sites that most tours don’t visit!
For starters, the city of Wadi Musa gets its name from a tiny spring called Ain Musa about two miles east of Petra’s entrance. It’s here that tradition believes the prophet Moses (Musa) struck a rock with his staff, and fresh water gushed forth! It’s still a place of pilgrimage, and as I stood outside to take a photo, there were quite a few bathers taking advantage of the fresh water inside!
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From there, I headed north on the Kings Highway. My goal today was to make it back to Amman in time to see the great hilltop Citadel and the Temple of Hercules, but I was really vague on just when winter hours (closing at 5:00) changed to summer hours (closing at 7:00). Confusion aside, I’ve never been one to shy away from pushing deadlines, so off I went!
The Kings Highway was much more beautiful than its Desert counterpart, and after winding through mountain passes and forests, I came upon Ash-Shobak, a hilltop castle built by Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1115 AD en route to capture Aqaba during the Crusades! The Kings of Jerusalem held this fortress until 1142, taxing pilgrims en route to Muslim holy sites, then moved further north to Kerak. I couldn’t find the way up to the castle to walk around, so I had to settle for admiring the view from the base of the hill, then continuing toward Amman!
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The whole trip from Wadi Musa to Amman took about four and a half hours because of stops, turning in the car, and getting a ride from the airport into town. By the time the rental folks dropped me at the Citadel, it was 5:30, and I hoped to heck that summer hours had kicked in. When I got to the gate, I discovered that they had! I was okay to wander this multicultural site, dating back to the Bronze Age, for an hour and a half! Whoo hoo!
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The capital of Jordan, Amman gets its name from a group of people called the Ammonites, who set up their kingdom here in the 11th century BC and called it Rabbath Ammon. They were the ones who first set up this hilltop citadel to watch over their capital city!
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Around 63 BC, the army of Pompey arrived to claim Jordan and Palestine for the Roman Empire. Capturing Rabbath Ammon, they renamed it Philadelphia after the king of Egypt, Ptolemy II Philadelphius! They rebuilt the entire city in their style, flattening an ancient Ammonite temple to Moloch and replacing it with an enormous temple to Hercules, completed around 160 AD!
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The most famous remnant of this temple are the three marble fingers of what was most likely a 43-foot marble statue of the world’s strongest man. The only way folks can be pretty sure this was a statue of Hercules is that his face appeared on a lot of coins from that time period!
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But the statue of Hercules fell in an earthquake, and the Roman, later Byzantine, influence in Amman fell to the Umayyads, who set up a caliphate here in 661 AD and embarked on another architectural overhaul of their new capital, turning Byzantine churches into mosques! They created a huge palace here at the Citadel that lasted all the way until another massive earthquake struck in 749 AD!
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With the Citadel nearing closure, I took in the view from the edge of the old Umayyad palace, where, towering over the hills of homes, the 416-foot Raghadan Flagpole, formerly the tallest in the world, waved in the gentle evening breeze. The sun set over Amman, and the call to salat al-Maghrib sang out from minarets scattered upon the hilltops, bringing a day of adventure to a close and opening a night of wonder!
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I wandered down Salmah Ben al-Akwaa Street from the Citadel in the dark, met by some kids who were very curious about my camera. I stopped off at the Roman Amphitheater, built to house 6,000 patrons around the 2nd century AD. The area is still bustling with activity today, with folks socializing, skating, chatting, smoking hookah, and handing out cups of iced tea! With no real expectations of a Middle Eastern night, I thought this was a really vibrant and energetic spot to be!
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I took a stroll down Al-Hashemi Street, which was aglow with lighting displays: stars, moons, and colored plates! Folks were out shopping and sampling local street food, including some delicious fresh juice! I’d expected it to smell a lot more like exhaust from all the cars, but most of the time, it smelled like jasmine! Amman at night is truly magical!
After grabbing some dinner, I returned to my hotel, the Arab Tower, to settle in for the night. For the first time, I had the option of not one, not two, but three beds in my room! I picked one and settled in for a restless night, partly because of the soccer fans in the apartment across the way, and partly because of that salat al-Fajr right outside my window at 4:17 AM!
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I could easily have spent another few days in Amman, but my schedule just wouldn’t allow it. Next up on my adventure, I have to cross a super secure border to visit a super controversial country known by many names but generally called Israel!
Ma’assalama!
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Total Ground Covered: 416.7 mi (670.6 km) |
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