Global Wanderer

3/4/24 – 4/4/24

Amman’s main airport, Queen Alia International, is well-equipped to handle foreign arrivals, as Jordan is quickly becoming a tourism hotspot, with travellers flocking to the kingdom to visit the ancient archaeological site of Petra, and see the vast expanses of desert at Wadi Rum. This also means that the arrivals area is filled with people asking if you’d like a taxi – but in comparison to somewhere like Cairo, they took no for an answer. I opted for the public minibus, which cost a grand total of 3 Jordanian Dinar. The exchange rate is insane at the moment – 1 JOD being worth about $2.15AUD – which meant that my bus ride came in at close to $6.50 (still miles cheaper than a taxi, though!).

I only had the day in Amman, so I had to be quite picky about where to go and visit in the city. It seems lots of people visiting Jordan actually leave Amman off their itineraries, but it’s actually meant to be a fascinating city, with a long and storied history. Part of that history included the Roman Era, when the city was known, strangely enough, as Philadelphia – and like many other cities conquered and ruled by the Romans, Amman is host to a variety of Roman ruins – which I spent the day actively seeking out!

Amman is home to a beautiful 2nd-century Roman Theatre located in the east of the city, and with a capacity of 6,000, the theatre is actually still used today for various cultural events, including an annual music festival, and the occasional concert (an American rapper actually performed here in 2019 – I wonder what the Romans would’ve thought!). A little further along Hashemite Plaza is the Odeon theatre, a smaller, more compact theatre, also of 2nd-century Roman vintage. It felt like a strange time warp, stood in these nearly-2000 year old structures, looking up at the buildings on the hills that Amman is built on, and seeing a classic, 20th century Middle Eastern capital.

Amman is an incredibly hilly city, and after walking most of the afternoon, I was quite wiped out. My accommodation for the night, Gallery Guest House, was located at the top of one of these hills, and my room actually turned out to be a small, self-contained cabin placed on the roof of the building. The view of Amman from my door once it got dark? Incredible.

My rooftop cabin.

That evening, as I waited for iftar (coming up to the end of Ramadan, it gets later and later!), I walked through the streets of downtown Amman. I had decided to visit Hashem, a famous Jordanian restaurant that, despite its international attention, continued to be popular amongst locals. Hashem has an interesting ordering system – patrons are given a slip of paper where they mark off things that they would like to eat (limited to several items such as hummus, foul, bread, and falafel). Waiters then bring these dishes out, guessing at roughly how much you’ll manage to eat! Hashem is undoubtedly one of the most popular restaurants in Amman, and so I was joined at my small table by an older Jordanian guy, also on his own.

After reviewing my order, he nodded his assent, and then made his own addition on it – a bean dish that, despite the language barrier, I gathered was his favourite. As iftar approached, dates were handed out, plates of steaming hot falafel and fresh hummus were placed out on the table – not an inch was spared! We were joined just before eating by a third solo Jordanian, which was just as well, as I highly doubt I could have finished off the food on my own!

When the time came to pay, I took my wallet out to find some dinar I had taken out of the ATM earlier in the day. Gently, the men I had eaten with pushed my hands away from the bill, and told me in no uncertain terms that they would be paying for the meal. According to the Quran (Al-Qadr 1-3, for those of you who are interested), good deeds are worth a thousand when performed during Ramadan!

Despite being weighed down with food (which I’d be grateful for in the morning, when I realised that my bus left before breakfast, and I wouldn’t be able to eat until 7pm), I spent the evening walking through Amman in the dark. It has a lot going for it, and I think if I’m ever in Jordan again, I’ll have to spend a bit more time here exploring the place. Unfortunately, at such a horrific exchange rate, my budget only stretched so far, and I knew my time in Jordan would have to be short and sweet – in the morning, I’d be heading south to the town of Wadi Musa, home to Petra!

Amman at night