After relaxing in the Red Sea coastal town of Aqaba, enjoying the beautiful desert at Wadi Rum and then exploring the incredible ancient city of Petra, it was time to head for Jordan’s Capital Amman. The biggest impression the city left on me was the incredible amount of street art… in car parks, on the sides of huge apartment buildings, on walls, and up steps.
The street art was everywhere – downtown, in the suburbs, small alleyways and main streets. Here’s just a small sampling of what we saw…
We stayed 2 nights in Amman then headed off exploring areas around the city like Madaba, the desert castles, Jerash and the north (blog posts about those to come!) before returning to the capital for 5 nights. There’s really only about a half day of sightseeing to be done here but we had plenty of work and blogging to do and enjoyed having more time to eat out and wander a bit (better food options and cheaper than in Israel).
The first place we stayed in was rather different – it was Shams Community, a social enterprise founded on the idea that each individual has the potential to create a positive change for themselves and society. They had rooms that were sometimes available to rent as we did but then on other nights were used as safe spaces for discussion.
It was a lovely place that was fairly quiet when we stayed here. The breakfast provided was really nice and we relaxed a bit in one of the rooms waiting for the rain to stop so we could explore outside.
On our return visit to Amman we weren’t able to stay here but came to one of their discussion nights which involved lots of amazing vegetarian food and people in 4 different rooms (including what had been our bedroom) discussing set topics.
In my room people talked about making decisions based on reason or feeling – it was a well facilitated group with locals of various persuasions, a number of Americans (doing a semester of Arabic study in Amman), one or two Europeans and myself. Antony was in a different room which was unfortunately dominated by two guys so not such a good experience.
The idea of bringing people together to encourage self-awareness and dialogue about social issues is a good one. People in my room shared personal stories, others engaged in a really intellectual manner, we discussed stereotypes and culture. The idea is that these discussion nights promote intercultural understanding and tolerance between individuals and communities. Was an interesting thing to be part of.
I got talking with one Jordanian guy who upon hearing I was from New Zealand proceeded to rave about our prime minister! I assured him that no country was perfect and nor was any leader but he was quite convinced of Jacinda Ardern’s amazingness! Quite surprising that people here even know who our PM is… how many New Zealanders know anything about Jordanian politics?
Shams Community is located in a groovy little part of Amman with bookshops, vegan cafes, cool restaurants, painted steps and street art. It is in the wealthier western part of Amman called Jabal Amman. After a very wet first night in the city and rain all morning we went to a nearby restaurant for a late lunch before we braved the odd afternoon showers and explored the sights of Amman.
Not far along the road from where we stayed at Shams was a unique restaurant. It had the kitchen just next door and a really lovely vibe. On the menu it said; ‘You’re not a customer or a guest! You are at home. Kmajeh is a social restaurant where you can sit and relax, play board games, even cook your favourite recipes yourself. And hey, if you enjoy washing dishes, don’t let us stop you!’ The idea was great and the food just as good…
Even when we stayed in a different part of Amman on our return trip, we came back to eat here twice! There were some great vegetarian options and it was all so delicious. Once there were some guys playing games and they had set up games around the dining area for people to play. They showed us a few of them – one with metal nuts where we had to beat each other to make a tower with them – picking them up using skewers. And then a memory game using coloured balloons. I do believe I bet Antony in both which he wasn’t too happy about!
Amman was a farming village when it was named as Jordan’s capital in 1921. Consequently there is no long history of the city and not many ‘sights’ for the sightseer. Amman Citadel is really it. It’s a hill in the middle of downtown Amman which is home to a few ruins that can be seen in an hour or so.
The main feature of the Citadel is the Roman Temple of Hercules from the second century. You can see Hercules’ huge hand in the photo above!
Being on a hill there were good views over to the other hills that make up the city and the areas in between. Until 1948 the city was small with people living in the valleys and a few buildings on the lower slopes of the hills. But in that year Palestinians, escaping or ejected from the newly established State of Israel, doubled Amman’s population in just two weeks! After Israel occupied the west Bank in 1967 another huge influx of Palestinian refugees arrived in Amman.
In 1975 Amman’s fortunes shifted. When civil unrest broke out in Beirut, many financial institutions relocated to Amman, bringing money and Western influence with them. Another influx of Palestinians, this time from Kuwait, came after the 1991 Gulf War. The city is thus today spread far and wide and rather bulging at the seams!
The citadel’s ruins show various occupiers from different times – the Roman temple, a Byzantine church and also a large Islamic Palace complex from the Ummayad dynasty, built in first half of the 8th century.
There is a modest museum up here on the citadel, with some rather fascinating ancient objects, either discovered here or around Amman. Interestingly there is evidence of human settlement on this hill dating back 18,000 years! When the Romans moved in they unfortunately got rid of whatever was here before, chucking it over the side of the hill. Bronze age, Iron Age and Hellenistic Pottery shards have been retrieved from the slopes below!
The other main sight in Amman we saw on our return to the city. That’s the Roman Theatre, built in the second century, restored in 1957, with a seating capacity of 6000.
From the accommodation we stayed in during our last 5 days in Amman we could see the temple ruins on the citadel (see them in the distance in the photo below, taken from our apartment). We were just a couple of days too late to hear Coldplay who were playing a concert up there and could be heard from the apartment.
We enjoyed a walk to Darat al Funan arts centre which was free to enter and had a number of exhibitions, along with what looked like a nice wee cafe and garden setting.
From the Arts Centre we dropped down into the downtown shopping area of Amman. On the way we went down a narrow road with lots of street art and a great looking gallery/ book shop/ coffee shop (pictured below).
On another walk from our apartment into the city we came across more street art! It makes wandering up and down the hills so interesting when they are lined with all sorts of pictures
We didn’t take pictures of the busy main street but we found it really interesting that instead of there being for example a pet shop in different parts of the city, there was a whole street full of pet shops! All side by side offering much the same thing. We came across the sewing street too – all the shops selling sewing machines and materials etc all in the same street, beside each other! Funny.
Well that’s it for Amman… next on the blog are some places we explored not far away from Amman, starting with the Desert Castles.