Jordan day 1 - Roman cities and Dead Sea floating

We enjoyed a bit more of a sleep in and then headed down for breakfast at 7:30, where we met our G Adventures CEO Ayman (rhymes with Simon). The breakfast was excellent, no more Egyptian cold boiled eggs, bread and cream cheese, here we had a great selection and enjoyed omlettes and excellent coffee with Steve. By 8:00 we were in the bus with our new group.

We headed to the Roman city of Jerash, or Gerasa, about 45 mins North of Amman. It was first a Greek city (4th century BC - 1st century BC), and then when the Romans came in, they razed the Greek city and built their Roman city on top (1st century BC - 4th century AD). This was preceded by the Persian period, and followed by the Byzantine period (4th - 7th century) where Christianity took hold, the capital of the Byzantine era was Constantinople. Then there was an Islamic period from 7th century with Islamic dynasties (last were the Ottomans) and then in 1917 the Ottomans were expelled and Jordan became the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan, ruled by the Hashemite kings. 

The Greeks built what was known as the decapolis, the ten cities. Gerasa was one of them and there are four more in Jordan. Amman is actually the ancient city of Philedelphia. Gerasa was the biggest, and extremely important because it was right in the middle of all of them. The Greek period was a very happy period, because the Greeks taught people their culture. The Roman period was a very wealthy period, but the people were a lot less happy, because the Romans forced their culture on people. 

We passed many olive trees on the way, and Ayman explained how important olive oil was to Jordanian people, they even start their day by drinking a shot of it. The best olive oil in the world is from the West Bank of the Jordan (Palestine), the second best is from Jordan. Only 6% of Jordan is fertile land, mostly in the regions of Gerasa and Madaba. Ayman also told us how water poor Jordan was. People are given water tanks by the government which are placed on top of their houses or buildings. They have to make the water last a week, or they need to purchase more water. In Jordan, water is more precious than oil.

At Gerasa, we started at Hadrian's arch or gate, which was outside the city and built for emperor Hadrian, who was known to tour all the cities of the Roman world. It contained impressive Corinthian columns, and niches which would have contained statues of gods Jupiter and Diana. Inside this gate, we could see where the Greek stones were replaced by Roman stones. Further in, we found the hippodrome, where chariot races would be held. The hippodrome had seating overlooking it, some of which had been destroyed. We also saw where there would have been shops just outside the hippodrome, where people would have bought snacks before going to the races.

We continued walking and finally reached the south gate, or Philadelphia gate, which faces the direction of Amman (Philedelphia). This gate was smaller and less impressive than the Hadrian gate. 

We continued in to the oval Forum, which was in an oval shape and surrounded by columns. This is where the people would meet and shop. 

We headed up the hill to the Jupiter temple, but did not go in. Jupiter was also known as Zeus by the Greeks. Next to the temple was one of the two amphitheaters. We went in and had a seat while Ayman explained. He showed us the special seats that were reserved for royalty and nobility/VIPs. The difference between Greek and Roman amphitheaters is that the Greek ones were one, and the Roman ones closed fully, with a stage. 

Next, a band started playing some music so we could hear the fantastic acoustics of the amphitheater. It was a bagpipe and drum, and the musicians were dressed in traditional Bedouin dress. The songs were very familiar and we questioned the authenticity thereof. Ayman explained that the British had colonized Jordan for a time, and thus some British music had been accepted as part of Jordan culture. He explained the Bedouin dress, which consisted of a red and white head scarf, the bedouins used to wear plain white but the British wanted to differentiate between Palestinian bedouins and Jordanian, so they made them wear black and white, and red and white. They also wear a head band over the scarf which represented the loss of Spain by the Muslims. Bedouins also typically have a dagger and gun, and do not draw it unless they genuinely plan to use it.

Ayman spoke briefly about the baptism site if Jesus in the Jordan River, which is the border between Israel and Jordan. He assured us that the town of Bethany is definitely on the Jordan side of the river, but Israelis would insist it is on the Israel side. What we do know is that it was 12 km (7 Roman miles) east from Jericho, which does equate to the Jordan side. Regardless of the exact location, it is a very important pilgrimage site for Christians.

We walked further, to three churches that were built next to each other, during the Byzantine period. The churches were basilicas and had impressive mosaic work.  

From here Ayman showed us the Cardo Maximus - the most important road in any Roman city, which runs north - south, as well as the decumanis which runs perpendicular to it. The crossing point ("traffic light") was called tetrapil. Gerasa was such an important and wealthy city, because all caravans traveling the spice and silk route would go through this city, and it was part of the Kings way, so they would pay taxes for passing through. Ayman also explained that only 25% of the Roman city had been excavated, but all excavations had stopped since anything further would required demolition of houses in the new city.

We continued further to the temple of Diana/Artemis, which was quite badly damaged but still had some pillars in place. From here, we entered another amphitheater which was also used as a consul and there are theories that they would have held animal fights which seemed unlikely considering the small size. Black marks in the niches were created by olive oil lamps that were burnt. 

Ayman explained the difference between the Arab world and the Muslim world. The four gates to the Arab world are Iraq to the East, Syria to the North, Morocco to the west and Somalia to the south. All countries in between are ethnically similar and speak the same language. But the influence of Islam spreads much further than this.

Next we walked back along Cardo Maximus, until we reached the most beautiful part of the city - the nymphaeum, a beautiful fountain. It would have had pottery pots spilling water into a huge central granite bowl, and 6 niches containing statues. It would have been covered by granite and had six lion heads spitting water. Ayman later showed us artists impressions of what it would have looked like before being damaged, as well as other parts of the city.

We then had some free time to take pictures and then headed back to the bus. We drove almost 2 hours through some traffic and accidents to reach the Dead Sea. We entered a resort called "Amman beach" where we had a quick buffet lunch of hummus, bread, chicken, rice, aubergines and horrible dessert.

The point of the trip there was not eating, so we ate quickly and then changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the beach. It was a pleasantly warm day, but still winter so it felt a little strange to be planning to swim... The beach was slightly strange yellowish sand, we wondered if it had been imported. On the edge of the sea were incredible salt deposits, white and hard to the touch. 

We headed into the water and reached an area where it got a little deeper. Suddenly, when we tried to swim, we found we could not, and our bodies were suddenly so light and buoyant that we could barely get in the water. People around us laughed at our reaction, as they had obviously had a similar one. We laughed and floated around, it truly was something that needed to be experienced to be believed! The below photos are genuinely just floating, no effort required, no holding onto anything!

We hung around with the group, floating and taking pictures. Some of us accidentally or purposefully tasted the water - it was incredibly foul, not just salty but bitter. Werner got some in his eye and it burned like crazy.  We watched some tourists paying to get covered in the  therapeutic mud, and others just trying to get mud for the banks and rub it on their bodies. 

After two showers to try and get the salt off, we changed and then relaxed by the pool for a while, the pool water was too cold to swim. The sun started setting and we got some great pics, then got back in the bus back to Amman. An hour later, we were back.

Ayman gave us a briefing on the optional extras we could do on the tour, then walked us 15-20 minutes downtown to a restaurant called Jafra. It was a really cool place, filled with locals enjoying the live music, food and shisha. The place smelled of Apple tobacco which was actually quite pleasant. We tried the lamb Sagiiyh - cubes of lamb cooked in a clay dish with onions and peppers, served on a plate over hot coals, with pita bread, it was delicious and we washed it down with Turkish coffee.

We left the restaurant around 10:00pm but Ayman was not ready for bed yet, so he took us to a bar on rainbow street called "Q". It was a cool place but we were the only people in there. We tried the local beer, "Carakale" which came in two variants - pale ale and blonde ale. We tried the blonde it was nice but a little bitter. At 15JOD (R300) for two, I think it was definitely the most expensive beer we have ever drunk. Ayman then treated us to blue Hawaii shots, before we had a longish walk home and hit the sack.