Water Worries and Happy Girls

Exploring Amman

Sunny Hi 66 Lo 44

 The Temple of Hercules. A 42' statue of Hercules is believed to have stood inside the temple. A fragment of his hand lays on the ground nearby

The Amman Citadel National Historic Site & Archaeological Museum

The Citadel

The Amman Citadel is located on a hill in the middle of Amman. Archaeologically, the citadel is important as the area has a long history of occupation by successive early superpowers of the Middle East: Assyria, Babylonia, the Ptolemies & the Seleucids, Romans, the Umayyads and the Ottamans. The site is considered to be among the world's oldest continuously inhabited places

Early signs of human occupation have been found, dating back to the Middle Bronze Age (1650-1550 BC). Since only a small portion of the area has been excavated, there is considerable archaeological potential at this site. 

The Archaeological Museum

Inside the archaeological museum at the Citadel  are precious finds from antiquity! These faces are from the Nabataean kingdom which remained independent from 4th century BC to 100 AD. The Nabataeans were nomads that were skilled in storing water and in irrigation, surviving through bad years with little rainfall. Their capital was Petra. 

They had water worries in the 4th century BC. Perhaps they also anticipated global warming...

 No kidding - from Nabataean Kingdom

School field trip at The Citadel

These high school girls are having fun while learning about their culture. Cell phones and selfie sticks abounded - having a foreigner in your selfie might have been part of their assignments... Our OAT group of 12 people was mobbed by these happy kids, who all wanted us to be in their selfies. So we smiled and were photographed many times. They called us mature women, "Aunties". Who knows where our photos have been texted to...

See Moe's post (he posts as unknown guest) for wonderful people photos at the Roman Theater

Citadel Hill view of Amman & the world's tallest flagpole (?)

The Roman Theatre

Climbing up - easy

Climbing down - scary

Roman Theatre field trip - high school-aged girls. 

The girls sang popular and traditional songs, clapping and playing a drum. Clearly a wonderful day away from school.

Waiting for the theatre performance to begin...

All the Foods of the Mideast at Its Stable Center

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/travel/13choicetables.html

Hashem Restaurant in Amman was reviewed recently in the New York Times Travel section. The owner Mr. Turk said, “The king came here last year. He paid for everyone in the restaurant and said, ‘Whatever you serve the people, serve me.’ 

Tonight we ate at Hashem's, too. No royalty on hand... We had falafel, pita bread, hot pepper sauce, fuul (an earthy fava bean paste with olive oil), garlicky hummus and, finally, a plate of raw onion wedges and a pile of mint leaves (for tea). That's the same food as the king ate, since there is only one menu in Hashem's!

How we roll

We are traveling with OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel), a wonderful company with small group sizes. Our trip to Jordan is sized at 12 peope