Jordan – February 2014 – Jarash

Our ever reliable and smiling driver, Hamza picked us after we checked out from our Dead Sea Spa hotel. We had originally thought that we would be visiting Jarash during the day and that in the evening Hamza would drop us off at the airport for a 12:10 am flight to Dubai. However, as per my last post, we woke up to an email message to say that the plane had been delayed around 12 hours which meant of course an extra nights accommodation. No offers were forthcoming from the airline to assist in that area so did not bother pursuing as we have better things to do than chase airlines for some compensation for their stuff up. So after breakfast and before Hamza arrived we hurriedly booked another hotel. We then spoke to Saleh so that he could relay to Hamza (we would not have been satisfactorily explained the change of plans to Hamza with his minute command of English). It turned out that this hurriedly booked Hotel just north of Amman was our worst hotel selection while in Jordan. A little of that later but for now we had Hamza taking us at a more leisurely pace to Jarash, about 40 minutes north of Amman (capital of Jordan).

View from our Room at the Dead Sea Spa Hotel overlooking The Dead Sea, looking towards Palestine.

As we were now in the North of Jordan once again, near the capital of Amman, we saw the return of the armoured barriers in the entrance to all of the hotels and also a return to having to go through security Xrays etc. to enter the foyer of the hotel.

Substantial security to get into the resorts around The Dead Sea.

During our drive to Jarash, Hamza had to get his caffeine hit, that was OK by us as we had began to really look forward to the roadside style coffee that was available everywhere. Small cups of thick black and sweet coffee prepared in the style of what we call Turkish Coffee, the secret ingredient, as mentioned previously is Cardamom.

Stopped for a roadside coffee. The locals found us as somewhat of a curiosity.

After our roadside coffee we then headed north towards Jarash. After travelling for an a while Hamza  inquired as to whether we would like to stop for lunch. “Yes” was the reply, so he found us a fabulous restaurant overlooking a fertile valley. We were the only customers and they were a bit taken aback with westerners entering their domain. The menu was all in Arabic and so with a bit of sign language Hamza ordered our lunch for us.

Boy, what a feast, the usual truck loads of humus and Turkish bread with grilled fish and chicken. A delightful meal served on a huge platter for us all to share. Chris and I continued to enjoy the view while Hamza went off to partake in his midday prayers.

I forget how much the meal cost but it was extremely cheap. One of the benefits of going to restaurants in the purely Arabic areas on not the tourist areas.

View from our lunchtime table – opportunity to relax while Hamza attends to his prayers.

After the hectic activity of the last few days it was indeed great to be moving at a much more leisurely pace.

Lunch complete we drove the last few km to Jarash.

Courtesy of

Ref: http://wikitravel.org/en/Jerash

“Jerash became an urban center during the 3rd century BC and a member of the federation of Greek cities known as the Decapolis (“ten cities” in Greek). Jerash prospered during the 1st century BC as a result of its position on the incense and spice trade route from the Arabian Peninsula to Syria and the Mediterranean region. Jerash was a favorite city of the Roman emporer, Hadrian, and reached its zenith in AD 130, flourishing economically and socially. The city began to decline in the 3rd century, later becoming a Christian city under the rule of the Byzantine empire. The Muslims took over in AD 635, but the final blow to the city was dealt by Baldwin II of Jerusalem in AD 1112 during the Crusades.”

See small gallery below and main gallery here http://blog.picsaustralia.net/wp/?page_id=5866

Leisurely day at Jarash

Hamza – always smiling and giving a wave.

Finally after a wonderful day at Jarash we headed to our Hotel.

Arriving at the Hotel it was time to settle up our account with Hamza. After a whirlwind 5 day tour of the key sites of Jordan, with much of that time being spent with our cheery driver Hamza, saying good buy was somewhat emotional as we had become quite attached (and he to us) to this tall skinny Arab who could virtually not speak a word of English.

On booking.com, the hotel was billed as 4 star. To our way of thinking 2 star would have been generous. It had claimed to have airport shuttle but when we told the guy behind reception we would need transport to the airport in morning there was a look of dismay on his face. As we were in a strictly Arab area of the city (no western tourists) there was no English to speak of, so reception scurried around to find people they thought could understand a little English to help communicate with us.

Anyway it was a bed and it appeared to be clean, however the sheets weren’t crisp and white as we had become use to in all the other hotels in Jordan.

We had foolishly booked into a hotel in the Northern Suburbs of Amman when the airport is to the South so it meant about a 60 min journey at peak hour.

The hotel eventually organised us a Taxi and we were on our way.

A 1 hour delay at the airport making the already 12 hour late plane even later.

We arrived “home” in Dubai just in time to say goodnight to the grand kids.

All in all a fabulous adventure in a Country one does not normally associate with a “must do” tourist destination.

Both Chris and I would highly recommend a tour of Jordan, for us it ranks with the best of our travels.

Next post – contrast to the extreme – Spain

Jarash Locality Map

Jarash

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Jarash 32.276902, 35.905550