It is normal and natural to have
a “fixed notion” of a destination before you visit it,
and equally normal to not know exactly where and how to start to
get “inside” the destination. To some extent this is
true of Amman, especially if you have never visited a non-Western
city. However, what is especially pleasurable about the city of
Amman is how easily and how quickly you will feel and become integrated
into the place. This is primarily because of the very genuine welcome
with which visitors are met. This is a city where the local residents
smile at you, greet you with frequent salaams, and are
actually curious about you. “Where you from? Welcome to my
country!”
Amman is a Middle Eastern city,
there is no doubt about that. It is somewhat of a sprawling city
— at times cacophonous — that can appear initially somewhat
overwhelming; as you might expect in the Middle East. This rambling
city in which most of the buildings are built of white stone —
most of the year this is a hot desert climate and of course white
reflects those intense rays from the sun — flows over and
around a series of 19 hills. Originally the city only covered seven
hills, like that other Roman capital on the other side of the Mediterranean.
It is of course the capital of Jordan, both politically and commercially,
but has been a “capital” city of one kind or another
for many centuries and through many cultural incarnations including
Assyrian, Persian, Byzantine, Hellenic, and Nabataean. In addition
to be quite a modern city, it's multi-dimensional heritage is inherent
in its history.
The city traces its name to the
Ammonites, a people who lived east of the Jordan River. Their origins
in turn go back to Lot, the nephew of Abraham who is the patriarch
of the three great religions of this Biblical land. Today Amman
is a city of over two million people and one of those something-you've-never-seen-before-around-every-corner
types of experiences. For those of us who have to work a little
bit at adjusting our ethnocentric predispositions, even the beautifully
calligraphic Arabic on billboards and storefronts is exciting and
visually fresh.
Amman is also a feast for the senses.
If you like Middle Eastern food — what must be one of the
healthiest diets on the planet — you will dine well in Amman.
Grain, cheese, yogurt, fresh and dried fruits and vegetables, and
a little bit of meat that goes a long; that in a nutshell is Jordanian
cuisine. The national dish is Mansaf, which is lamb seasoned with
aromatic herbs and cooked in yoghurt. It is served with large quantities
of rice. And the other gastronomic delight that, like the city of
Amman itself, will give you a taste of the diversity of this Middle
Eastern cuisine is the multi-dish mezze. A meal of many
taste sensations, mezze is essentially a table full of
appetizers, many of which (to the Western ear) have quite musical
names: Hummous, Baba ganoush, Foul moudamess, and my favourite Tabouleh,
to mention a few. And to accompany a good meal, there is the traditional
Arabic tea or shai.
And your other senses will also
be fully engaged, sometimes to the point of sensory overload; but
a good time will be had by all. If you are a night life aficionado,
you will find what you want in Amman, and it may surprise you as
well how (dare I say “hip”) this city can be? These
three travel guys of a certain age, can attest to that fact, having
spent time among the young and mellow at Blue
Fig. And for a glimpse of the traditional side of Amman,
an evening at Kan Zaman is highly recommended. Popular with tourists,
it is also a very “authentic” experience in that the
restaurant presents classical Arabic music and waiters in traditional
dress. The décor of Middle Eastern rugs, wall tapestries,
and bronze decorations add to the atmosphere. The evening we visited,
the place was full of locals and visitors from other Middle Eastern
countries. I was invited to share a nargileh (water pipe
or hubble bubble) with a group of medical doctors from Lebanon who
were attending a conference in Amman. Given the bombs that were
falling on their country at the time, they were doing their best
to have a good time before heading home. And because I
was from North America, they invited me to join them and even complimented
me on my attempts at Middle Eastern dancing.
The hot desert sun of Jordan (and
the Middle East in general) creates more of an interior experience
than in cities in colder climates. And this is one of the delights
of discovery in Amman: the courtyards, the small shaded street markets,
the quiet and cool restaurants within the sensible stone walls,
or en plein air under brightly-coloured canopies made of
a wide variety of materials. (One travel “trick” I learned
in Amman was to look more closely at the delicate shapes and shadows
as they were projected through various fabrics or cast upon the
white stone walls.)
The “must-do” sites
of Amman are not as numerous as in, say, European cities; but sites
such as the ancient Citadel where the columns of the Roman Temple
of Hercules still stand out dramatically against an equally dramatic
blue sky, or the second-century Roman theatre whose 33 rows can
and do accommodate 6000 spectators, or the King Abdullah Mosque
with its rich patterned carpet and decorous dome are not to be taken
for granted. Amman is not a “been there, done that”
travel experience.
What may in fact be the most enjoyable
experience in Amman is to just wander its streets and markets, and
stop every now and then just to listen to the muezzin's call and
say to yourself, “Well, I'll be darned. Here I am in Amman,
Jordan!”
And speaking of markets, there is
nothing to compare with a stroll through the souq in Old Amman.
Come for a stroll with us through Amman's
souq
To view a slide show of Amman,