Northern ruins of Ajloun & Jerash

Wild flowers blooming in Ajloun

Ajloun Castle

My initial travel plan did not feature the region north of Amman due to time constraints. Fortunately thought, with the Petra and Wadi Rum both been wrapped up in a little over two days as opposed to the plan of 3 days, I suddenly had an extra day on my hand. The night before I had gotten back to Amman from Aqaba and was flying out of Jordan the following night so I still had a solid two days in Jordan to see more.

North western Jordan is the most densely populated region of the country and is also its most arable. It also has a few ruins from the Roman, Christian Byzantine and the muslim rule and very accessible by public transport.

Bridge over the moat

That morning, I slept in a little longer after several days waking up at the crack of dawn. I didn’t want to be too late though else I’d miss the excellent breakfast consisting of hummus, falafel with tahini and flat Arabic bread. According to the host, all of that is freshly delivered to the hostel in the wee hours…no wonder it tasted good.

The host also gave me directions on getting to the local bus stop from where I would take the servicee to the towns in the north. First stop was the hilly town of Ajloun, situated about 76 kms from Amman to see its 12^th century muslim castle.

Arch of Hadrian - South Entrance to Gerasa

After an hour and half, I got dropped at the town center from where its another 20-30-minute of steep walk to the castle perched on one of the highest hills around overlooking three wadis and the surrounding plains around it. No wonder it was a location for a castle that was never conquered.

The castle although well preserved and with great 360-degree view was a little underwhelming and quite understandably so coming after Petra and Wadi Rum. Its actually recommended to cover north Jordan before venturing south and I see the value in that thought. The olive groves, the pine trees and myriad types of wild flowers that were blooming among them made for a far more captivating sight than the castle.

Ruins of Jerash from a vantage point

The common misconception of Jordan is that is a dry semi-arid country and that hold true for the south and the east, north Jordan actually has pine forests and gets a fair amount of snowfall.

North Gate

Lunch was the staple shawarma back in Ajloun town center which surprisingly has a lot of Christian pilgrimage sites. I also saw a lot more women without their headscarf indicating that Christian make up a sizable percent of this town’s population.

Oval Plaza

From Ajloun I got on the servicee heading back towards Amman and got dropped off in the town of Jerash. Now, Jerash is not Petra but its still the second most popular ancient site on the tourist map of the country. Unlike Petra which was built by the indigenous Nabatean people, Jerash’s ruins are from its roman era.

Although the modern city of Jerash has grown around the ancient city of Gerasa, the Roman ruins are impressive enough to let the mind wonder what the place might have been in antiquity. Talking a few moments to soak the sight and theorize a living breathing civilization that once existed where I stood felt delightful.

North Theater

Exiting the ruins of Jerash I caught a private taxi back to Amman as there were not public transport after 6pm. The private car was being chartered by a bunch of folks who were all headed towards the airport. The were all expatriates’ working in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iraq).

In the private taxi, at one point the conversation somehow moved to my religion. Three of the four in the car didn’t understand English and one knew just a tad bit so rather than trying to explain my complex views on religion and beliefs I just told them I was a kafir (non-believer). One of them got very perturbed.

In a forceful voice he suggested I repeat an Arabic statement and I knew precisely well that it was the Islamic shahada or profession of the Islamic faith. I played dumb and acted as if I didn’t understand what he was saying and smirked nonchalantly at his ignorance. The others in the taxi sensed the discomfort in the car and rebuked him for his silliness.

Travel always brings interesting encounters - some to be cherished, some to take lessons from and other to just chuckle at and move on. This one was certainly the latter but I suppose its all a part of going to a “foreign” land.

I got back in Amman and met a few Americans from the hostel at local bar serving some heavily taxed beer. This was a mini-celebration and the next day I was flying home to India…but I still had one more corner of Jordan that was wanted to cover before that!