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Wild flowers blooming in Ajloun |
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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.
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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 12th century muslim castle.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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