Day 1 - Ajloun Castle and Jeresh

 We had a good flight from London.  It was only about 1/3 full.  There was no-one else sitting in the window seat so we spread out a bit.  After the meal I moved to the row in front as it was empty and was able to make myself a little bed and lie down and sleep.

At the airport we were the only ones from this tour on the flight and were told that there would be 13 of us when we met our guide in the morning. 

We arrived at the hotel, where we have a large appartment, about 12:45 am and met the rest of the group in the morning in the breakfast room.   I could believe it when the first couple told us they were from Dunton Bassett - less than 1 mile from us.  I must run past their house regularly.

After breakfast we met up with the tour guide, Mohammed, who will be with us all week.  We have a 52 seater coach for 13 of us so plenty of space and it doesnt take long to get off and on.

We left Amman and drove to the north of Jordan.  We first stopped at a small cafe to sample Jordanian coffee.  I shared one with Paul but it was horrendously strong and I couldnt manage more than a couple of sips.  Paul did finish it thought, saying it was an acquired taste.

We then continued to the town of Ajloun where we first went to the Forest Nature Reserve,which has lovely views over the Jordan River Valley.  While there we had a lesson on the arabic language and learned to write our names in a calligraphy style with bamboo pens.

 

 
Jean in arabic

 
View from Forest Nature reserve.  
Pity they have built a zip line there

Our next visit was to Ajloun Castle, built in the 12th century on the site of a former monastery at an altitude of 1000m.  It is very close to the Israeli West Bank border.  It was built to protect against Crusader invasions.  With clear conditions, it is possible to see ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

 
Passageway in the castle

 
Remains of former Byzantine Church inside the castle

 
Female security officer at castle

 
Mosaics found at castle

 
Cannonballs made of stone

 
Do Not Litter sign

 
Cat in the castle - there were a lot of them

 
Steps up to the higher levels of castle

 
Ajloun Castle

We were taken to Jerash where we had a very nice buffet lunch before going to Jerash Medieval Site which is known as the Pompeii of the East.  It is the best preserved roman sites outside of Italy and there is evidence of human activity here for over 6500 years.  We did have a few rain showers while here but they didnt last long.


 
Hadrians Arch

 
Temple of Apollo

 
Ampitheatre

 
Oval Plaza

 
Mosiacs at Church ruins
 

 
Temple of Artemis

 
Nymphaeum

 
Hooded Crow with food

 
Crested Lark

 
Very ornate decorations at the top of the pillars at 
The Temple of Artemis

 
Video of Drummer and Bagpipe player from the top of the Ampitheatre

 
Video of Millipede.  There were a lot of these around the site

 
Group of Common Myna birds attacking another.  
The attacked bird did eventually fly off


The areas visited today are along the Jordan River Valley and it is where all of Jordans home produced fruit and vegetables are grown.  We saw thousands of Olive Trees and heard how various types of Olive Oil are produced.

 
Fertile area of Jordan River Valley

After a quick freshen up back at the hotel, we were taken for dinner at a very nice restaurant.  To my surprise Paul tried a lot of different types of food without making any fuss.




Comments

  1. Ann12 November 2023 at 12:02

    Looks like you could be lucky with not many visitors about, good time to see the sights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jean12 November 2023 at 21:26

      The tour guide said that so many have cancelled holidays to Jordan because of the Gaza situation. The rest of our group who booked later than us had to come on other airlines because the BA flight was full at that time. But it was only about 1/3 full. Other lost visitors are Russians and Ukrainians who used to come in their thousands.

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