Jordan: Jerash, Aljoun, Amman

Spring Break Day Five (continued from part four)

I took the early morning bus from Wadi Musa to Amman. When I arrived back at the hostel, the owner mentioned was worried about me since I did not come back last night. I had left my bag there while I stayed in Wadi Musa. It seemed the owner cared a lot about the travelers that stayed at his place. I would recommend the Cliff Hostel to anyone staying in Amman.

I had breakfast at Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Restaurant a few times that week. There aren't too many restaurants in Downtown Amman, but this one is pretty good. Afterward I bought my ticket to Istanbul from a travel agent and then went to North Station for my last day trip in Jordan. I took the bus to Jerash, a significant city in northern Jordan about an hour from the Syrian border.

Road to Jerash.



Jerash is famous for its well-preserved Roman ruins, which was my destination. Upon getting out of the bus, the first thing that struck me was the smell; the flowers in Jerash were in bloom everywhere so the whole city smelled like a florist's shop.

A camel at the bus station?


Before the entrance to the ancient city there was a small marketplace where vendors sell their goods. At the hippodrome, you could purchase tickets to see reenactments of chariot races, though I opted not to.

The ancient city of Jerash is well worth the visit, as many of the structures and the original Roman roads are still intact. The ancient city and the modern city of Jerash are set against a nice background of green, rolling hills. There was a large group of schoolchildren probably from somewhere in Jordan who were visiting, but besides that there weren't too many tourists. The area around the ancient city isn't overly commercialized either, so it made for a pleasant visit.


Gate to the ancient city.


Forum of Jerash.



The bigger theater.


The small theater.


The Hippodrome.



Various pictures from Jerash. I don't remember the names of all the structures.





The modern city in the background of the ancient city.




Some of the flowers, whose scent pervaded the air.



Afterward I had lunch in Jerash and then wandered around the city a bit before locating the bus station. After waiting for a bit, the bus to Aljoun arrived. I was the only one to board the bus, but since it was a multiple-destination route and picks people up along the way, it left with just me on it. The ride from Jerash to Aljoun is perhaps the most scenic road of all that I traveled.

Aljoun is a tiny, quiet town with perhaps a few thousand, and its main (and only attraction) is the castle that sits atop it, known as Qal'at al Rabad. The castle was built in the 12th century by Arabs fighting the Crusaders. I took a taxi to the top and I arrived just before closing time. I didn't get to spend as much time there as I would have liked, but I spent enough time to say that it was probably my favorite thing I saw in Jordan. Karak Castle was a close second, but the quiet town of Aljoun really beats out Karak.

Pictures from Aljoun Castle.







View of the castle from the other side of Aljoun.


After visiting the castle, my taxi driver told me there were no more buses from Aljoun, so he drove me to Jerash. He set me up with a guy who was giving servecee rides in his car to Amman for only 1 dinar, which was a good enough deal for me. After back in Amman, I had dinner at one of the outdoor diner-style places, wandered around Downtown a bit more, checked out of my hostel, and took a taxi to the airport. The only flight I could find from Jordan to Turkey for that day was a 3:30AM flight to Istanbul from Queen Alia Airport, so I had to stay up the whole night.