Saturday, May 8, 2010

That Other Sunset, or Day 1 of the Epic May Adventure

Yesterday and today just kinda blurred together. Yesterday ended somewhere on the second plane from Dubai to Amman, but today started sometime on the first plane from Doha to Dubai. The five hours in Dubai... a yesterday/today overlap.

I don't remember much of any of that; I got a good, though interrupted, night's sleep when you add it all together.

Our arrival in Amman was good: got visa (me), got questioned about motives (Abdalla), got suitcase back (Abdalla), got a picture taken at customs (me). We jumped on the bus to the Abdali station, supposedly right where our hostel was.

Sadly, our hostel was at the old Abdali station. The pretty and new one was a few kilometers away, so we had to take a taxi. A guy from the bus also hopped in to ride-share. However, the first taxi we got in refused to use his meter, so we duly got out and got the next one, which was much more obliging.

Now, we get to the hotel, and while checking in to our dorm-style, segregated rooms, we get the news that Arabs aren't allowed in the dorm-style. They offered him an over-priced single, or nothing.
We walked down the street, then saw the next hotel. There, we managed to bargain to get a much more reasonable rate for the night, stowed our bags, and headed out to see Amman.

Once we got little things like withdrawing money and eating lunch done, we walked to the Roman Amphitheater. This thing was impressive, skillfully done, and ancient! We climbed up and down (though going down on those worn-out and steep steps was a little aderenaline rush) and clapped to hear the echo and spoke on the stage to witness the acoustics.

Next door was the Odeon, where the nobles would go to make laws (says the nice guy from the UAE that Abdalla chatted with) or to watch plays and concerts (says the Internet... there is really no one good to trust on this one!)

We walked and wandered toward the Nyphaeum on the map, finding a fruit market and some friendly shopkeepers on the way. Surprisingly, we did find it! It was so named, not because there were nymphs frolicking around, but because the fountain that was there had nymphs on it. ("Was" being the operative word. There were really only random granite bricks strewn around that I saw.)

Then, it was up to the Citadel for the sunset. We wandering the huge grounds, seeing the cistern, the Byzantine church ruins, the remains of a city, an archaelogical museum, and, my personal favorite, the Temple of Hercules.

They think it is his because there were giant carved hands found there. I just know that the columns that are still up are extremely photogenic. We were disappointed when, at 6:20 (when we thought sunset was), there were gray clouds all over the sky, which had hidden the sun.


Imagine our surprise when, at 7:15 (when the sunset actually was), the gray clouds turned pink, and I went on a picture-taking spree.


The day ended with a stroll up and down Rainbow Lane, a street that has a few cute little restaurants and quite a night personality. The bookstore sadly didn't have a good Jordan travel guide, so tomorrow we are on our own, just brains and words. We got offered by a few cabbies to drive us around all day for a steep fee, but since we have the time, we are going to try to be adventurous (as our hotel manager encouraged us) and take cheap transit. Wish us luck!

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