Amman
I spent two nights in Amman before crossing the border into West Bank. After dropping off my backpack at my shitty hostel, I spent a happy afternoon walking around downtown Amman. Apart from the cookie-cutter souvenir shops, there seemed to be many jewellers, perfumers and sweets shops around. One of those perfumers offered me a coffee, and made a sample vial of my favourite scent i sniffed, along with a business card in case I changed my mind.
What fascinated me the most were all the alleyways, often dominated by a single business, and decorated with balloons and the like.
Many of the stairs, forming major pedestrian thoroughfares, were well decorated.
The next morning, my sleep having been interrupted by drunken Spanish, I walked up to the Amman Citadel, which has a long history of being occcupied and worked on by different groups throughout history. I discovered the whole place overrun by a film studio, Coldplay were playing in concert there in a few nights. I managed to get some good shots while dodging trucks transporting portaloos, forklifts moving crates, and the oppressive gaze of the tourist police.
The Citadel also offered some incredible views of Amman.
A short distance down the hill, my way assisted and shortened by excellent advice from a smoking Jordanian man to use a hidden staircase, I found a stunning Roman Theatre.
After getting incredibly lost, I found my way to the partially restored Nymphium.
That night, after organizing my bus ticket to cross the border, I took an Uber to a local Turkish Bath, which was a good two hours of…
- showering
- Steaming
- Showering
- Steaming
- Showering
- Spaing
- Scrubbing
- Washing
- massaging
- Saunaing
Which was all heavenly, and not nearly as brutal as the Turkish Bath I visted in Istanbul in 2008, even if the building didn’t date back to the Ottoman Empire.
I decided to walk back to the hostel, but soon got waylaid when I discovered a very hipster area close by the bathouse. I found an amazing shop selling pop culture goods, and more than a few pro-Palestine items that I would have loved to buy. but could not afford to have on me when I crossed the border. So I limited myself to a cute button and a sticker for my notebook.
Making my way down some stairs, I spotted a few local lads rollerblading, which is the first time in over ten years I have spotted anyone on rollerblades.
Google Maps being more useful than usual, told me to walk down a slim pedestrian alleyway, and I spotted a Liquor Store sign, and walked in planning to buy a beer to take back to my dreary room, to see if it improves the ambience. Butt it turned out to be a tiny, dark bar, possibly skirting the local laws by not calling itself a bar.
So I dwelled long enough to click glasses with the resident barflies, enjoy my first beer for a week, and listen to some surprisingly good pop music, before saying my goodbyes and departing. I would have loved to spend more time there, but I needed to pack before bed and leave early in the morning, and experience has taught me never to pack drunk or hungover.
Adrian's Got The Moose 