Jordan April 11

Life is interesting.

When I planned this trip I was going to spend 3 days in Jarash, and using one of those days as a day trip to Ajloun castle. I was then going to Irbid stay there for three days, and do a day trip to Umm Qais. 

After I met my German pilgrim, I canceled my third day in Jarash, and went straight to Umm Qais (Don't you just love that name?). We visited the castle on the way. This meant I had an extra day in Irbid.

Even my guide book indicates that Irbid has no ruins, no tourist attractions. 

Reem and Nour also said there is little to do or see.

Well, Irbid has turned out to be a real experience. Spending yesterday with the young ladies was a highlight day.

Today I decided to visit the Dar as-Saraya museum, which is located at the highest hill in the city.

The museum was enjoyable. It is a lovely old building, and doesn't have a large number of exhibits, but what it has is an excellent series of posters that explain the history of the area, from prehistoric to modern times. And it is all in good English. It's starts with prehistory, the Stone Age, Iron Age, Bronze Age and through the Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman periods until today. There are items, on display from the various periods.

One of the many things I learned was that Saladin built the castle at Ajloun, not only for defence, but also because of the iron ore deposits. This then was used as a trade commodity.

There was also a display of lovely mosaics. This was not a simple process. First there was a thick layer of red soil, then pebbles, then a layer of ash, and a layer of chalk. Only then where the tiles laid. When you realize that entire floors were created in this manner, you really appreciate the artistry and labour involved.

The place was empty, there wasn't even anybody at the ticket booth. It was very quiet, and I took my time absorbing a lot of education. Restful and peaceful.

After my visit to the museum I walked down into the Souk (market place). This is like a series of street markets, selling everything, but primarily fruit and vegetables. Everything is local. A real farmers market, only a lot more chaotic than what we are used to. Very noisy, in a good way, great aromas of the fresh fruits and herbs. The bunches of basil and mint were huge. They even had fresh corn already. My favourite stall though was one that sold freshly picked strawberries. I gave the guy 1JD, and he gave me a big bag of strawberries, there must be at least 2 quarts. I am going to Amman tomorrow, so I will be eating strawberries all day.

After a lunch of pita bread, hummus, and strawberries, I decided to walk around the Yarmouk University, which is only a 20 minute walk from my hotel. The university has a Museum of Jordanian Heritage. Not an easy thing to find. I asked 4 different guards, and they all gave me directions, all wrong. Even my guidebook had the location wrong. I finally asked a student, who spoke German, and he walked me to the building.

That's the second time today that my German came in handy. I used it to get a taxi, when the driver didn't know any English.

The campus of the university is large, the student population is 30000, or 45000, depending on who you ask.

The museum is quite small, but they had good explanations, and covered different topics than the first one. They had a special room dedicated to funeral practices. Interesting. Again I was the only visitor.

The weather is gorgeous, low 20's, sunny, and a nice breeze.

All in all I have really enjoyed my stay in Irbid.