Jordan April 12

Everything went smoothly this morning. I was at my hotel in Amman before noon. I am right downtown, and I see the Roman Theatre, or what's left of it, right from my window. I have a balcony looking over the site.

The trip to Amman was pleasant. The countryside is very hilly, but there are trees and lots of green.

This is the nicest hotel I have been to on this trip. Beautifully decorated, very clean. Another first, there is a complementary package of cigarettes on my balcony.

I must admit I am amazed that I haven't had one room that has smelled of smoke. That is surprising considering the number of smokers in Jordan.

Another first; I saw my first garbage truck.

Amman has a long history. It has been inhabitated since 7000 BC. After Alexander the Great conquered this area, the name was changed from the Biblical Ammon to Philadelphia, so this is the original "City of Brotherly Love". When the Muslims took over in the 7th century AD, they renamed the city Amman.

After the huge earthquake, in 749, Amman, like other cities was basically abandoned for a thousand years. It reverted to a grazing spot for the local Bedouins. In the 1840's it was resettled by the Circassians, better known as Chechens. Over a million of these Muslims were forced out by Russian orthodox believers from their homeland.

Amman was a small city until the creation of Israel,  in 1948, when a million Palestines fled to Jordan. This was repeated after the war in 1967. In recent years there have been other refugee influxes. In the last 10 years the population of Amman has doubled to 4 million. 

Can you imagine 2 million refugees settling in Toronto in a period of 10 years?

It is amazing Amman is functioning  as well as it is.

I spent the rest of the day walking around downtown Amman. This is the old part, still traditional, nothing but very small stores, selling just about anything.

I saw my first tourist tee shirt. I did not see any tee shirts anywhere, not even one "I love Petra". I can't think of any place in the world where tee shirts aren't a big seller. Anyway, I saw ONE today.

This is the most westernized city so far, a great variety of fashions. The only thing I have noticed is that even the girls who don't wear a hijab, wear long sleeved tops. On the male side it's like North America.