Middle East - Anthony Ham [287]
Dessert here, as in many parts of the Middle East, may be kunafa or muhalabiyya (a milk custard containing pistachio nuts).
The universal drink of choice is sweet black tea (coffee comes a close second); most social exchanges, including haggling over a kilim, are punctuated with copious glasses of it that are usually too hot to handle. Other options include yansoon (aniseed herbal tea) and zaatar (thyme-
flavoured tea).
Bottled mineral water (1.5L bottle JD1) is widely available, as are the usual soft drinks, Amstel beer and locally produced wines.
Street eats – felafel, shwarma, fuul, roast chicken and hummus – are widely available. In mid-range restaurants, the most common way for a group to eat is to order mezze – a variety of small starters followed by several mains to be shared by all present.
AMMAN
06 / pop 2.2 million
Amman is not one of the great cities of antiquity. Indeed, for those arriving from Damascus or Cairo, it can feel disappointingly grey and modern – though, alas, not in the visionary, expensive Dubai sense of the word. There are historic sites, as you would expect of a city once called Philadelphia: the 6000-seat Theatre, Odeon and Citadel are all fine, if relatively small, examples of Roman architecture.
The lack of historic sites shouldn’t put you off, however. Amman has lots to offer the visitor, not least the balance it strikes between the demands of the past and the vision of its next generation. Residents talk openly of two Ammans, although in truth there are many. Eastern Amman (which includes Downtown and large Palestinian refugee camps on the fringes) is home to the urbanised poor and is generally more conservative. Western Amman is a world apart, the preserve of leafy residential districts, trendy cafés and bars, impressive contemporary art galleries and young men and women openly walking arm in arm.
So don’t come to Amman looking for medieval bazaars or grand mosques. But do come to catch a glimpse of a tolerant and practical Arab city, embracing an international and culturally diverse vision of the future. It’s also a great base from which to visit Jerash, the Dead Sea and the Eastern Desert Castles. Whatever your reason for visiting, the welcome is sure to be warm.
HISTORY
The site of Amman has been continuously occupied since 3500 BC. Biblical references to the city are numerous and indicate that by 1200 BC ‘Rabbath Ammon’ was the capital of the powerful Ammonites. When King David was insulted by the Ammonite king, Nahash, he sent Joab, commanding the Israelite armies, to besiege Rabbath. After taking the town, David burnt alive many inhabitants in a brick kiln.
Amman was taken by Herod around 30 BC, and fell under the sway of Rome.
Philadelphia (as it was then known) was the seat of Christian bishops in the early Byzantine period, but the city declined and fell to the Sassanians (from Persia) in about AD 614. At the time of the Muslim invasion of AD 636, the town was again thriving as a staging post of the caravan trade.
Amman was nothing more than a little village when a colony of Circassians resettled there in 1878. In 1900 it was estimated to have just 2000 residents. In 1921 it became the centre of Transjordan when King Abdullah made it his headquarters. Following the formation of the state of Israel in 1948, Amman absorbed a flood of
Palestinian refugees, and doubled its population in a mere two weeks. It continues to grow, currently swelled by many Iraqi refugees escaping the chaos across the border.
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GIVING AMMAN A FACELIFT
Amman is on the rise, with several high-profile construction projects set to change the face of the city. Here are two initiatives that will be capturing headlines in the coming months:
National Museum Amman’s congested Downtown will eventually be home to public gardens, panoramic vantage points and pedestrian trails linking the Citadel and the Roman Theatre. The highlight of