Travel Notes in Jordan (Part 7) Jerash and the National Museum

Return to Amman from Aqaba and plan to go to Jerash the next day. However, a few days ago, a knife attack occurred in the Jerash scenic area. Eight people, including four foreign tourists, were stabbed by an attacker with a knife in the Jerash scenic area. This incident made international news.

The organizer has been hesitating whether to take us there, and is worried about what if something happens again? Finally, from a probability perspective, such sporadic events generally do not occur continuously. Despite coming, everyone decided unanimously: go.

Some people may be worried that Jordan is not safe because of this. Jordan is almost the safest country in the Middle East. Tourism is a pillar industry. Of course, safety issues will be ensured as much as possible. Accidents happen everywhere, and a large number of tourists drown in Thailand every year. On the contrary, no one is worried about the safety of traveling in Thailand. When we know more about a place, there will be fewer misunderstandings.

The terrain of Jordan can be roughly divided into three parts. One is the Jordan Valley zone, where the Jordan River and the Dead Sea are located; one is the Eastern Desert zone, where Wadi Rum is located; the other is It is Mountain Plateau, both Amman and Jerash belong to the mountain plateau. Mountainous plateaus have heavy rainfall and relatively rich vegetation.

Jerash is 48 kilometers north of Amman. After setting off, you can see more and more green vegetation along the way. I saw locals selling fruits and vegetables on the roadside. Big pomegranate, big and sweet.

At the entrance to Jerash is the visitor center. The exhibition hall displays some cultural relics excavated in recent years, which are also worth a look.

Hadrian’s Arch in Jerash is relatively well preserved. However, there are obviously some problems with the repair technology and concept of this door.

Walking inside, we soon came to the oval square. Of course, this picture was taken from a high place, and the perspective when you first walked in is not like this.

The square leads to a main street lined with a large number of stone pillars. There are various remaining ancient Roman city ruins on both sides of the street, such as markets, temples and even Goulan tile houses.

You can stroll around this street for a while. Heck, you can also go shopping here. Wandering around, you can imagine the life scenes of the Romans here more than 2,000 years ago.

In 64 BC, the Roman army occupied the area and began to build the city of Jerash. At around 50 hectares, the ancient city of Jerash is not small. Subsequently, dynasties changed, several ups and downs, wars and earthquakes caused great damage to the city. By the 9th century, Jerash was abandoned. It was not rediscovered by Western travelers until the early 19th century.

The ancient Roman theater is on the left side of the entrance. After walking around the street, you can walk to the theater via another route.

Although it is one of the most complete ancient Roman cities in the world, the ancient city of Jerash has not been selected as a World Cultural Heritage. Judging from what I saw on this day, the rigid conditions for a World Cultural Heritage are sufficient.

Later, I checked the information and found that it was a technical repair problem that caused the application to be rejected, which is also a pity.

If you are in Amman, Jerash is worth spending a day to see.

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In Amman, you should actually visit the National Museum of Jordan. Any country’s national museum should be visited.

We took a taxi, and the taxi driver tricked us again.

One of the treasures of the National Museum of Jordan may be the statue of Ain Ghazal, which dates from 7500 BC, 9500 years ago.

In fact, the real treasure of the museum is the fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls, but photography is not allowed.

There is a special exhibition in the museum about 1001 Arab inventions to enhance national pride.

Historically, the Arabs have indeed made great contributions to the world in medicine, astronomy and navigation technology, including the contributions of women.

On the day before we left, we walked around the old town of Amman with Sun, who was our tour guide, to get a feel for the living conditions of the locals. Classmate Sun is a young man from Shandong, studying abroad in Amman.

Interlude:

On the way back from Jerash, the family gathered on the roadside for dinner.

At the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman, because the previous room was a bit noisy, I was moved to a suite, which was terrifyingly empty. For a country bumpkin like me, one person and a comfortable bed are actually enough.

We had a big meal at noon on our day trip to Jerash. Mansaf, the national dish of Jordan. It’s so delicious, I’m drooling just looking at the picture.

Jordan is a country worth visiting again in your lifetime.