!st May 2012: AMMAN, Jordan

It was our last day in Jordan, and in Amman, before we flew home that evening, so we wanted to pack in as much as possible. We'd been out to eat with Marney and Andy on previous evenings but this was to be our only day sight-seeing proper.
Where better to start than the pavement markets in Downtown for a bit of souvenir-shopping? Strolling around, we felt at ease in what seemed in many ways a stereotype of a Middle eastern city: loud traffic and voices, Arabic music blaring from shopfronts, and people selling clothes, coffee, cigarettes and trinkets on the street.
 And then a leisurely lunch in a restaurant overlooking one of Amman's main shopping streets. I know it looks deserted but that's no reflection on the food: we arrived just at the end of lunchtime when everyone was leaving!

The Husseini Mosque:
Like nearly everything else in Amman, this pink-and-white-striped mosque is a relatively recent construction.

There's been a mosque on this site since 640 AD, and before that a Byzantine cathedral, the current building dating from 1932 when Emir Abdullah ordered the site cleared for construction. It is one of the city's most important places of worship and has traditionally also been a focus for political demonstrations, most recently after the Arab Spring.

The Nymphaeum:

Behind the mosque is the site of excavation and restoration work on the Roman Nymphaeum, the public fountain dedicated to water nymphs. Similar fountains were sited near rivers running through major cities, eg Jerash, throughout the Greco-Roman world.

This one was originally two storeys high, and must have dominated the area with its colonnades of Corinthian columns, faced in marble, with statues of gods, emperors or city nobles filling the niches.

The Roman Forum:
An impressively long Corinthian colonnade and some original Roman paving are the only physical remains of the marketplace.

The Roman Theatre:
Cut into a depression in the hillside, the Roman Theatre was built between 169 and 177 AD, during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, for an audience of almost six thousand.

Above the seating is a small empty shrine with niches. Part of a statue of Athena was discovered here during clearance work.

The design of the theatre is ingenious. Not only are the acoustics remarkable, the south-facing stage is flooded with sun throughout the day while virtually every spectator remains undazzled and in cool shadow.
Vaults beneath the auditorium house two museums of traditional clothing, jewellery and customs.

The Odeon:
This freestanding theatre , seating about five hundred, dates from slightly earlier and was probably the venue for parliamentary-style council meetings or small-scale drama. in antiquity the whole building would probably have been roofed.