Since the Embassy is officially closed all week, and since Susan is deep in the 9th Circle of packing hell, David and I decided to go do some exploring yesterday.
After careful consideration (i.e. a quick image search under "jordan tourism sites), we decided to hit up Ajloun Castle and Jerash. David had visited Belvoir Fortress, built in 1168 by Gilbert of Assailly, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallier about 12 miles south of the Sea of Galilee (this might actually be the only site in Jordan and Israel I haven't seen...to do list for the next trip). So he was interested to visit Ajloun, which was built in 1184ish by Salah al-Din's nephew 'Izz al-Din 'Usama, to counter Belvoir Fortress's dominance over the Jordan River Valley.
We were duly impressed by the arrow slits, fosse, offset gate and holes for easy-pouring of boiling oil, when necessary. Most impressive was the amazing view down to the Jordan River. After an hour or two of clambering, we got into our junky rental and headed to Jerash.
After careful consideration (i.e. a quick image search under "jordan tourism sites), we decided to hit up Ajloun Castle and Jerash. David had visited Belvoir Fortress, built in 1168 by Gilbert of Assailly, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallier about 12 miles south of the Sea of Galilee (this might actually be the only site in Jordan and Israel I haven't seen...to do list for the next trip). So he was interested to visit Ajloun, which was built in 1184ish by Salah al-Din's nephew 'Izz al-Din 'Usama, to counter Belvoir Fortress's dominance over the Jordan River Valley.
We were duly impressed by the arrow slits, fosse, offset gate and holes for easy-pouring of boiling oil, when necessary. Most impressive was the amazing view down to the Jordan River. After an hour or two of clambering, we got into our junky rental and headed to Jerash.
having fun storming the castle...it took a miracle
clambering
Jerash was a bit hot. We fortified ourselves on the way in with lots of water. We wandered and then clambered around. We visited the Temples of Zeus and Artemis and two amphitheaters. We found some dried up, decomposing millipedes, the live version of which were the bane of my last trip to Jerash (so creepy). We saw 2,000 year old wheel ruts. We listened to Arab bagpipers (never gets old...oh, no wait, gets old after 23 seconds). We watched pretend chariot races.
And then we decided we couldn't stand a single minute more in the heat, so we stopped into a small on-site restaurant to buy ice cream. David chose...wisely and enjoyed a strawberry popsicle. I chose...poorly and had an ice cream sandwich. Which turned out to be basically two pieces of bread with some frozen whipped cream in the middle. At least it was cold.
We came home to find Susan slightly more organized and the house deliciously air conditioned.
fully expect these to be back in place by next visit
why yes, he was humming the Chariots of Fire theme, why do you ask?
clambering
more clambering
definitely not clambering
a view from the top
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