Pompeii of the East: Jerash

We just couldn't get enough of those Roman ruins so today we went to Jerash about 45 minutes North of Amman. Jerash is considered the Pompeii of the East and for a good reason – it’s really old. The city is home to an ancient Greco-Roman settlement formerly called Gerasa founded by Alexander the Great around 331 BC. Other than some obvious restoration, the ruins were in surprisingly good condition.

Here is a link to more info.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerash

We hired a driver who's name was Saber to take us to Jerash. It was nice seeing more of the country's terrain which consisted of dry limestone hills, cream colored cement houses, olive groves, and farm fields. Along the way there would be vendors selling fruits and vegetables. In one large area was a makeshift city for the Palestinian refugees who have been there for many years. Today was a very windy day so there was a lot of dust in the air giving a vintage effect to my photos. Other than the wind, it was a beautiful day with the temperature in the 50’s.

With tourism way down, we practically had the ruins of Jerash to ourselves. Casually roaming this massive complex we found ourselves at the foot of huge Corinthian columns, Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Artemis. You could barely bend your head back far enough to see the tops of the columns decorated with carvings of acanthus leaves local to the area. Every now and then there would be a young man next to a small table of souvenirs offering to take creative photos of us with our iPhones. Then they would take us back behind closed gates to show us secret storage tunnels or better views of the ruins. Naturally I bought a couple of moon stone bracelets from them. I really feel bad for all the vendors and guides as they hardly have any business - bad for them, but good for us. I don't think I'd appreciate these sites as much with thousands of visitors.

Random notes:

-Jordan has a Prime Minister, King and Prince. Unlike other countries with Kings and Prime Ministers, here the King actually rules and is not just a figure head.

-Air Pollution levels are high right now in Amman and Jerash. Best to wear a mask.