Pompeii of the East – Jerash

After we meet our new guide, Audi, we immediately head towards Jerash stopping along the way for a feast of a lunch.  There are spreads and dips and different meats and pita and more of every dish than we could possibly consume.  I feel like I could survive purely on their twice-baked pita and fresh hummus.

After lunch we are just minutes away from Jerash, one of the best-preserved Greco-Roman cities in the world.  The size of this Roman city combined with the amount that has already been excavated rivals sites that I saw in Rome.  We walk through the Temple of Artemis and Zeus, the Roman Forum, Hadrian’s Arch, a very well-preserved theatre and the mile-long Street of Columns (also known as the Cardo).  I feel that if I go through all the pictures that my dad and I took, there wouldn’t be an ancient column missing.

After a complete tour of Jerash and a tour that felt like it was a private tour because of the lack of other tourists, we continue on to Amman to spend the night.  We venture out of the hotel for a walk, which we don’t realize is completely downhill until we turn around, and because of the pollution of the city, some jetlag, and our heavy lunch earlier, upon our return to the hotel, we skip dinner and head to bed rather early.