Спілкуйтеся з нами на:         Активні члени : 22871
PLACES TO VISIT IN AFGHANISTAN   CMT fair – Stuttgart 2017 to showcase tourist Albania   WELCOME TO ALGERIA   Main attractions and man-made landmarks   ANDORRA SHOPING   Welcome to Angola   12 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Anguilla   Antigua Barbuda Wildlife & Marine Life   Bariloche   Ancient Cave Dwellings of Armenia   16 facts about Aruba that will surprise you   Bhutan Australia Diplomatic Relation ship discount offered   INNSBRUCK ALTRADT   TOP 4 SHOPPING MALLS IN BAKU   The Bahamas: beaches   Best steakhouses in Bahrain   St. Martin’s Island   Key Facts About Barbados   Visa-free entry for foreigners to Grodno   SEMOIS VALLEY   Explore Bermuda's 500 years of history   Road to Merak leads to declining tourist arrivals   Top 10 Places to Party In La Paz   Albanian Airways Holiday   Bumba Meu Boi: a guide to the festival of the ox in Brazil   Ten interesting facts about Brunei   The Ministry of Tourism held a national meeting with representatives of the EDEN network in Bulgaria   SCUBA DIVING IN SIHANOUKVILLE   Car rental with chauffeur service in Cameroon   Winnipeg’s best places to eat: the spoils of a food revolution   erectile dysfunction and radiation treatment   14 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the Cayman Islands   Patagonia, land of Magellan   Tibet tour   A PHOTOGRAPHERS GUIDE TO VISITING CHRISTMAS ISLAND   Cocos (Keeling) Islands traveller information   From Panama to Colombia...by boat   us based licensed pharmacy cialis   ZADAR   Curaçao Holidays and Festivals   KYRENIA   Konopiště Chateau and the Archduke's Trophies   Nyhavn, Copenhagen   WHAT TO DO IN DJIBOUTI?   10 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Dominica   10 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the Dominican Republic   Hiking Mt Ramelau: a guide to scaling Timor-Leste's highest peak   Galapagos Island   17 Non Royal Mummies Have Discovered in Minya Cemetery   Asmara – Africa’s Modernist City became UNESCO World Heritage site   Neeme Lall Gallery   COFFEE   10 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the Falkland Islands   FAROESE FESTIVAL AND MUSIC LIFE   Island paradise: the best resorts in Fiji   A REFRESHING DIP IN ICY WATER?   The Cave of Pont d'Arc in Ardèche   Best Time to Visit French Guiana   French Polynesia — History and Culture   Приглашаем встретить Новый Год 2017 в Грузии!   Neuschwanstein   Gorham’s provides ‘dramatic backdrop’ for BBC Horizon film   Greece-Where The Democracy And Philosophy Was Born   10 Interesting Facts You Didn’t Know About Greenland   Scuba Diving in Grenada   A Caribbean Secret: 10 Reasons To Love The Guadeloupe Islands   The 10 Most Beautiful Beaches In Guam   GUATEMALA ADVANCES 17 POSITIONS IN COMPETITIVENESS INDEX OF TRAVEL   Bike touring in Guyana: practical information   The Top 10 Most Beautiful Places in Haiti   Heard Island and McDonald Islands Travel Guide   Top 8 Things to Do with Kids in Hong Kong   Highlights of Budapest   Mysterious Iceland   26 Wellness Camps in India   java tour   Reinhold messner climbing experience   Iraq History, Language and Culture   Shows & Entertainment in Ireland   Having Trouble With Acid Reflux? Give These Tips A Shot   Венеция карнавал 2017   Jamaica Holidays and Festivals   5 OF TOKYO’S WEIRDEST CAFÉS   Petra   Southern Kazakhstan Tourism Destinations   3 Days Masai Mara Migration Safari   porno-anal   North Korea Country Profile   Circumnavigating Seoul: Hiking the ancient city wall   Kuwait Mosques   To Kazakhstan with Kyrgyz visa and vice versa   Bolaven Plateau Trekking   Kuldiga   Lebanon History, Language and Culture   The Citytrain Winetasting Tour   Lithuania for the first time: travel guide   Hiking in Luxembourg   10 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Macau   WINTER IN MACEDONIA   MADAGASCAR DESTINATION   Choose your own Malaysian island adventure   Water Sports   Learning English in Malta   Marshall Islands Travel Profile   Diving in Micronesia   Hancu Monastery   Cathedral   BEST OF MONGOLIA   Jbel Toubkal 4167m, Morocco   Introduction to Myanmar   Namib Desert (Sandwich Harbour)   Nauru Travel Profile   Asian Adventure Nepal B2B sales Partnership offer   Amsterdam’s Most Underrated Attractions   Top 10 Things to do in New Caledonia   New Zealand's most wondrous night-time experiences   Nicaragua under radar destinations for 2016.   Niue: Falling in love with the Pacific   Norfolk Island Travel Profile   Scuba Diving North Mariana Islands   SKI THE ICONIC NORWEGIAN FJORD REGION   Top 10: best luxury hotels in Oman   The 10 Most Beautiful Places You Should See In Pakistan   3 Luxury Hotels in Palau Where we Could Relax all Day   EDWARD RETAINS DIAMOND LEAGUE TITLE   Kayaking in Papua New Guinea   Travel in Paraguay   Sacred Valley tour guide.   Singapore with kids: best places to entertain tots in the Lion City   Pitcairn Islands Travel Profile   Pier in Sopot   The Cave of Escoural   Al Shahaniya Camel Racetrack   Visions of Heaven; Romania's famous painted monasteries are the beautiful legacy of a bygone era and vibrant centres of faith for today   Проживание в загородном отеле ЛЕС Арт Резорт с домашними животными   RWANDA, LAND OF A 1000 HILLS & HOME OF THE MOUNTAIN GORILLAS   13 Reasons Samoa Is The Pacific's Best-Kept Secret   Visit to the "Castelli"   Автомобильный форум   Top 5 day trips in Singapore   The National Park of Slovenský raj   Adele in Slovenia   Solomon Islands travel guide and things to do: 20 reasons to visit   South Georgia / South Sandwich Islands - Antarctic Travel   LANGUAGE/IDIOMATIC TOURISM   Travel Sri lanka With YENARA TOURS   7 Best Places to Visit in Suriname Before You Die   SKIING THE NORTHERNMOST MOUNTAINS IN THE WORLD: SVALBARD   Sigtuna   Salt Mines   Syrian Arab Republic Country Profile   The 10 Most Beautiful Places In Taiwan   Pamir Mountains among first 100 green tourist destinations in the world   6 Day Kilimanjaro Climb via Machame Route   В Краби слониха убила и самостоятельно похоронила своего хозяина.   Tokelau Travel Profile   Top 5 Tonga Resorts   The Last Monastery Which Virgin Mary Lived in secret Before Coming To EPHESUS   Turkmenistan — Shopping and Leisure   Tuvalu Travel Profile   experience experiatial tourism in uganda   Пять пляжей Ялты получили синий флаг   Affordable luxury: Abu Dhabi’s top 10 best hotels   Cruise Excursions from Liverpool Cruise Terminal   vardenafil vs sildenafil or tadalafil   What Kind of Food Do Uruguayans Eat?   Гастрономические туры в Узбекистан   Top 10 facts about Vanuatu   Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's Square)   Venezuela — Attractions   Da Nang City a long stay destination in Vietnam   Wallis and Futuna Travel Profile   Yemen Country Profile   Get a flavour of the real Jersey with Four Farm Stalls   The Best Guernsey Boat Trips   Visa Information for Montenegro   Maglič   Always near sun and bath   Bonaire — Festivals and Events   Top ten reasons to visit Curacao   Palestinian territories   Easy Travel System   
ПРИЄДНУЙТЕСЬ
Готелі Каталог Готелів Гіди Яхти Компанії Транспорт Координатор
ПРИЄДНУЙТЕСЬ
Вхід
ВХІД
Додайте e-mail
ПІДПИСАТИСЬ

Secret Amman

Much of the time, visitors to Jordan follow in the footsteps of Indiana Jones -- rushing straight to the Treasury and Monastery tombs that bookend the ancient Nabataean city of Petra. But in doing this, they are overlooking some of the best that this country has to offer. Jordan, and its laidback capital Amman, hide a treasure trove of unmissable, authentic Arabian experiences. And the best of all, you will have most of this to yourself.

Through no fault of its own, Amman has become the forgotten city of the Middle East. It is also the most underrated. The streets have ancient monuments and dusty history to rival Cairo, without the grinding traffic or pollution. Its suburbs have a vibrant restaurant and cultural scene to match neighbouring Beirut, but locals have kept it to themselves.
To see the city at its best, start your day early at the Jabal al Qal’a, or Amman Citadel. In the morning sun, it is the perfect vantage point from which to get your bearings. The seven main hills of Amman spread out below like a rumpled carpet, each mound helping to define a different neighbourhood within the city. Under your feet, meanwhile, lie more than 7000 years of history, and the crumbling pillars, arches and staircases of the Citadel are testament to Amman’s claim as one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities.
Do not miss the Roman-era Temple of Hercules, a honeycomb-coloured jumble of columns and beams, and the hilltop’s Umayyad Palace, believed to date back as far as the 8th Century. Before you leave, take a peek into the hill’s onsite museum – even some locals do not know that it has priceless Dead Sea Scrolls in its collection.
Honking horns from the baying taxi drivers outside will bring you back to modern day Amman before you can say la shokran elak (no, thank you). Resist the urge to be ferried across the city (save the Royal Automobile Museum for another day), and head to one of Amman’s best-kept secrets, the Darat al Funun gallery, on the nearby hilltop Jabal al Weibdeh. A champion of the local arts scene, the gallery is located in a series of three 1920s whitewashed mansions that can be hard to find up a series of crooked steps -- but it is worth the effort. Darat al Funun regularly hosts artists in residence and impromptu concerts and is a great place to dig deeper into the soul of the city. On the way, you will pass one of Amman’s strangest claims to fame: that it is home to one of the tallest flagpoles in the world.
Up the steps outside the gallery and across a few side streets is Paris Circle, one of the city’s most talked about suburbs and home to the coolest fashion store in the city, Jo Bedu. Its Arabic-inspired retro t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts play on a number of Arabic phrases and in-jokes, making for a perfect streetwise souvenir. Favourites include Wadi Rum and Coke and tongue-in-cheek twists on the Facebook and Twitter logos.
From here, retrace your steps back down the steep side-streets to the hustle and bustle of downtown, also known as Jabal Amman. Here, the clichés of Arabian Nights spring to life, in the muezzin call to prayer and the smell of spices and flavoured tobacco smoke wafting from the surrounding souk and shisha cafes. Make sure to stop by Hashem, the finest falafel cafe in the country bar none (it has a picture of King Hussein dining here on its wall, if you need any further recommendation) and Habibah, a hole-in-the-wall baker selling Palestinian knafeh, a syrupy vermicelli-like pastry that locals swear by. There is a lack of street signs, so they can be hard to find – just follow your nose.
Nearby, the city’s ancient Roman forum and amphitheatre – the largest in the country – rises above the surrounding buildings. A tiered structure squashed at the end of a busy traffic junction, the amphitheatre is built into the side of a hill and once had room for 6000 spectators. For a handful of pocket change, you can climb to the top of the parapet for God-like views over the rest of the Roman ruins.

VISIT SHOP

No trip to Amman would be complete without a walk down Rainbow Street, a kilometre-long stretch of rag-bag antique shops, art galleries, coffeehouses and low-key bars in upper Jabal Amman, a five-minute trip away by taxi from downtown. It is home to the city’s most happening creative community -- do not miss Café Des Artistes, Books@Cafe, Wild Jordan or Jacaranda Images to get a real sense of where Jordan is heading. Located in an old townhouse halfway down the street, Sufra is another favourite of King Hussein and Queen Rania, and even though it has only been open for six months, it is already regarded as the best Jordanian restaurant in the country.
Should you want to get a glimpse into the story behind some of these cherished Jordanian dishes – like muskhan (chicken with pine nuts) or mansaf (lamb, yoghurt and rice) – pop into Beit Sitti on Jabal Weibdeh, a Jordanian run cooking school where you can eat and cook to your heart’s content with no one else around. Be quick, before the word really starts to spread.