Jerash

Not much sleep was had but what’s new eh?

Bit of a drama clothes wise this morning as my faithful old maxi skirt which is always my go to in Muslim countries bit the dust. The elastic waist completely relaxed and could no longer hold itself up. I feel a shopping trip coming on.

We eschewed breakfast and looking at the bright pink, radioactive meat J and N were served up with, I wasn’t sorry.

Going back to the airport and sorting cars and sims was surprisingly easy, and we were on the road to Jerash by 10.30am.

Jerash is famous mainly for its Roman and Byzantine ruins. It’s the second most visited place in Jordan apparently, after Petra. I say apparently as I’d never heard of it and I bet more people go to Wadi Rum or the Dead Sea.

Our drive to Jerash was relatively easy and as we were a bit early to check in to our accommodation, we decided to buy some provisions.

It’s always interesting inspecting other countries’ supermarkets. Here, halva is very popular with numerous added flavours. Chickpeas are popular too along with non alcoholic beer. The beer all looks the same but as well as standard malt flavour, there are also weird ones such as watermelon and strawberry. We arrived at our accommodation with an unintentional lucky dip of beer varieties. Nik and Steve seemed pretty happy with them though.

Jerash Hills is the name of our accommodation and it certainly lives up to its name. The downhill gradient to the property was so fearsome, we got out of our cars and had a conflab as to whether we could actually drive down it without killing ourselves. We are still intact, as is the car, but I’m not looking forward to driving up it.

Our abode at first sight was stunning. The outside space is fantastic with loads of seating areas and shady nooks. There’s even a small pool.

On closer inspection however, it’s in dire need of a deep clean and some tlc. The cutlery and crockery were dirty and greasy – yuck, and as I type the air conditioning is dripping on S.

Never mind, at least we have air conditioning and at least it’s not dripping on me. Only joking. Sort of.

It was boiling hot today, way too hot to wander around ruins, so the itinerary was rolled back until tomorrow and we had a lazy afternoon at the house instead. We all had a swim and Nik had a very long snooze indeed. Not even one day in and we’re resting on our laurels. Have the Fab Four gone soft?

To prove that we haven’t, after we hit our alcohol stash, we decided to walk to the nearest restaurant to us which was 40 minutes away. We knew some of the terrain was quite hilly but nothing prepared us for the steepness of the road leading down to restaurant. It was extreme and just went on and on. I think we were all silently dreading the walk back so the suggestion of getting a taxi back was quickly seized upon.

We ate at the Nowwara restaurant which is very attractive with jewel coloured lamps suspended from the ceiling and some of it is open to the elements. It’s an enormous venue – I can’t imagine it will ever be full – and it felt as though the clientele it did have were rattling around in it. However, some atmosphere was provided by a trio playing a drum, a violin and an oud (Arabic guitar). It was very good and had that haunting quality that Arabic music has. The food was good too. The only downside was Steve getting a dousing from one of the waiters spilling water all over him.

Two watery episodes and Jordan is where Jesus was baptised – what’s going on? IsSteve the new messiah and we just don’t know it yet?

After dinner, our saviour and the rest of us waited patiently for our Uber up the hill. Being the compassionate lot we are we spared the driver the joy of negotiating our 1:4 hill and walked down it instead.

A good day. Personally I enjoy relaxing but it’s back to the itinerary tomorrow and exploring the ruins of Jerash.