Jerash, Jordan

Jerash is an hour north of the capital, Amman, just off the main north/south highway in Jordan – don’t let your GPS (SatNav) tell you any different.

When we visited in October, my GPS had a short cut, it said; foolishly I followed it – through Amman’s ‘car-repair’ district, over a very steep goat track, up hill and down dale, dragging some friends behind me – we were in two vehicles. Note to self – always check the map first! …And, this was not a good place to get lost – we were only 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Syrian border, yet there was no sign of the conflict.

Jerash is one of the largest and best-preserved Roman sites in the Middle East. We entered from the south through Hadrian’s Gate, built for his visit in AD 129, walked along the side of the Hippodrome, home of the chariot races, then and now. We entered the main site through the South Gate and walked up into the Forum, a large oval plaza surrounded by columns. It was a hot early afternoon as we climbed the hill to the west and into the impressive South Theatre. As we approached, the sound of bagpipes floated through the air; a Scottish player, I thought, although the song was the improbable ‘Frere Jacques’. As we walked in, I discovered the piper and his drummer were locals…

Temple of Artemis

This is a huge site; in the three or so hours we had to explore it we could only scratch the surface and we welcomed the opportunity to sit and listen to the pipes before I climbed to the theatre nosebleeds – I was out of breathe when I got there but could see the whole site spread beneath. We made our way to the Temple of Artemis, the highest building in Roman Jerash, and from there east to the Cardo Maximus or main street and down into the Forum.

Cardo Maximus chariot tracks

The guidebooks tell you that chariot wheels caused the deep ruts in the Cardo – this had been a busy street. As we walked, I mused that these ruts reminded me of Calgary’s icy streets in winter, when there hadn’t been a Chinook (the warm Chinook wind melts the snows in winter and the city relies on it to clear the streets). A voice from behind said: ‘Did you say “Chinook”?’ It was a family from Calgary, of course, reminding us what a small world it is.

Virgin Mary with blue hand

Exhausted and a little sunburned, we retired to our hotel in Amman. Next day we drove south to Madaba, famous for its spectacular mosaics. But, I was more interested in entering the basement of St George’s church, to see the painting of the Virgin with the Blue Hand. Legend has it that this ghoulish extra hand just appeared on the painting one day; it’s blue and appears to have fire coming from the thumb.

St Georges was built to protect a 6^th Century mosaic map of the Holy Land and it was packed with tourists. The ‘Blue Hand’ painting is a shrine and I thought I’d have to fight to see it, but there it was in a small empty room below the altar, locked behind graffiti-coated Perspex.

But, I had to hand it to Jordan. For travellers in the Middle East, this is one country that has a wealth of antiquities within safe, easy access.

The South Theatre from the ‘nosebleed' seats