jordan - where to go:

The capital since 1921, Amman contains about one-third of the population. It was formerly the Ammonite capital of Rabbath-Ammon and later the Graeco-Roman city of Philadelphia. Often referred to as the ‘white city’, Amman was originally, like Rome, built on seven hills which still form its natural focal points.                            

Within the remaining city walls, archeologists have found the ruins of settlements dating back to the Neolithic Age, indicating human occupation of this location for more than 6500 years.

Umm Qais, situated 110 km north of Amman on a broad promontory 378 meters above sea level with a magnificent view over the Yarmouk River, the Golan Heights, and Lake Tiberias, this town was known as Gadara.   

Take time off from the sun and fun and learn about the resort’s history, which dates back to the fourth millennium BC.                        

Scattered throughout the black basalt desert, east of Amman, the Desert Castles stand as a testament to the flourishing beginnings of Islamic-Arab civilization.                                   

Magnificently set in a fold of the hills that rise from the Jordan Valley 78 km north of Amman, Pella; known in Arabic as Tabaqat Fahl  

Located near the narrow fertile valley of Wadi Essair, a contrast to the bare, treeless plateau around Amman to the East.       

Rum the magnificent... vast echoing and Godlike... a processional way greater than imagination... the crimson sunset burned on its stupendous cliffs and slanted ladders of hazy fire down its walled avenue.   

"Nothing could be more beautiful than the Gulf of 'Aqaba, gleaming through its fringe of palm-trees, as we left the fort, like a placid lake - an eye, rather, of the deepest blue, eye-lashed with palms, and eye-lidded with the Arabian mountains."