Figure 1: Me in front of the photo of King Abdullah II in the Roman amphitheatre |
After the bus had managed to climb the steep slopes of the citadel hill, we made a quick tour around the ruins of the old citadel. There are ruins from before the iron age up to the Ummayad (8th. century) period. The site has undergone restoration, though some parts have not been restored well due to lack of funds. It was also clear that the site was adapted to hold the hand of the tourist. There was a path leading around the site, guiding the visitor where to go. Signs along the path provided the visitor with information.
Figure 2: Temple on the citadel hill, with modern Amman in the background |
Then we went to the ruins of the city of Jerash, once part of the Dekapolis (10 city-states in the area). The feeling I had had the whole day became very clear here. We were almost the only tourists on the site. There were only a few other tourists, so we had the whole site for our own. This site has been developed less compared to the citadel, there were some signs with information around, but restoration was poor in some areas. What surprised me was that there were no barriers at all. You could just walk up and climb on the ruins if you wanted to.
Figure 3: Empty street underneath a clear blue sky in Jerash |
In my next post I hope to look deeper into the state in which original archaeological sites have been adapted to tourism, and where the tourists have gone as I travel further to the ruins of Umm ar-Rasas.
Restauration might look poor for the first time visitor, but there has been huge improvements over the last few years. Since my first visit here (about 10 years ago) I have seen quite a bit of progress.
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