On “Jay and Tanya’s Insanity Trip 2017” we have often been asked, “which countries that you’ve visited would you like to return to?” One easy answer to that question is “Jordan”. OK, we were only here two days and one of those was spent at Petra, with hundreds of other visitors, so we don’t have a wealth of travel knowledge of the country. But, our second day was spent exploring Amman, the capital, and two other amazing places in the northern part of the country, Aljoun and Jerash.

Something we had never thought about is that Jordan is really a pretty poor country. Unlike many other countries in the Middle East, it has no oil or natural gas deposits to speak of and must rely heavily on agricultural exports. But the thing that impressed us the most about Jordan was the friendliness and heartfelt joy of its people. Our visit to Aljoun castle in the Jordan Valley was on a Wednesday, which is the day allocated for schoolgirls for field trips. Tuesday is reserved for boys. Jay and Tanya felt like movie stars as girls asked us to have our picture taken with them and we noticed that their cameras on selfie sticks were conspicuously pointed at us as they politely said hello and “how are you?” Jay then asked if he could take their picture and they quickly obliged.

Amman, is a huge modern city, originally built on seven hills but now spreading across the countryside. It has several important archaeological sites from both the pre-Christian and Roman eras. Throughout Amman, as well as the rest of Jordan, we found images of Jordan’s hugely popular King Abdullah II.

Our final stop was at the site of the ancient Roman city of Jerash. Jerash is reputed to have the best preserved Roman ruins in the world. One of our highlights was a performance by some colorfully costumed bagpipers who played for the crowd in the ancient Roman amphitheatre.

We’re definitely looking forward to our next visit to Jordan.