It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Not that Philadelphia, this Philadelphia. I'm embarrassed to admit that I always forget Amman used to be called Philadelphia way back when and that it's actually a very old (at one point Greek) city.

After switching from doing research in Damascus (which is often described as "the longest continually inhabited city in the world") to doing research in Amman, many of you might have heard me bemoan that Amman is too new. In fact, I live in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Amman whose perch is on one of the original seven hills of the city (Amman used to be comprised of seven hills just like Rome). Cab drivers often point to the quaint Sharia Mosque behind my apartment and describe it as "one of the oldest mosques in the city." The first time I heard this I got excited and asked, "how old is it?" The response? "About fifty or sixty years old." Most of the buildings in this neighborhood were built between the 1920s and 1960s, so that estimate seems to be pretty accurate.

I found a great article (it's scholarly, watch out) which cites the population of Amman at around 2000-3000 inhabitants in the year 1924. What's the current population now? According to the Department of Statistics (they actually have a population ticker on their main page--check it out!), it's currently 6.3 million. No big deal. Population expansion has resulted from a variety of means, but particularly from refugees (most notably Palestinians who make up the majority of the population of Jordan) and a general societal shift from the country to the city. The picture below (from the above article) shows just how fast the city expanded from 1956 to 1985. That's a lot of blue, and I'm sure the city has expanded far beyond those lines in the past 27 years.

But I digress. All of this was to introduce Kristen's first full day in Amman, and what I would recommend to anyone coming to Amman for the first time--a visit to the citadel (Jabal al-Qal'a) and the Roman amphitheater in the middle of downtown. These are the oldest sights in Amman, after all. The city has done a little updating since my last trip there three years ago and I really enjoyed the new historical markers at the entry to the citadel which outline the varied history of the city (and region).

Kristen with the new signs and the Temple of Hercules

My favorite part about Jabal al-Qal'a are the views across Amman. It's really great for trying to orient yourself geographically with all the different hills. I've always considered myself to have a stellar sense of direction, but the hills here kill my sense of direction. I always feel turned around and confused about how the different neighborhoods on the hills connect together--most likely because they often involve so many one way streets that it's hard to get a good feel for how they are related.

Kristen getting her bearings

View out to the Roman amphitheater--our next stop

Tallest flagpole in the world and a scene from "50 Shades of Beige"
(term courtesy of Alyssa) 

View to Jabal Amman aka. the oldest part of the city.
I think you can tell by the plethora of GREEN!
Trees are sorely lacking in most areas of the city.

Us with the Umayyad Palace

I'm starting to notice more details everywhere, like the abundant
plugs for donations from USAID at a lot of sites so that everyone
is aware it's "From the American People"

Our second and final stop on the "old" itinerary was the Roman amphitheater which is pretty huge. It never ceases to impress when I walk inside! It even has a smaller (kid-sized!) amphitheater next door.

The amphitheater to scale. Can you find Kristen?

Can you find me?