Tourist sites
Petra is one of the few magic places in the world. Petra is a chaos of cliffs (meaning of Petra in Greek) shaped with the wind, the sand and the water, where some graves, temples and monuments have been sculpted. The different kinds of sandstones give to the site its outstanding colours: yellow, orange-coloured, pink, red, purple and blue. Petra was the capital of Nabateans, a Semitic population, native of Arabia, which settled down in this place in the IV-th. About 600 monuments, carved in the cliff, extend over a 6 km long and 3 km large field.
Djebel Rum reaches is highest point at 1,700 m and appeared in the Tertiary era, about 30 million years ago. The Wadi Rum is a wide dry valley surrounded with cliffs of red sandstones on a granite pedestal. As they were affected by the action of the wind and the sand, cliffs took weird shapes.
The castles of the desert (Qasr), were built in VII and VIII centuries. For their own pleasure, the omeyyade princes built in the Jordanian steppe luxurious places of residence, that were decorated with mosaics, with frescoes and with stuccos. These buildings were at first seen as pensions, built by the caliphs avid to live in the desert rather than in the city. Some of them, probably used to be a stopping place for the official caravans. They were probably used to keep some kind of contact with the Arabic tribes of the desert who used to constitute an important support to the first caliphs.
Jerash is the ancient Gerasa site, abandoned since XIIth century, and re-occupied by the Circassians at the end of XIXth century. With its well protected ruins and its huge restorations, (still in progress), Jerash is undoubtedly the most spectacular Roman site of Jordan. There are 30,000 inhabitants in the modern city which is located in the whole Eastern part of the ancient site. The legend of the foundation dates from Alexandre the Great, who would have conquered a city located on the same specific place of the town and killed all its inhabitants. Veterans of the army would have then based there an establishment, named Gerasa because of the age of the founders (Gerontes).
The Kerak's region: Located on an eminence which overhangs all the region, it has developed inside its walls. The ramparts allowed it to remain protected from the bedouins raids throughout the Ottoman Era. Today this province county town with its 55,000 inhabitants is the centre of revolts provoked by the austerity plans imposed by the government in 1989 and 1996.
Aqaba : Despite its modern aspect, this city is full of history. The economic activity is mainly due to the big port which is seven kilometres away East. The second most important activity of the city is tourism, the weather is mild over the winter, and the sea-bed is one of the most beautiful in the world.
Dead Sea: The Dead Sea depression is of tectonic origin. It is one of the links of the Rift which goes from Syria to East Africa. At 392 m under sea level, it is one of the lowest places of the planet. The maximal depth is 399 m. The concentration in mineral salts prevents any animal or vegetable life. It is only supplied by the Jordan river and by some small rivers with irregular flows. The level has been going down for a few decades, because of the excessive pumping of the Jordan waters.
Amman: Amman (more than 2 million inhabitants, at a height of 750 to 1000 m) is the amazing capital of the hachemit kingdom. It seems that it will never stop growing. From day to day, the residential suburbs indefinitely extend, extending to the desert. The wide opulent avenues, the spaced out houses with tiled roofs do not remind the Middle East. In 1921, when the Emir Abdallah chose it as the capital, it was only a small circarssian village of 6,000 inhabitants. In 1947, there were still only 60,000 inhabitants. Its role as a capital, and the flock of Palestinian refugees in 1948 are at the origin of this outstanding developpement.
For more information about tourism
in Jordan
, check out the following web site(s) :
Jordan Tourism Board
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