Pilgrimage 2.0-12 : Amazing Amman and Au Revoir

Started our day with breakfast, then morning mass at the hotel function room. Then it was off to Amman Citadel located on Jabal al Qal'a, one of the seven hills that make up the old city. It provides an amazing vista of the city where houses cover the hilly terrain like white moss. Sami says that there is a law, that states that buildings in the area must be constructed from white stone or painted white. From up there, we also got a great view of the Roman Theater, a landmark from the 2nd century.



Historically, Amman Citadel was occupied by several great civilizations. The Romans left the ruins of the Temple of Hercules. There's also Byzantine ruins, and an Umayyad Palace.





Next was a visit to CityMall for some shopping, but the mall was pretty dead. It was 10 am, but no shops were open with the exception of Carrefour. We spent most of our time raiding Bzuriyeh, a shop that sold premium dried fruits, nuts, and spices. Bought more Medjoul, figs, and macadamia. We were at around 11:30 AM, but most of the mall was still quiet. Perhaps special business hours during the fasting month.





Our lunch was at Chinese Village Restaurant, the most authentic Chinese restaurant in the whole trip. My favourite dish was the braised beef with carrots. Once we had our fill, we made our way to the Queen Alia International Airport, which was named after the queen who died in a helicopter accident in 1977. The check-in process was smooth, so we had plenty of time to relax and let the realization sink in that our adventure was coming to an end.





During the flight to Dubai, I watched "Glass", a whole lot of buffed James McAvoy weirdness. At Dubai, we faced a 6-hour transit. Camped at a section of the terminal with 'lazy chairs', but I could not sleep a wink. Ended up walking around aimlessly until it was time for our connecting flight. Hours later, we were back in not-so-holy land. The end.