Jordan's Capital, Amman

Adam and I cut our trip to Israel short by 1 day and decided to come to Jordan 1 day early which was 1 day earlier than Aleena and Samir. We flew from Tel Aviv to Amman but although it was quick and efficient, it was very expensive for a 35-45 min flight. Ideally, a trip from Israel to Jordan would go from Jerusalem to Petra, which I think is likely the closest by land. We also weren't sure if we would be just wasting time being detained again at the border so we chose to fly. The visa was 40 JOD which is almost $80/person but there is an exchange and an ATM at the airport to get JODs. 

We stayed at the Intercontinental the 1st 2 nights which was really nice with a great location very close to Rainbow street, which is where a lot of restaurants and shops are. The service at the hotel was exceptional! We went to Taj mall via taxi on our first day to check it out. Very modern as expected but apparently there weren't giving out the Vat refund that month because there was a glitch in the nation wide VAT refund system. It has restaurants such as PF Changs and other popular American chains. Compared to Israel/Palestine, Amman had a tonne of America chains such as KFC, Applebee's, Starbucks, Papa Johns, McDonalds, Subway, etc. 

When we came back from the Dead Sea, Petra and Wadi Rum, we stayed at Aleena's friend, Farah's apartment, which was 2 bedroom and also well located in an area called Webde. She was in Kenya for a wedding that week so unfortunately we just missed her. 

We had a driver for our trip in Jordan which was super convenient especially since we had a lot of ground we wanted to cover on our last 1.5 days in a Amman. Maher, our driver, used to live in the U.S. so he had fantastic English but could also translate Arabic when we needed him to in the markets, etc. He was quite a quirky guy and we had a lot of laughs about Aleena's bargaining skills. Aleena is a master bargainer! I was extremely impressed and it made for a lot of laughs over our trip. Even Maher was impressed with Aleena's bargaining skills with everything from souvenirs to the exchange rate for USD to JODs. We ended up laying 600 JD in total (300 each couple which is about $600 for 6 days including airport pick ups and drop offs). We did tip him on top as well. 

Our time in Amman was very busy and we would have gotten so much less accomplished if he didn't have a driver. The highlights were roaming around the downtown area of Amman looking for unique gifts and home decor. We had heard good things about a place called Jordan River Handicrafts but unfortunately there is a place with a similar name also on Rainbow street so we didn't go to the proper place. 

 My favourite purchase that I debated on a lot was a Turkish looking light that we hope to put up in our future powder room. As its fragile, we will be lugging it as carry on.

We visited a Turkish Bath or Hammam as we were told they were even better here than in Turkey. Overall it was a good experience but man these ladies are rough. We went to Alf Layla Wa Layla which is in West Amman and rated highly on tripadvisor as well as being one of the only ones that takes men and women at the same time in different sections as opposed to at different times or days of the week for men and women.  We started with a rinse, a dip in the jacuzzi, then steam where we were offered fruit slushies then the Hammam part followed by a 15 min massage. Both the Hammam part where you are aggressively exfoliated with a loofah and the massage part were a bit uncomfortable from the heavy handed women. Adam and Samir have really never had that type of exfoliation not to mention Adam was worked on by a large guy whose belly kept hitting him on numerous occasions. The base rate is 30 JD but can add on anything under the sun to get as high as 150 JD which is almost $300. 

Overall, Jordan was fun to visit and Aleena and Sam were fantastic travelling companions but I don't think it's a place I'd crave going back to unlike Turkey which is more developed. 

Amman Food Addition

- Fakhr El-Din $$$

Really yummy Jordanian food especially liked the Shishtaouk with mushrooms, lamb kabobs and chicken wings. Busy restaurants with nice outdoor seating

- Karmas Kitchen $$$

New area in West Amman. Cute ambiance and really yummy fresh food. Adam booked this for my birthday dinner! Close to a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Coffee shop which is another coffee chain we frequented a lot in Vietnam, etc. Yummy lamp chops, freekah salad, shwarma buns made with Angus beef and flourless chocolate cake.

- Sufra $$

Food Jordanian food with a super cute back patio but I liked Fakhr El-Din better if you had to choose one.

- Hasheems $

Super cheap and yummy falafels, hummus etc shared family style. Apparently the King of Jordan eats at this hole in the wall place as well and so it's very famous, busy and chaotic. A very local feel

- Al-Quds $

Very cheap falafel wraps to-go on Rainbow Street

- Nuts to Go $

Nutella crepes. Expensive for Jordanian standards but a nice treat

- Rumi Cafe $

Good Illy lattes/cappuccinos etc. Not much food per se. Jordan generally isn't a great place for coffee so it was nice to have a good latte after some yucky coffee this week

- Gloria Jeans $

Reunited with our favourite international coffee place for a yummy flavoured lattes located at the Taj Mall. 

- B Lebanese pastries $

Cheap Jordanian savoury pastries. Our favourite of the one we tried was filled with meat/lamb.

We were supposed to go to a cooking class called Biet Sitti which is #1 on tripadvisor but traffic was bad after the Hammam and we were going to be late for the class and considering that it's 35 JD/person and we wouldn't get to enjoy the whole thing, we just got a couple more things done and went out to eat instead. Also heard good things about the restaurant Levant and went to see the view at Canteloupe which was really nice but we decided to eat at Sufra instead since it was our last night of middle eastern food. Juice bars are frequent in Amman and in Israel which are always a nice treat on vacation although they aren't as common as in Rio, Brazil.