As I hadn’t slept that well, I was up at 06:40 to run a mile before having breakfast and a shower. I was ready early as although the paperwork said it’d be a 09:00 start, I had a suspicion it might turn out to be 08:00. A couple of months ago I’d incorrectly received a text from a different driver who thought I was doing the tour the following day, whilst I was still in England, and they’d said it was an 08:00 start. This turned out to be fortunate as whilst I was packing my luggage for tomorrow, I received a call from reception to say Ahmed, the driver, had arrived and was waiting for me.

The driver was chatty to start with, but before we’d even left Amman he went silent. This seemed like a great chance to check-in for my flight tomorrow, so I turned on data roaming, but issues with the British Airways site once again left me unable to do so. Soon though, data roaming stopped working as we got further out of the city. This journey took two hours, and that included him getting pulled over to be given a speeding ticket. I’m sure that stung. I didn’t comment as he’d not spoken for some time before this anyway.

At Umm Qais, he dropped me off at the ruins of the ancient Hellenistic city of Gadara. This place was on the top of a hill, and looks out over the Sea of Galilee, and the Golan Heights. They’re places that sounded familiar, but at the time I couldn’t remember why other than being sure they had some sort of biblical significance. Golan Heights is known in more recent times as being the area of land that Israel ceased after provoking Syria into a war. After what we’d been told about Palestine, I could see a pattern there.

At the ruins the entry was included on the Jordan Pass, so just needed that stamping. A guide pestered me, trying to insist I needed his services, but eventually he gave up. Admittedly it’s not immediately obvious where to go, but I decided to try the Acropolis trail to see where that went. This led me past some ruins, and to a view point where I could see the aforementioned Sea of Galilee, and the Golan Heights.

There is a Roman road you can walk along here, so after the viewpoint, that’s what I did until I came across another shorter road. I heard a woodpecker hammering away at a tree there, and watched it briefly before heading back towards the theatre which itself is in good condition. There’s a restaurant near this and I thought of checking if they had WiFi so I could check-in for my flight, but alas they did not.

By the time I’d looked around the amphitheatre I was pretty much out of time and had to rush back to the driver. I was supposed to have two hours there according to the itinerary, but he’d given me just one. It was then just over an hour in silence to reach Ajloun and to park up outside the 12th century Islamic castle there.

The castle, Qala'at ar-Rabad, according to my itinerary should have been an hour, but he’d given me thirty minutes. It was fortunate that this was all I needed to see everything and also have lunch. It’s a bit of a walk up to the castle from the entrance where they scan your bags, and then a ramp up onto the castle itself. An attacking army, if it made it across the valley to this castle high up, would then have had to face blind corners getting in. There’s a few large open rooms to see on two floors, and a little outside as well. At the time I was there, a lot of restoration work was underway.

I also noticed a very long cable car across the valley there to get to the next mountain at least if not further. With this done, the majority of the afternoon would be spent in Jerash, which was only forty minutes from Ajloun. It would have been quicker if it hadn’t been for the heavy traffic.

The driver gave me at least three hours here, but more if I needed it. From the car park you walk through an indoor artisan suk, and then back outside into a large open area. There is a big Roman gateway to get in, and then a hippodrome immediately to the left. According to signs, at one point or another, if not still, they held chariot races here to entertain visitors. There was no sign of any such activity today, so I wandered around the hippodrome, and past a small cafe on the other side of it to where there is a second entrance into the ancient city. From here you can easily find your way into a large open area with columns surrounding it in a circle. It reminded me a little of Saint Peter’s in Vatican City.

On the opposite side of the oval plaza was another colonnaded Roman road, and behind me there were temples and an amphitheatre. In fact, I could see so many ruined buildings along the road too. I decided rather than jump ahead, I’d look at what was around me first, starting with the amphitheatre as I could hear bagpipes being played from there. Whilst many associate them with Scotland, they’ve existed a lot longer than that with a Hittite slab in Anatolia depicting them in what has been dated to around 1,000 BCE. Inside there were two performers, the other beating a drum, in front of a stage. People were gathered around listening, and some sitting up in the seats listening in too.

Once I’d looked around, I headed up to the Temple of Zeus Olympios. This isn’t in as good condition as the amphitheatre, but it still has parts of the walls, and quite a few columns with Corinthian capitals. It’s the sort of ancient Greek building where if you’ve seen one, you know what many more would have looked like too. The staircase that would have been in front of it, leading down to the sanctuary, is in ruins. You access this from a side trail from the amphitheatre instead. It’s difficult to see how this would have looked with its surroundings in its heyday, but it’s clear that this temple was in the most prominent part of the city.

Going back down to the oval plaza I then followed the long Roman road and explored the temples and buildings off this. It really is a massive area, with buildings such as the Temple of Artemis, the Nymphaeum, and the North Theatre being the best highlights. A little off the route there, you can also find a Byzantine church which hints at some of the diverse history of this site as well.

After two hours I’d seen everything, and had used the Internet at the cafe to check-in for my flight. Trip 500 also asked me to confirm my flight details, which I’d told them previously, and they came back saying my pickup was at 05:00, which I already knew. The driver however also messaged me to say I’d be picked up at 16:00! I’m not sure where their confusion came from, but I was able to clear this up between the company and the driver whilst I was sitting in the cafe having an ice cream.

The driver was surprised to see me after only two hours, and began the drive back to Amman. We hit traffic around the university, but I was still back at the hotel at 16:30. With the exception of going out for some food, I spent the remainder of the evening relaxing, and had an early night ahead of tomorrow’s early start.