Jerash

Less than an hour's drive northwest of Amman, in the biblical land of Gilead, lies the city of Jerash - one of the most complete and best-preserved cities of the Roman province of Arabia.

One of ten Roman frontier city-states (the Decapolis), strategically located along important trade routes, Roman Jerash expanded a site layered with human settlements dating from 1600 B.C. to the Hellenistic era. Entering Jerash today sweeps you back to 400 A.D., when East met West in a most delightful way, stroll through Jerash's unusual oval Forum and down the colonnaded streets, paved with stones still marked by chariot wheels. Test the perfect acoustics from the stage or one of the 3,000 seats in the South Theater. Follow the sacred way, up flights of steps to the soaring Temples of Artemis and of Zeus. Hear a shepherd's song on the breeze while poppies flutter from cracks in the walls of a Byzantine church.

Ajloun

Just 25 kms west of the city of Jerash, through hilly villages, orchards and forests, the medieval Islamic fortress of Ajlun commands the heights above the Jordan Valley.

Unlike the Crusader castle at Kerak and Shobak in the south, "Qalaat ar-Rabbad" served as a base for Saladin's army to drive the Crusaders out of Jordan in 1189. As you cross the moat, climb the stairs, walk the keep, and wander into dark mazes of sleeping chambers and stables, it is easy to imagine soldiers standing watch in the towers above. Today however, you are more likely to come upon a group of Jordanian youths singing and dancing to the beat of a drum!