Name: Jordan Vacation Travel Guide | Expedia
Uploaded: 2020-09-19T16:37:36.000Z
Duration: 16 min 14 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is just a three-hour flight from Dubai,

and a two-hundred-thousand year journey through the history of humankind.

Jordan is one of the world's epic stories.

Our Palaeolithic ancestors  wandered north from Africa

and made their homes in the cool canyons and caves of this sun-baked land.

has drifted into the  Arabian nights for over nine millennia.

Prophets wandered these mountains and deserts,

receiving visions that shaped  three of the world's great faiths.

Greek, Roman, Crusader and Arab  armies have thundered across these sandy plains,

leaving their mark  at thousands of archaeological sites,

and in every fibre of Jordan's cultural DNA.

Today, Jordan is the  calm heart of a sometimes-restless region.

was known by the ancient Greeks as Philadelphia,

the city of brotherly love, and that spirit of tolerance continues to this day.

Overlooking downtown Amman  from its highest hill is the Citadel,

are the two remaining pillars of The Temple Of Hercules,

a Roman temple that in its day,  dwarfed many in Ancient Rome.

follow the shadows as they  sweep across the Citadel's many layers of history,

take in the views from the 6000-seat Roman Theatre,

and watch the day-to-day  dramas of Amman unfold below.

into Jordanian history and  culture at Amman's museums and galleries.

While much of the kingdom's story is rendered in stone,

at The Royal Automobile Museum,  Jordan's modern history gleams,

and you'll find that  welcoming spirit all over Amman.

You'll find it through the open doors of the Duke of Mukhyber's Residence,

where the aromas of   vintage books and faded furnishings

It's in the hands of street vendors and cooks,

for whom tradition and pride are  the most essential ingredients of all.

And you'll find it in the evening breeze which invites the Ammani

into the cool streets and souks,  just as it has for centuries.

follow the winds 30 miles north,  to the ancient Greco-Roman city of Jerash.

Enter the city's monumental gateway and imagine the scarlet and gold spectacle,

which heralded the arrival of  Emperor Hadrian's in the 2nd century.

Walk out upon the Hippodrome  where the roar of fifteen-thousand Romans

and the thunder of chariot wheels  could be heard for miles.

then make the short climb  to the Temple of Zeus,

Take a seat in the South Theatre,  where even in the highest row,

the soft strains of the   Jordanian bagpipes are inescapable.

where the city once gathered for monthly festivals,

tedious decrees, and the gladiators' bloody dance.

and you will soon understand that there are few things

The stalls which once lined this half-mile colonnade

but the daily operetta of commerce lingers amid the ruins of the central market.

envy the Roman shoppers  who once paused under the cooling mists

of Jerash's fountains as they  returned to home and family.

Climb the steps to the Temple  of Artemis, where priestesses danced

as she-bears before the goddess of hunting and fertility.

Artemis, the daughter of   Zeus, was the protector of Jerash,

until the 4th century when the Roman gods toppled

before the teachings of a Jewish carpenter.

Just a thirty-minute drive to the northwest of Jerash,

experience another great clash of faiths, on the ramparts of Ajloun Castle.

Ajloun was one of a  string of Arab castles raised by Saladin

to halt the Crusader armies as  they rode down Jordan's northern valley,

The  Crusaders have long been vanquished,

leaving these hills once  more to the herders and their flocks

who graze amid the ruins of ancient cities like Pella.

you'll find even more  stillness on the  endless gravel plains

Follow the Desert Castle Loop to Qasr Kharana,

where Bedouin chieftains emerged from the shimmering horizons to settle tribal

scores within the cool confines  of its courtyard and 60 rooms.

The castle walls have long vanished,  but its fabulous bathhouse remains.

Step inside from the blinding  desert glare to see frescos

from the courtly world of early  Arabia materialize through the soft light.

For many, the highlight of  the Eastern Desert is Qasr al-Azraq.

T. E. Lawrence made the castle his winter headquarters.

Step into his bedroom, where  the young British officer planned exploits

which would be forever  immortalized in books and in film.

After exploring the Eastern Desert, travel southwest to Madaba,

an ancient market town  famed for its Byzantine mosaics.

one of the first depictions of the Holy Lands,

and a hallowed destination   for pilgrims throughout the ages.