Just outside the town of Umm Qais, we reached a security checkpoint – it’s very close to the convergence of borders for Israel, Syria & Jordan. The armed guard gave us a cursory stern look, asked Sufian where we were from (obviously) as we heard him reply, ‘Oostrayleeya’ and with that we were waved on. Seems that being “Aussie” is a good thing here ... for today at least :)
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| JD 041 Jordanian hillside olive grove Umm Qais |
On the road up to Umm Qais, everywhere along the roadside, more weekend traders with their fruit and vegies stalls. And the olives!
Saw pomegranates the size of large grapefruit and radishes even larger than before. Passed kids playing soccer in the dusty side tracks or running along dragging a stick – cars, kids and donkey carts all sharing the road in a strange juxtaposition of old and modern. Life is impoverished but vibrant and industrious in these villages.
At Umm Qais, rounded a bend and suddenly veered off into a small carpark with steps that seemed to lead up to a cliff top. Sufian jumped out to buy the tickets, leaving us to be confronted by a colourful water vendor character, looking for all the world like a real live Genie in his red fez, a very heavily embroidered sleeveless vest and black balloon breeches. On his back he had an enormous ornate brass urn, which protruded well above his head. He smiled and bowed very low, filling small cups on his tray with a steady stream of water emanating from the spout on the urn behind him. Amazing to watch. Offered us a drink each, but not wanting to risk some sort of unwelcome brush with foreign amoeba on the first day of our holiday, we declined politely.
At the entrance to the site, had to run the gauntlet of the marketeers trying to flog cheap trinkets and postcards at over inflated prices and slip past them up the steps. Immediately into view was the old Byzantine road, passing up through the ruined village and beyond that was the backdrop of Syria & Israel.
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| JD 005 Looking towards Octagonal Church Terrace 6th Century AD Umm Qais |
Decided against engaging a guide and took ourselves round with the aid of the completely indispensable Lonely Planet book, making sure to avoid the gaggle of tourists that the buses had unfortunately disgorged just as we were arriving. Our very simple strategy: where they were, we weren’t!
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| JD018 Tiles on floor of Octagonal Church 6th century AD Umm Qais |
The ruins were absolutely great!
Memorable were the 6th century Octagonal Church, with some of its tiles still intact on the floor;
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| JD020 Octagonal Church ruins 6th Century Umm Qais |
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JD010 West Theatre Roman period 2nd century AD Umm Qais
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columns in various states of disrepair;
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| JD024 Fallen marble column beside Decumanus at Umm Qais |
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| JD060 Basalt tomb door& mosaic exhibits from circa 4th century Umm Qais |
tomb lids
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| JD055 Relics of a column top and sarcophagus at Bayt Al Russan Museum at Umm Qais |
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| JD056 Walled garden at Beit Russan former Ottoman governors residence at Umm Qais |
and a reconstructed house complete with walled garden
There was a small Islamic museum and some interesting things, but on the whole it didn’t have such a lot to offer and what was there wasn’t very well labeled. Obviously labels aren’t a high priority here or maybe its just assumed that if you’re interested enough to visit Umm Qais then you should know what you’re looking at without that they have to stick a sign on each and every item.
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| JD050 Umm Qais Antiquities Museum Beit Russan 4th Century AD |
Going to Umm Qais was absolutely worth it – just for the view alone. Though a little hazy, could still see Lake Tiberias (Sea of Gallilee) as well as the small settlement of Tiberias on the distant shore. What an amazing feeling to stand on the cliff looking down into the Yarmouk River Valley – not only the border between Syria & Jordan but also the site of an important victory of Muslim forces over Christians – with the Golan (pr. zholan) Heights as the backdrop. Names from history suddenly became very real and it put a lot of things in perspective.
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| JD038 View of Golan Heights in Syria, Lake Tiberias & Israel from Umm Qais |
Jordan lies between some of the hottest political spots in the world, yet surprisingly remains largely unaffected. At Umm Qais, it could not have been more tranquil...
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