Not overwhelmed by Amman

Advantages: Cheap, cultural
Disadvantages: Boring, dusty, leering men, lack of pavements

...I was in Amman for some time with my job and I found it an interesting but also a very strange place! Getting there: I flew with Royal Jordanian from Heathrow. British Mediterranean also does direct flights. Return flights tend to cost around £300 but if you fly with an airline such as Romanian Airlines via Bucharest you can find flight as low as £200. The flight time is around four and a half hours. Arrival: I arrived early in the morning into Queen Alia International Airport. Everything was closed and we waited for our visas patiently. Baggage reclaim was better than the UK, quick and easy with an array of porters around to get your bags off the carousal and help you with them. Your bags have to go through another X ray machine as you exit the terminal. The airport is 30 miles south of the city and you can either catch a bus...

Katieshaz 06.07.2007 · Read review
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Review of Amman (Jordan)

tips when visting amman!

Advantages: great experiences for low prices
Disadvantages: lots of sand :D

...i was born here and have visited a few times since leaving when i was young. it is a very cultural city and the people will definitly eye you out if you look foreign. the men can indeed be leering but they never do any real damage. when it comes to shopping, don't be afraid to try and bargain with the shopkeepers, they will budge if you try hard enough. the food is delicious, so it would be smart to lose a few pounds before going to Amman. Mecca mall is great! Abdoon/Abdun mall has a beautiful cafe/resteraunt on the top floor with the best dessert. around the same are of abdun mall there is the Tigris resteraunt which is amazing! 2 other places to look out for are Whispers and Blue Fig, they are resteraunt/bars and they are very nice! at most resteraunts there are belly dancers and dancing so there is always something fun to do...

n4ballack 31.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of Amman (Jordan)

once called Philadelphia

Advantages: I really don't know
Disadvantages: I really don't know

...Amman is the city capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Its origins are dated back to the Neolithic age (about 6500 BC) as proved by the archaeological finds in the area. Amman, like Rome, lays on seven hills that here are called "Jabal". Amman has seen the rising and the falling of many civilizations. In the 3rd century BC its name was Rabath Ammon; then was dominated by the Assyrians followed by the Persians. The Greeks crossed the Aegean sea and subdued the Jordanians and called the city "Philadelphia". During the 1st century BC, Philadelphia was subdued by the Romans and became part of "Decapolis", an alliance of 10 cities. In 324 AD, the Christian faith became the religion of the Roman Empire and Philadelphia was nominated as residence of the bishop. It was the beginning of the Byzantine age. The name "Amman...

traveller55 22.05.2005 · Read review
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Review of Amman (Jordan)

Is this really a 4 Star hotel?

Advantages: Cheap
Disadvantages: Unhelpful staff, the food,

...I stayed here whilst on an airline training course. Luckily I wasn't paying for it! About the hotel: Apparently it's a four star but I'd personally give it three stars. The website boasts of the luxury and how it's located in a prime part of Jordan. It's actually located at the Fourth Circle and is 30 minutes from the airport. It's a 10-minute drive to the city centre, not walk. The area around the hotel is surrounded by busy roads and broken pavements, the only way to go anyway is to hail a taxi and try not to get run over! First Impressions: It seems a bit run down. You walk in past a security check point (after the Amman hotel bombings these were installed in most hotels) you walk into a small foyer with the reception desk to your left. Up a couple of steps is an open plan area filled with small tables and chairs. This is...

Katieshaz 12.12.2006 · Read review
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Review of Safir Imperial Palace, Amman

What a city

Advantages: clean , modern
Disadvantages: dusty

...Amman was known as Philadelphia by the romans who have left their mark here with many ruins to explore and cretainly one of the best preserved amphitheatres I have seen.This is in the downtown area of Amman and can easily be got to by Taxi, do get a Taxi from your Hotel asd they will ensure a good taxis that will treat you well, nevere ever pay more than £3 for a trip within the city!!. Make sure the meter is running too. Shopping in this city is a real delight. There are many areas such as Swafieh,Shmeissani and downtown, each have their specialist shops such as Patchi a great chocohlics shop, Mexx for great clothes and each of the individual shops that are selling everything imaginable,but do not haggle in these shops they are priced Items ,Also look for a Cermaics shop called Silsal who produce authentic Jordanian ceramicware it may...

iainkay1 22.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of Amman (Jordan)

Do make time to visit this unique place

Advantages: Unique experience, luxury spa, real get-away-from-it-all
Disadvantages: Not cheap, long way away from anything else, could be boring?

...there will be even more choice by 2008/9. Location and how to get there This hotel is about 45km from Jordan?s capital Amman (Queen Sofia International Airport) and the journey takes 45 minutes to an hour in a taxi (fixed fare, about £25 in June 2007). There are limited options for public transport. Car hire is possible and the hotel will provide free parking. I took a cab from the airport, which was fine. The car had to negotiate several police/army checkpoints as the Jordanians take their and our security seriously. The hotel is on the north-eastern bank of the Dead Sea, near to where the Jordan River empties out. The border between Jordan and Israel/Palestinian Territories runs along the river and down the middle of the Dead Sea. The address of the hotel is Dead Sea Road, Sweimeh. My experience of the roads was that they were...

andyk910 19.07.2007 · Read review
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Review of Marriott Jordan Valley Resort, Amman

..............He's Petrified

Advantages: Absolutely gripping short story
Disadvantages: None

...I?m not scared is author Niccolo Ammaniti?s third novel, and one which has more recently been turned into a film. The author is Italian, born in Rome, and the book has been translated into English by Jonathan Hunt. Set in 1978 in Acqua Traverse in the Italian countryside, ?I?m Not Scared? is an account of a summer and a shocking discovery told through the eyes of nine year old Michele, a child whose nine year old life revolves around his friends, his five year old sister Maria, who clearly looks up to her elder brother; and his Mama and Papa. Michele often has to look after his little sister and she does hang around with the gang and hates being told she is ?too small? to take part in their fun and games. The family are fairly poor, and live in a two bedroom home, meaning the two children have to share a bedroom. But they live...

helencbradshaw 13.10.2004 · Read review
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Review of I'm Not Scared - Niccolo Ammaniti

Not deserving of a Queen's name.

Advantages: You get out eventually.
Disadvantages: Uncaring, disorganised, senseless

...There is an old story about someone who had a ship named after them. When they went on the ship they thought it was so crap, so terrible, that they changed their name. It could be a really old story, except that I made it up a few days ago. But one day people might quote it. Travelling through this airport, one might not remember the name with affection. I say that with the very greatest respect to Her Majesty; the airport lets the name down. It's not the airport structure itself, it's the organisation, the attitude of many of the people who work there, and the unthinking, moronic processes that they have put into it, turning a reasonable, functional terminal into a chaotic shambles. In the past two months I've flown into Amman once and out twice. No, I was not distilled there - the second time I drove in from Damascus...

Vodkaboy 07.10.2003 · Read review
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Review of Amman Airport - Queen Alia International

One drag or two with your morning coffee?

Advantages: Nice rooms, easy to work, good dining in summer
Disadvantages: Lobby drab, smokey breakfast area

...and went to the main desk and got checked in quickly. Now I just go to the main desk. The rest of the lobby area comprises mostly a large lounge. Many of the columns have a sofa circling the base. There are clusters of tables and chairs. At the far end of the lobby is a cafe. To the left is one set of lifts and some more shops. To the right, down a corridor and round a few more columns, are a souvenir shop, a couple of restaurants and another set of lifts. It is all very labyrinthine. One recent addition: Of the countries bordering Iraq, Jordan is one of the most easily accessible and least restrictive on visas. Therefore since late 2002, Amman has become a focal point for people on their way to/from Iraq: journalists, photographers, military, people carrying treasures from Iraq, people carrying evidence to plant in Iraq, etc. The lobby...

Vodkaboy 10.04.2004 · Read review
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Review of InterContinental Jordan, Amman

A daily wake-up call from a... mosque

Advantages: comfort, location
Disadvantages: buffet meals, not waiter service

...I read the first review of the Intercontinental Hotel in Amman and it gives a pretty good description of it so I will just share my own impressions here. In general, I liked it. Despite being quite old, this five-star hotel looks quite impressive from the outside and has been refurbished inside. My husband and I stayed in a big room with a king size bed, a bedside table, a desk, a coffee-table, a TV, two armchairs and a mini-bar. The disappointment was they didn?t have any tea/coffee-making facilities but they did have complimentary fruit and water. The room was overlooking a pool which, unfortunately, was empty. And, of course, you could see a great big mosque on the horizon. That mosque drove us both completely mad. We had calls to prayer four times a day, with the earliest around 4 o?clock in the morning. As the room was stuffy as...

Yelena 01.04.2005 · Read review
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Review of InterContinental Jordan, Amman