Here you will find study trips and round trips through the metropolises of Jordan
Petra
The former rock city of Petra is located in the Edom region of Jordan, around 240 km south of today’s capital Amman and around 120 km north of the Gulf of Aqapa, which flows into the Red Sea. The town, carved into the rock, was built as early as 9,000 BC. BC and is considered to be one of the oldest settlements in the Middle East. In 1985 Petra was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Amman
Amman – a modern city with a lot of tradition
Amman is the capital of Jordan and is one of the oldest permanently inhabited cities. Architecturally, however, the city in the mountains of Jordan looks rather modern. And the atmosphere there is also lively and dynamic. Many of the facades are kept in white, which is why Amman is also called “The White One”. Anyone who goes on a study trip to this traditional city will discover much more than meets the eye: numerous historical buildings, some of the most beautiful mosques in the world, markets with a flair from the Arabian Nights, excellent Arabic cuisine and numerous interesting museums.
Discover the best sights of Amman
Amman has a lot to offer its visitors. One of the most popular attractions in the Jordanian capital is the citadel. The site is surrounded by a 1700 meter long historical wall. The citadel is located on a hill called Citadel Hill and includes the city’s archaeological museum, the ruins of the Temple of Hercules and the Umayyad Palace, among others. From the Citadel Hill, Amman’s highest mountain, you can also enjoy a wonderful view of the city. The Roman theater can also be discovered from here.
The Roman Theater is another must-see attraction during a trip to Amman. The structure was built in the second century under the emperor Antonius Pius. More than 6000 people found space in the seats of the theater. In 1975 the sight was restored. Even if the building materials are not one hundred percent the same as those from back then, you can still imagine how impressive the theater must have been back then. Every now and then concerts take place in this fascinating setting.
Jerash
Modern and Antique Jerash
The Jordanian city of Jerash is an ancient city with over 6,500 years of history and one of the country’s most sought-after travel destinations. The city is located 40 kilometers from Amman. A distinction is made between the ancient excavation site, where the historic city in the middle of the desert was discovered, exposed and rebuilt over the past 70 years. Especially under Roman rule, Jerash became a successful and rich trading city and ensured golden times, in which many buildings were built that made the city an attractive destination for every traveler. The influence of the growing Christianity then also ensures the establishment of numerous churches.
Modern next to historical city
According to topschoolsintheusa, today’s Jerash has 40,000 inhabitants and forms an excellent alliance between the ancient city and today’s modernity. The specialty is, among other things, that the ancient remains of the city wall form the boundary between the historical and the new part of the city, because the modern part in the east of the ruins was built exactly on the other side of this ancient wall. Today’s Jerash is the seventh largest city in Jordan.
The Roman influence on the structures
With the exception of the Greek-looking Zeus Temple, almost all historical monuments testify to the Roman history of the ancient city of Jerash, which is also called Gerasa. The triumphal arch in honor of Emperor Hadrian and the hippodrome behind it, which was used for horse races, are impressive even before the city. Within the city, the Oval Forum welcomes you as a lively marketplace and Cardo Maximus as the main street adorned with numerous columns. Worth seeing are also the temple in honor of Artemis, which impresses with its Corinthian columns, and the south and north theaters.
Petra
It is also called the “pink city” – one of the main tourist attractions of the Kingdom of Jordan. The abandoned rock city of Petra was considered to be lost for a long time, at least for Europeans, after the crusades that took place in the 12th century, and was not until the beginning of the 19th century rediscovered by a Swiss researcher. About a hundred years later, the first archaeological excavations were carried out, which was soon followed by tourist development.
Grandiose royal city of the Nabataeans
In the centuries before and after the turn of the ages, it was the members of the desert people of the Nabataeans who worked their temples, burial chapels, graves and other sanctuaries into the rugged rock walls. If you want to visit the ancient rock city of Petra today, you first have to use the Siq to pass a difficult-to-access gorge, which only opens up to this imposing ancient cultural monument at its end. It was already regarded by its builders as a safe entrance to their capital. The area of Petra extends over an area of about 20 km², although according to information from archaeologists involved in the excavations, only about a quarter of all buildings could be uncovered.
The most important architectural monuments of this UNESCO World Heritage Site
One of the most impressive testimonies of ancient culture is the facade of the “Treasure House of the Pharaoh”, decorated with columns, statues and sculptures. It is divided into two floors and takes up about 40 meters of a rock wall made of sandstone. Other attractive buildings are also in rock chiseled “Roman Theater” and the monumental rock tomb ad-Deir outside Petra. Grave temples worked as halls form the so-called “King’s Wall”, to which the “palace grave” belongs, the largest structure uncovered to date. The only thing that reminds of the former city center itself is a street of columns that was once lined with houses that can no longer be found.
From Petra, a 100 km long road leads through the bizarre landscape of Wadi Rum to the city of Aqaba on the Red Sea.
