Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cross the street and enter the tiny
Al-Afghani souvenir store
. Every conceivable space is occupied by chess
sets, old postage stamps, plastic mosque clock-radios or some other items of treasure, largely of interest to the Jord-
anian visitor to the big city.
Turn left into Basman St, passing fine examples of Palestinian embroidered dresses, and turn right down a flight
of stairs just before House 22. The
women's souq
here challenges any preconceptions about prudish Arab wo-
men: the alleyways flutter with risqué Islamic lingerie, diaphanous above the doorways. It may be no accident that
the
gold souq
, where Arab men are expected to spend a portion of their salary, is immediately opposite, on the
other side of King Faisal St (Al-Malek Faisal St). A bangle in 21-carat gold is one of the best souvenirs of a visit to
an Arab souq and as you are only charged for the weight and not for the workmanship, it represents a good invest-
ment too. A cheaper purchase from the gold souq is a bag of peanuts from
Abu Ahmed's peanut stall
- a fam-
ily concern established decades ago.
Continue along King Faisal St, with its grand central aisle of Washington palms, and you'll come to the
Duke's Diwan
; it's worth a quick trip upstairs to see yellowing newspaper cuttings from Amman's former glory
days. The city is enjoying a renaissance at present and now old establishments like this are being highlighted with
signs in English along the length of King Faisal St. Just past the ornate Arab Bank, for example, a sign indicates
Habibah
, the perennially popular sweetmeat store with its brass platters of
kunafa
(shredded wheat and syrup
dessert). A few paces further up King Faisal St and you'll reach legendary
Hashem Restaurant
, a Turkish
family-run establishment since 1956. The queue says it all: if a queue can be that long for a place that looks that
bad, then you know it will be worth waiting for. And indeed it is. Don't bother to select: just wait patiently and the
whole set (felafel, hummus, beans, bread, onions, leaves and tea) will come to you. There's no better way to end a
trip downtown. But after the full works, you'll need to factor in time for another local custom - the afternoon nap.
Activities
The top-end hotels offer a day-rate to nonguests for use of their
swimming pools
and oth-
er facilities (from around JD25).
Sports City
SWIMMING
( 5667181)
This complex in northern Amman has an Olympic-size pool. Non- mem-
bers are charged JD15 (including locker), depending on how early you arrive in the day (it
gets cheaper as the day goes on). Note that women may feel uncomfortable swimming
here. The Sports City complex also has tennis courts, which you can rent for JD4 per hour.
Bisharat Golf Course
Offline map
GOLF
