Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Salt is visited by few foreign tourists, and remains one of the undiscovered highlights of
the Jordan Valley area. A multimillion-dollar aid package awarded to the city in 2004 by
Japan has been used to preserve many of the city's old buildings and to create facilities for
tourists. While infrastructure is still largely lacking, it's heartening to see that the residents
of Salt have embraced their city's architectural heritage in a country where concrete urb-
anisation is the norm.
History
While you'd be forgiven for thinking that the town was named after the table condiment,
Salt was either named after the Greek word
saltus
meaning 'forests' (although these are
long gone), or from
sultana
for the grapes that were once abundant in the region.
Construction began on Salt's characteristic limestone buildings in the late 19th century
thanks to the arrival of merchants from Nablus. Over several decades, Salt began to thrive
as trade networks sprang up between the city and neighbouring Palestine.
Following the establishment of Trans-Jordan, the new emir chose Amman as his capital
due to its proximity to the railway. Almost overnight, Salt went into decline. War with Is-
rael separated Salt from the port of Haifa in 1948, and later from its trading partner of
Nablus in 1967, ending Salt's significance as anything more than a rural town above the
Jordan Valley.
