Ajloun Castle and Cable Car

Pretty much every embassy has a Community Liaison Office (CLO). As the name implies, they focus on community activities. They'll organize holiday parties and trips around the area, so that people can feel more at home. The CLO here in Amman is great, and they seem to have a trip or activity every week. We decided to try a trip that many people recommended as a "starter trip" to Ajloun Castle which is a little over an hour to the north of Amman. CLO provided transportation from the embassy, and the full day included a cable car ride, lunch, and grape and plum picking on the way home. Sounded like fun!

Jeff liked that the castle played a part in the Crusades.

Elena liked the commanding view,

and she very much appreciated the military set up of the castle.

Jeff and Vivian stayed with the tour group to hear about the actual history of the castle, but Elena wanted to explore too much, so I followed her around while she ran up and down stone steps exploring every part of the castle she could get to.

I got her to slow down enough to take a picture with some of the mosaics. 

The castle really is in a great position.

We got to appreciate it even more on a cable car ride across the valley.

What we didn't appreciate was the ride back. Instead of staying in and going back around (there really wasn't much at the other end), you had to get off, and then go around to get in line to go back. That would have been fine, but the other people in line, didn't really get the whole line concept. People shoved us and cut us. Jeff tried to hold our spot, and since he's pretty tall, he managed for a while, but then a woman shoved Elena, cut in front of us, and then pointed and laughed at Jeff for trying to stop her. We were shocked. She kept shouting in Arabic, "This is Jordan!" It was a really unpleasant experience, and soured the day for us quite a bit. We decided we weren't interested in any other activities that involved crowds or lines.

Luckily, the restaurant was not crowded. There was lovely, outdoor seating, and everyone was very friendly and welcoming. 

They had prepared maqluba or "upside down rice" for us. Rice, meat, and vegetables are all slow cooked together in a pot, and then the pot is flipped over onto a serving plate. The flipping is part of the fun. 

There was lots of pita bread and yummy side dishes as well. It was an excellent lunch. For "dessert" we went to a family owned fruit farm where we picked grapes and plums and paid about $1 a kilo for our bounty. They were delicious. Elena even found a chair under the grapes. It was a like a fairy fruit kingdom.

We came home with more grapes and plums than we could possibly eat, but it was a fun end to a busy day.