Thanks again for the complements guys, hope this next lots just as interesting to you, it's a big batch this time. We are now on our way to Syria, but on the way we make a morning stop at Jerash which is home to the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa. From what we were told, this is one of the largest Greco-Roman that remains comparatively complete.
Pic 1. This was taken on the road going north and shows the contrast of earlier pictures of the arid terrain of Jordan.
Pic 2 3. The southern gate land avenue eading into the city.
Pic 4. The central of the city which is an almost perfect circle surrounded by columns which formed a central meeting place to the city.
Pic 5 6. Yet another amphitheatre and the central steps leading up from the theatre floor. No Roman city was complete without an amphitheatre and this one boasted two.
Pic 7 8. A little bit of nature, it was spring and the wild flowers were magnificent. The cat also seemed to be enjoying the warm sun, though me thinks he was not a tabby, he looked to healthy.
Pic 9 10. A couple of better view of the city centre. The area of ruins was quite vast and it took us about three hours to walk it and this was by no means all of it, for a good half of the original city has over the millennium, been encroached by the modern city.
Pic 11. These columns are part of a temple to Zeus and amazingly the columns are stood in a way that they can sway without falling. There was a young coffee vendor in the temple and he took great pride in placing a teaspoon under the base of one of the columns and then giving it a shove. We watched as the spoon gently moved up and down. This demo was accompanied by a cup of strong black cardamom coffee.
Pic 12. I couldn't resist this picture, poppies in the wild are magnificent.
Pic 13 14. The second, smaller amphitheatre in the northern part of the city. It's actually built on a small hillside that dips away from you as you enter the theatre. We were taken into a doorway and this picture shows the drop down the steps. It may have been a small theatre, but the sudden drop was quite scary.
Pics 15 to 17. These are of the main south west street in the city. The columns represent what is remaining of the traders shops along the street and underneath the paving was a full drainage system for rain runoff.