Umm Qays

So after the lovely Eastern castles trip, I decided that I can manage hiking as long as it's not a nature reserve, etc. A few weeks after, Charles asked if I wanted to go to Umm Qays and the Battle of Yarmouk. I had never been to the Yarmouk battle site, and honestly Umm Qays is always worth the trip, so I agreed. Drew had a paper due earlier than he thought and ended up staying up the whole night to finish the paper and decided to sleep in. 

Luckily Madison joined us at the last minute and the three of us headed on our way to the north. It's a wee bit of a drive, but we had fun making fun of Charles' driving (he had improved a GREAT deal over the summer and honestly driving in Jordan is kinda crazy) and having a good time as friends. 

Map showing both Amman and Umm Qays/Qais ignore the lived/visited stars(not my map)

We get to one of the battle of Yarmouk observation points and it's gorgeous! It's easy to see how the battle was won given the landscape. 

Madison smiling in the 100 degree weather

And I realized that many probably don't know the story of the Battle of Yarmouk. Ok, so it's one of the most decisive military battles ever. It happened in 636 AD and was between Byzantine forces and the Rashidun forces (earliest Islamic caliphate, the Rashidun were the four "rightly guided" caliphs who ruled after the death of Muhammed, PBUH). There were an estimated 100-150,000 Byzantine troops and around 20,000 Rashidun forces that participated in the battle. The years following Muhammed(PBUH)'s death were filled with expansion and battles as the Islamic forces expanded their empire from Arabia, to Iraq, to Syria and inwards towards Palestine. However, in each of these battles, they were fighting Byzantine troops and so the Byzantines decided to finish the Rashidun troops off once and for all. Palestine is a crossroads in the ancient (and current) world and therefore an important area to hold in the region. 

However, despite wanting to surprise the Rashiduns, the Islamic forces learned of the impending troops and set up battle lines at the site that is now Yarmouk. It is easy to see why they picked it. If you look in the picture below, you can see a valley. There is a dark green swatch where farmlands are beside a small river and a hill that splits the valley into two, smaller valleys. The Rashidun troops were positioned on the hill and were able to attack the Byzantine troops from above. The battle lasted around six days and at the end of it, the Rashidun troops had only lost about 3,000 men, whereas the Byzantine troops lost between 50,000 -100,000 men. That's between 1/3 and 2/3rds of their troops. This event was massively embarrasing for the Byzantines and greatly depleted their resources and troops in the region. This battle also emboldened the Rashidun troops and they were able to win a series of important victories in the region following this battle. This battle is still studied in military warfare as it is an important lesson in a vastly smaller force utilizing superior generalship to overcome an overwhelming enemy. 

Also the area is quite lovely. 

Although a bit hot

Olive trees!

More of the valley

Valley 

As we finish up at the site (only about a 15-20 minute stop) we hop in the car...and it doesn't start. It doesn't even make the puttering sound. It is just completely dead. We are absolutely baffled. Even if we had left the lights on, 20 minutes should not be enough to kill the battery. So...we are stumped for a bit. At the time the car died, there is literally NO other car nearby. This location is a bit remote and at least 10-15 km from the closest town... Luckily, there is a military posting here, given that it is an important battle site and that it's right near the border with Israel/Palestine/Syria. But there's like 3 guys there. So we go up and ask for help. Between the 3 of us, our arabic is good enough to communicate and try to get the car started. They eventually called a few of the local villagers to come and bring jumper cables and try and help us out. 

We had gotten a rental car, so we also call them up to try and figure out if either a. they can send someone to fix it or b. if they can send us a new car. That was also a bit of a crazy complicated situation. Arabic over the phone is SO HARD to understand. Thankfully Madison was able to get it sorted out...mostly. They decided to send us a replacement car, and we would meet up in Irbid...which was 2 hours from Amman and 45 minutes from our current location. So...we had a problem to try and figure out how to get the car to Irbid. At this point, over an hour had passed with us trying to get the car situation figured out. The locals were wonderful and had been charing the car battery up...but no go so far. 

At this point, Madison and I are frantically trying to reach anyone who is in Irbid who might be able to meet us or help us out. I was able to reach the branch president who is there (yay church!) and luckily he served his mission in the US so his English is perfect. Not gonna lie, the thought of having to explain car troubles in arabic slightly terrifies me. We get ahold of him and he agrees to meet us for lunch in Irbid when we can. (It's about 2:30 at this point). Our car starts as we literally are on the phone with someone who is going to come out from Irbid to help us, and we're able to drive to Irbid to pick up the other rental car and meet the branch president for lunch. 

Pic of everyone around the cars wondering what to do

Masoud (the branch president) was so nice to meet us and help us to find a nice restaurant. We had a great chat, and it was expecially nice as it was a nice break after the freaking out over the car stuff. I forgot to take a picture of him, but I got his number and I'm sure I'll see him again in the future at some district activity. 

After eating, we were ready to go to Umm Qays (we ended up eating until around 4) and wanted to have enough time to see the park before it closed. (We weren't sure if it being peak tourist season it would be open later than usual--sunset). We drive up and it's just as beautiful as I remember. Although with a broken foot, it is MUCH bigger than I remember it being. 

Charles overlooking the valley that separates Jordan/Israel/Palestine/Syria

Little town

Roman ruins

Another Charles pic, this time with Lake Tiberius in the back

Hi Mads!

Charles convinced me to take a pic there too. :P 

Charles and Madison went to explore the artemis temple (or whatever the main structure is) as I meandered along the roman road. 

I love how you can see the marks from where the carts wore down grooves in the path as they trundled along 

Charles and Madison finally caught up wth me and we explored to the end of the road before heading back. It's such a lovely time to go--right before sunset-- all of my pictures are hyper-defined and the shadows and play on light is amazing. 

Peekaboo!

The heart! We found this stone last time and Drew reminded me to look for it. 

Bye Umm Qays!

After exploring for about 2 hours, we hopped in the car and headed back to Amman. It was a fun trip and despite the car troubles, we had a great time. 

Eastern Castles

So after having broken my foot and missing out on Eid al Fitr (the big holiday at the end of Ramadan) and the subsequent trip of my friends to Jerusalem, I was pretty bummed not to be able to do anything for over a month. But after over a month on crutches, I got a boot!! It meant that I could walk and go places! I could leave the house for real now!!!!

So needless to say when Charles invited me to go do the Eastern Castles, I jumped at the chance to explore. First stop was Umm al Jimal near Mafraq in the north. We dropped Skylar off to do an interview for research for his thesis (on the awesome topic of refugee access to water and water conservation) and headed over. 

August is already a bit blistering, but as we were further east than Amman, and much more into the desert, the temperatures were pretty scorching rather fast. It was funny, the guidebook specifically was like, "don't visit here between 10 am and 2 pm." So of course we got there around 11 and didn't leave until 12:30. 

 

Drew outside the entrance

So the site is famous for being the site of a number of peoples from Nabateans, to the Romans, to an early Christian group, to early Islamic caliphate. Despite literally being in the desert, this area used to be a great place for agriculture and one of the ways in which the people were able to sustain living in the arid and hot landscape was through the unique rock that is throughout the region: basalt. 

The black volcanic rock is EVERYWHERE and it used to be nicknamed the black city, or something along those lines. Either way, this type of stone is very good at keeping temperatures low and regulating living space. 

Embiggen if you want to read about it

Part of the site

Charles looking spiffy in glasses that some awesome person gave him

Pensive and reading the info

Hi!

Cool level of a cistern next to a high archway where trade and living spaces were 

Spot Charles!

Hi!

After seeing the site for an hour and a half, we were pretty beat and so we went back to Mafraq to pick Skylar up and go on to the next locale. We had a few snacks before heading south to Azraq to see a few things and (hopefully) get lunch at an awesome location. 

Charles was the driver, which led to hilarious moments with matabs (speed bumps) where poor Drew and Skylar would go flying in the backseat. It was an interesting experience driving around the different locations since we actually passed by both Za'atari and Mafraq refugee camps. I can see why refugees are protesting harsh conditions. Even with better housing, being stuck smack dab in the middle of the desert with the closest town around 20-30 km away is not a fun experience. There is also ZERO vegetation in the area. There weren't even scrubs, just rocks, sand and grit. 

Before eating, we decided to visit Azraq Castle since it was supposed to be a quick stop. Well, we drive to it, it's still supposedly open, and can't find the entrance. We walk around the entire thing, having had two different people tell us different entrances, and then realize that the person manning it left early and closed the gate. 

Beautiful view, sad that I couldn't explore. 

However, given that there was literally NO ONE around and Charles and Skylar are both over 6 feet tall, they hopped over a low wall and looked around for a bit. Given that I was in my boot and was still using one crutch for support it was laughable to think that even with their help I could have followed. So Drew hung out with me and we waited by the car for Skylar and Charles to finish looking around. It ended up being rather cute since a little boy in an apartment a few stories up was playing on the balcony with his little toy gun. He and I were pretending to shoot one another and I did dramatic deaths on the front of the car which would cause him to erupt into peals of giggles. Sadly his mother grabbed him to come and eat something for tea time and he and I stopped our games. 

I found some exotic wildlife

From there, we headed over to the restaurant to grab some lunch. It's apparently this nice place that also supports local cooperatives with various ventures. One of the crafts they do is paint ostrich eggs. Those were really cool, but a. super expensive and b. fragile. To our disappointment, it turns out you needed to have told the restaurant two days in advance that you are coming so that they can prepare the food for you. 

Oh well, we just went down the street, got gas for the car, and found a nice little restaurant next to the gas station and had some food. We all just shared some hummus, pita, and some grilled meat with tomatoes, and it was absolutely delicious. After that we headed over to the Azraq Nature Reserve. 

Despite it's name, and the fact that on the map it sticks out, in reality it was rather hard to find the entrance. We were quite sad to get there and see that they closed early. Fortunately there was still a guy in the office and he took pity on us and let us in. 

Man, was it worth it!

Little bit of paradise

Dragonflies-they were EVERYWHERE

Charles is happy to be near a wetter climate :P

Gorgeous time of day to go too!

The only pic we got of the group that day! (L-R: Charles, Skylar, me, and Drew)

The only time it was appropriate to wear shorts-and mostly people just noticed my leg. 

Skylar and Charles! 

Hiding place of the water buffalo!

So apparently this used to be a huge wetland/water reserve and then Azraq kept pumping water from it to provide water to people in the city and in Amman. Soon the wetlands were pretty much nonexistent. Then a few years ago Jordan decided to pump water back into the area and introduce some local species back into the area. They now have 8 water buffalo and hundreds of birds and wildlife in the area.  

It was SO peaceful and quiet

Click to embiggen-there's a heron

And some ducks

Some birds in the foreground

The guy had told us only half an hour, but let us stay for close to 45 minutes. It was so nice and peaceful. I don't think any of us really wanted to leave. It was such a refreshing break from the hot, dry, and noisy that we had experienced so far. If you can make it out there, it's definitely worth the trip!

From Azraq, we looped back west to head back to Amman, and pass by two more locations on the Eastern Castles loop. First up we went to Qasr al Amra. Unfortunately the guy manning the site decided that since we came RIGHT at sunset (i.e. closing) that he wasn't going to let us in. It was a bit frustrating as he had just let in a different group. 

The closest we got to the site :(

From there a few miles down the road is Qasr Kharana. All of these sites are famous strongholds in the desert for the bedouins and management of the early Islamic caliphates. It was neat to see some of these older buildings and see the beautiful architecture. Luckily when we got to Qasr Kharana there was no fee to get in and the site was still open. Yay!

Hi Skylar!

Entrance

Embiggen to read about the site

Deciding whether or not they should go up

They went up--hi Drew!

So pretty

Hi Skylar and Charles!

After that we headed back to Amman. It was a bit dark driving back, but Charles did very well and we treated ourselves to Lebnani snack for dinner before heading to our separate apartments. It was nice to finally have a group of friends who wanted to make the trek out to the Eastern castles, and it'd definitely recommend doing it--just maybe when it's a bit cooler.