Tag: Jerash

Top Posts of 2025

I’m sorry about the lateness of this post. Usually I am sharing with you the biggest posts of the year right around New Year’s Day, but because I was traveling through Patagonia at that time, I wasn’t able to sit down and sort through all of the data until now. 2025 was a crazy year for most of us for various reasons, and this was no different for me. I had taken a new job in Peru in July, so I spent a lot of the time getting all of my stuff together and moving it halfway around the world in Jordan. During that time, I was able to travel to many places such as Egypt, London, around Jordan one last time and a couple of trips back to the United States, but most of my time was spent moving all of our stuff and our puppy to Peru. Because of the visa requirements, I was not able to leave Peru once we arrived, but this was not a bad thing because the time I did have off was spent traveling through this amazing country. I hope you enjoy this look back of last year, and here is to more opportunities to see the world this year.

10. The Start of the Last Hurrah – Jordan

2025 was the last year that I spent in Jordan, and before we left, we started to have visitors. I was able to make the Jordan Loop, (Petra, the Dead Sea, and Jerash) one last time. It was a month before I left, and it was like my farewell tour of the area. I do consider myself lucky that I was able to make this trip that one last time, and do it with such good friends. It allowed me to create great memories of Jordan before I left it forever.

9. The Mummy

Egypt featured heavily in the posts for 2025, showing up four times in the top 10. The first time was a poem that I had written while out there, thinking about what it would be like to be a mummy so many years after you had been rediscovered by archaeologists. It was great to see them, but it was also gave me a sense of dread of what it would be like to have your body on display in a museum so people could come by and view you.

8. Packing Up the Holidays

My first post of the year was also one of your favorites. I spent a lot of time in the States this year, and I had spent some of that time with my family during the holidays. It is easily the best way to spend this time of year, and it always makes for great memories, but at the same time, there comes that moment when you have to pack everything up, and return to the life that you live. It is the reason that January is always a quiet month for most people, but it was still nice to have this to hold on to during that quiet month.

7. Santa Catalina Monastery – Arequipa, Peru

I made a big move this year, coming from Jordan halfway around the world to land in Peru. Because it was my first year there, I needed to stay in Peru for my visa. It is not a bad place to be stuck in as there are a lot of things to see. We were holding off on the big one, Machu Picchu, because we knew we would have visitors and we would see that eventually, so we went off to other locations. Our first big trip was to Arequipa, and it is a place in Peru that is not talked about enough. The monastery is a great place to visit if you are in Arequipa, and a lot of people enjoyed the post.

6. Cultural Duality

A return to Egypt with another poem about my time in Cairo. I really enjoyed this unexpected trip last year as what I thought would be another experience in a Muslim country turned out to be a cultural education about one of the oldest places in the world. The thing that struck me the most about the place was the way that the people embraced both aspects of their past. There was a huge pride in both their connection to Islam and the Egyptian kings of centuries past. At times, it seemed as if these cultures were at odds with each other, but there was a marriage between the two that allowed them to exist in perfect harmony in this part of the world.

5. The Last 100 Days

For many people, 2025 was a tough year. The world seemed to be imploding, and as I left one of the parts of the world where that struggle could really be felt, I wanted to take some time to reflect on my time there. I started to take one picture a day during my lat 100 days in Jordan as I went about my routine and posting that picture to Facebook. I was not trying to be political or get people motivated to think a certain way; I was just documenting the mundane. I received a lot of feedback from doing this as it gave people a reprieve from the crazy they were seeing on social media. This little experiment resinated with you as well, and oddly enough, it became a simple way to bring a little happiness to people’s lives during a time when they needed it.

4. Enchanted Grounds – Littleton’s Board Game Cafe

I had gotten back into one of my favorite hobbies, board games, during the 2020 pandemic. It was a great way to have fun with the few people that I had contact with at that time. It turned into something that stuck with me beyond that strange time in the world. As I explored this hobby more, I have gone to a couple board game cafes, but never the one that was right down the street from where my dad lives. Over the summer of 2025, I met a few of my friends down there to finish off our Dungeons and Dragons campaign that we were unable to finish due to me having to leave Jordan early. I am glad that I had finally gone into this place. It has opened the door to look for more of these little places around the world as a way to enjoy a couple hours of downtime during my travels. It was also nice to give Enchanted Grounds a little plug to keep them busy for future years.

3. Onirim – Welcome to the Oniverse

As I started to explore the board game hobby more, I started to review the games that I picked up along the way. I have only done one or two reviews a year, but they always seem to be very popular, and people continue to come back to them as they decided on the board games for their collections as well. This year I reviewed one of my favorite solo board games, Onirim. Many people must have been just as curious about this game as I was when I first came across it because it was one of the posts that was visited, and is still visited, the most last year. I still stick with my initial assessment that the game is fun, but the free app is a better way to enjoy the game.

2. Coptic Cairo

Usually when I think of Egypt, I think of the ancient culture with its pantheon of deities, or the modern people with their position in the Middle East. What I tend to forget about is the fact that Egypt plays a prominent part in the Bible. Jesus and his family spent a lot of time in this part of the world, and even some of the more important saints, such as Saint George, have part of their stories told in Cairo. There is a little corner of the city where these Christianity stories come to life, Coptic Cairo. It added a deeper level of nuance to a part of the world that already held a lot of depth, and it is one of the places on this trip that really stuck with me.

  1. Grand Egyptian Museum

Egypt has been putting a lot of energy and resources in order to get this museum open, and as of October 2024, it was 90 percent of the way there. I was able to visit it shortly after the opening in February of 2025, and the place is easily the best museum that I have ever been in. The collection of antiquities that can be found in this place is overwhelming, but I was lucky enough to have a guide to take me to the things that I really should be seeing. I must have stuck with a lot of you as well because it was the biggest post of mine last year.

Thank you for going through this walk down recent memory lane, and joining me on all my voyages throughout the year. I hope to see you more often in 2026, and look forward to sharing with you all that this crazy world has to offer.

The Final Tour

This has been my favorite restaurant
Ever since we arrived in this country,
But the last time I visited, I can’t
Remember when. There was too much to see,
Such as those ruins of Roman design,
Or the Treasury carved into the cliff,
Both of which are a sight that’s so divine
That to see them, it is truly a gift.
I am glad to have seen them one last time
Before I shake off the dust of this land
For a place with a more tropical clime,
And other attractions that are so grand.
To not see them again will choke my craw,
So I’m the tour of the last hurrah.

The Start of the Last Hurrah – Jordan

I have known for quite some time now that this would be my last year in Jordan, and though I have taken some of the necessary steps to move on to my next adventure, it really has not hit me yet that I will be moving on. It was not until a couple of friends came into town that I started to realize that my time in the country was starting to become limited, and as I showed them around to some of my favorite spots, I started to realize that this was the beginning of my last hurrah tour of the country I have lived in for the last four years.

Of course, some of this last tour took me to the major sights of the country. I had to take them to the Roman ruins in Jerash, and the marvels of the buildings carved into the sides of mountains in Petra. I have been to both of these places on numerous occassions, but it felt a little different this time around because I knew that it would be the last time I would be seeing them. It wasn’t like the wonder I had felt during the first time I had witnessed these places, but a meloncholy kind of sadness that went along with the fact that I could no longer take these places for granted just because they would soon no longer be right in my backyard.

When I do visit them now, I see them with a fresh set of eyes, looking for those details that I missed the other times I have been here. It helps that I am going to these places with people who have not been before because they spend their time marveling at all of the things that I have already witnessed. They point and gawk and tell me about how fascinating it all is. I have to play tour guide a bit, telling the little nuggets of information that I can glean from what I have heard the previous times I have been here.

And then there are the new things that I missed the first time around, or the way that life will make some unpredictable changes to add a new flavor to something old. It is the donkey standing in the perfect place so I can take the perfect picture. It is the kids placing their stuffed animals in the carved alcoves of the cliffs so they can take pictures of them as if they are a part of the landscape. It is the people dotting the cracked earth on their way to the salt flats of the Dead Sea. These are the things that I didn’t notice the other times I had visited these place, but they seemed more important now.

I am noticing the country again just like I had when I first arrived, but it is different this time around. I am not looking on the sights with awe and wonder because I already know the stories behind them. Now, I look upon them like an enjoyable book whose pages are running out, and already know how it is going to end. I am still enjoying the experience, but soon I am going to have to close that book and place it on my shelf to remember the story I once enjoyed.

But as every reader knows, there are many great books out there. All you have to do is to look over the horizon to find that next great story. I may be leaving Jordan behind, but I do have that next great adventure just around the corner. I have really enjoyed my time out here, and I am glad that I am getting the opportunity to have my last hurrah before I go, but I am also excited for the next stop in my life.

I want to thank those people that made me go and take this last tour of Jordan before I left, but I also want to thank Jordan for four great years with the ability to experience a part of the world that not many people get to see. I will miss you when I am gone, but I will still enjoy those last pages before I leave.

Roman Ruins in Jordan

Just like moving to any country or new location there have been a lot of adjustments to make and a lot of surprises, but I think the biggest surprises I have seen have been the Roman ruins that are all over the place throughout Jordan. I know logically thinking about it now, it makes sense. The presence of the Romans was always in the background in the Bible, and historically, they control this part of the world for a long time in history, so of course, their mark should be all over the place. But it is one of those things that did not hit me as being a part of my life now until I actually lived among those ruins for a couple of months.

I know that I have not hit the most important of these ruin in Petra, and I have plans on visiting that in April, but that does not mean that I haven’t seen some more of the impressive sights. There are some that jump right out from the first moments that you arrive in Amman, and smaller ruins that you have to travel to by the Sea of Galilee, and a truly impressive collection that creates its own city in Jerash. Each of them have their own flavor, but each is also a great way to spend a day in you make it out to Jordan.

The easiest of these ruins to access is in the heart of Amman. You can easily get to them with a thirty minute cab ride from the airport, or even better, with a ten to fifteen minute ride from most hotels in central Amman. They are really hard to miss. From many vantage points from this hilly city, they can be seen if you just look down. Look for the amphitheater in the heart of the city, and sitting right above that is a collection of ruins that overlooks this iconic location. Both sights are worth visiting, but they have separate entrance fees, so beware. There is a pass that can be bought when first arriving in Jordan that will reduce the cost a bit, but it will only allow you into a limited amount of sights in the country. Make sure to save one of those for Petra because that will be one that you really will want to see, but the two in Amman are also nice additions.

The other sight that I would suggest that you visit is only a short hour drive north of Amman. It is in the heart of the city of Jerash. This city got its start many centuries ago from these ruins and there are some impressive sights to see within the grounds. There are two smaller amphitheaters than the one that can be seen in Amman, but they are nestled on an old Roman road that gives them a more authentic feel. There is a long field that once was used for charioteer races with the stands still intact on one side of the field. There are old temples dedicated to ancient Roman gods even though they still used the Greek names. And there is a huge circular courtyard that was once was used as the gathering place for all who lived there, and those who had travelled many miles to get there.

There are many other places where the sights of Roman ruins can be found in Jordan. I have just shared my few favorite ones that I have witnessed so far after living here for a few months. It makes Jordan one of those places that should be on everybody itinerary for world travel, and it surprises me how few people want to make the trip to this little corner of the world.

But if you do make it out here, you will not be disappointed by what you will find. Jordan is a place rich in history and culture. The people are warm and friendly, and not enough people know about its spectacular views making it the prefect vacation destination for those in the know.