Tom's Family History and Amman

We arrived in Amman the day before yesterday. Venturing out yesterday, we visited the Roman Theatre, a very well preserved 6000 seat remnant of the once great empire. From there we walked through what is known as downtown, basically the older part of the city where all of the cheap eats and many shops are located. The wealthier areas of town are mostly located up on the hills to the north of the downtown area. So, we climbed.

Amman is far more modern and less hectic than Cairo, but I have to say a little all over the place, very spread out. This layout means having to taxi in order to get from one place to the next. I have to say, I am more of a person who would rather walk my way through a city and enjoy the sites that way.

Anyway, after watching 'Valkerie' all alone in a cinema in Jebel Amman, we headed to one of Tom's hang outs, The Frech Quarter Bar at the Holiday Inn. Amman is a stop-over point for those working in Iraq and on their way home to England and the US. Yesterday, unfortunately the bar was empty, no one about at all, so we headed home after a couple drinks exhausted after a long day trying to walk as much as we could about Amman.

On to why I labeled this post, 'Tom's Family History'. Tom's dad discovered on the web that just outside of Wadi Mussa there exists at place by the name of Wadi Feinan, (or Feynan, Finan, depending on the English translation of the Arabic) located inside the Dana Nature Reserve, an area being preserved by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature.

We caught a taxi from Wadi Mussa in order to check out the area. First however we stopped to see the Crusader castle at Shobak. High on a hill, with view points for miles it must have been an impressive site so many years ago (we thought maybe Tom's name came from those times, but that is just a thought).

Dana, the town, is small and Medieval, looking over the preserved park area. We were told over tea at the Tower Hotel that travelers flock there over the summer to hike and mountain bike, while ensuring the protection of the park.

People can hike all the way to the Feynan Eco-Lodge, 14Km through arid mountains, gorges and valleys. A beautiful hike that we were not prepared to take that day. We did walk around a bit and visit the shop selling eco-products, some made by the Bedouin.

We didn't find much out about Tom's heritage, but we were told by the woman at the shop that Feinan (chose your spelling) in Arabic means the area under a tree where someone can rest and relax.