Atop the second tallest hill in the city of Amman lies Old Philadelphia.  For anyone from the “City of Brotherly Love” this name should of course sound familiar, but the setting of this particular Philadelphia is anything but.  Now known as “The Citadel” (no, my Marine Corps friends… not THAT Citadel), the ancient town on the hill is an affordable day trip in Jordan who’s history encompasses over 8,000 years of various civilizations!

Getting to the site does require driving through the sometimes wild streets of Downtown Amman so if you do not feel like a confident (read : BALLSY!) city driver then you may want to take an Uber or taxi to get there.  A small restaurant sits at the far end of the parking lot and serves reasonable priced local cuisine as well as some world wide favorites.  They will ask you for proof of a ticket before you go in, but it is not strictly enforced.  When I visited it was as simple as saying “that’s where we’re going next” and they let us right in.

When you do go to enter the park you’ll find a small kiosk area to purchase tickets at.  Foreigners are 3 JD (about $5 USD) and locals pay only 0.5 JD. To visit the cultural site.  Official guides fluent in many different languages will be there to help you as well if you’d like.  They won’t try hard for a sales pitch or anything, but if you do want them to take you around then plan for a 1-2 hour guided tour in your language (we heard Italian, Japanese, and English along with the local Levantine Arabic while there) and a cost of about 40 JD ($70 USD) for the group.  This means that if were to bring a larger group it will be a pretty good value.  It was just two of us this day so we opted to just do the self guided tour.

It doesn’t take long to be mesmerized by the place.  Immediately you will be able to see the ancient and immense Temple of Hercules in the distance.  Much closer you will see two paths that end up leading to the same place, but I recommend going to the right hand path as it leads more directly to the museum.  Traversing through the garden areas with wild flowers on each side of you, the path guides visitors through a fallen portions of monument, a cave once used as a mausoleum and later a workshop ending at a small private graveyard that was still in use up until the 1970’s.  The base of the museum brings you up a small set of stairs into the viewing area.  Starting from pre-bronze age artifacts found at the site, the museum is a comprehensive collection of glass, pottery, statues, weapons, and even remains from the last several thousand years.  Give yourself at least an hour to wander the small but thorough museum and read through some of the signs.

Leaving the museum and heading back into the light you will first notice the houses stacked like Legos on the hills in front of you.  As you turn your head to the right you’ll see the main spectacle of the Citadel: The Temple of Hercules.The temple was created in the 2nd century AD and at one point also had a nearly 40’ tall statue of Hercules.  All that remains now are some fingers and toes.  The temple makes for one of the best photo opportunities in all of Jordan.  Easily accessed, visitors are allowed to take photos of and even climb on the monument.  After sometime wandering the rubble you’ll be able to continue on to the most important area on the hill: The Palace.

The Umayyad Palace is actually made up of several parts and is much larger than it may seem at first.  Built during the 8th century AD, the palace is a Qasr style “Desert Castle”.  What is now short walls of exposed stone was once an entire housing area for government employees, a grand entrance to the town, a souk (market), and the palace itself overlooking a fortified area of what is now modern Amman City.  Your views are nearly unimpeded for 10 + miles.  Modern sky scrapers juxtapose the ancient busy streets in the foreground.  Cars and people can be heard down below as you enjoy the same view as Umayyadian King or official would have.  The palace is a truly substantial space that once had plastered walls with rich frescos and thatch roofs all around.

Also contained within the palace area is a giant sister used for the bath house that was a communal place for everyone in the area to relax, bathe, and talk.  The king and queen even had their own entrance so that they could easily come and go.  Several religious areas are found on the grounds to include the ruins of an ancient Church and Mosque to say nothing of the temple itself.  The city views pan in all directions and you are able to see far into the valley or over the where the current king now lives.  His Palace is easily found by the flag pole in the distance.  The Raghadan Flag Pole is the second largest free standing flag and flag pole in the world measuring 416’ tall!  The largest is about 5 hours south in the port city of Aqaba, Jordan.  It stands proudly for all Jordanians and visitors alike to see from nearly anywhere in the greater Amman area even being easily seen from many areas around Zarqa, a nearly 40 minute drive from the city.

As you go to exit the park you’ll be able to see the ancient Roman Amphitheater (coming in another article soon)! Down below along with Army St, the most prominent road in the entire city.  As an interesting note for my American readers, the park was developed and largely funded through a partnership with the USAID and their small placards can be seen on most of the signs.  Be sure to check out the food down below before or after checking out the Amphitheater as well as the wonderful Souks and other nearby ruins.

Have you been to the Citadel?  I’d love to hear your feedback on my Instagram account. Check out these other photos from the Citadel as well: