Jordan is known as The Pearl Of The Orient: a fascinating land with a culture that is thousands of years old, a land of colorful epochs and biblical history, all to be rediscovered in this Hasemite kingdom that was founded in 1946. Pharaohs, Assyrian kings and Persian monarchs once fought for this country. Nabateans, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders and Ottomans, each of them left their traces in Jordan.Amman is Jordan's capital city in which, poverty and wealth live side by side.The King Abdullah Mosque is the largest and, due to its striking blue cupola, the most beautiful mosque in Amman. Although only completed in 1988 it is an important symbol of Islam and five times a day the Muezzin calls to the faithful from its Minaret. In 1900 the Ottoman Sultan ordered the construction of the Hedjaz Railroad. It was designed to unite the Ottoman Empire that had begun to disintegrate as well as to transport Moslem pilgrims to Medina in the Hedjaz Mountains. Around thirty kilometers northwest of Amman is As-Salt that is situated between two mountain slopes. Up until the First World War this city that had a good supply of water and enjoyed a good climate, was the main metropolis of Trans-Jordan. Saladin had this fortress built on a twelve hundred meter high hill in 1184. Qal'at Ajlun was meant to be a defense against the approaching Crusaders and also to protect pilgrims on their way to Mecca.At an altitude of eight hundred meters is a place of great significance for the Jewish and Christian faiths, Nebo Mountain, where God revealed to Moses the Promised Land for the first time after his forty year journey from Egypt. Near Wadi Musa, The Valley Of Moses, is the fascinating and legendary rose red city of Petra. Its strategic location at the junction of six important caravan routes, including the famous Incense Road, brought much prosperity to the city.
