The skyline of Amman looks a bit like a game of Tetris. From the top of the Bronze Age Citadel, the city’s highest point, the view seemingly comprises tiny blocks of tightly compacted, limestone houses strewn with washing, topped with water tanks and interspersed with the odd cypress tree. The clear blue sky is occasionally pierced by one of the city’s many minarets.
The soundtrack, a cacophony of traffic and car horns honking from the streets below, is soothed by the echoes of the call to prayer.
Broadly speaking, the Jordanian capital is divided into two parts; the affluent, modern west, home to the city’s upmarket hotels, rooftop bars and restaurants, and the more traditional east, with its older buildings on winding streets, where you’ll find most working-class Jordanians. Juxtaposition is something Amman delivers in droves. For every chaotic souk, there’s a plush multi-storey shopping mall. For every hole-in-the-wall knafeh (sweet cheese dessert) joint, there’s also a fit-for-royalty fine-dining spot.
It’s a relatively small city, so new developments like the US$300m (£250m) commercial complex, The Boulevard, are never too far from, say, a 2,000-year-old Roman theatre. In Jabal al-Lweibdeh, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the city,
