Well our first impressions of Jordan have been overwhelmingly positive.

On our first morning out in Amman, we had Manakeesh (a flat bread with either Zattar or feta and herbs) fresh out of a traditional oven and met a beat poet, who gave us an impromptu show!

The town is a great mix of old and new, with roman ruins mixed in with newer buildings.

I think it also wins the prize for hilliest town I’ve been in, with buildings that appear stacked on top of each other. The hills mean it takes a long time to get anywhere in town – I think we’ve walked around 25km in the two days we’ve been here, and ascended and descended countless long and steep stairways. I hope there is never an earthquake here – it all looks like it might come tumbling down.

The food has also been very good. There’s amazingly good falafel and shawarma, fresh baked breads everywhere and traditional homestyle meals. Oh yeah, and then there are the sweets (but that’s for another blog!).

We start walking tomorrow, and already our bags are too heavy , partly because we keep finding awesome food. – an old guy talked us into buying two jars of his pickled olives and eggplants stuffed with walnuts today (amazingly good but heavy!), on top of what we already had decided was enough.