Hills into Houses

In the once ancient Decapolis City of Philadelphia - now the modern City of Amman Jordan - the landscape provides the building material for houses – not in the form of trees for lumber – but in the form of stone. 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapolis

It is an industry supported by the immigration of Palestinian stonecutters from Hebron and Nablus, and now by their children, who continue a craft that is now a major industry employed by all who build a house in this country. A typical house in Amman is a solid bastion of steel, concrete and stone, fit into a strong foundation that has been cut into the side of one of the rocky hills.

It is probably an architects dream to design and build here. One can employ ancient themes such as Byzantine arches . . .

Or new designs incorporating glass and steel.

Without having to worry too much about energy efficiency or vapour-proof walls.

Pine, cedar, palm trees and rose bushes all grow well in the Jordan climate – and make for low-maintenance attractive designs for yards and entrance ways.

It’s not just for the rich –  these are middle class homes and apartments.in the poor developing world -  which is still plagued by a reliance on skill craftsmen and yet to discover the economic efficiency of particle board and vinyl siding.

Urban Transit

Travel vignettes. Recent travels carried the Time Traveler northward along the Nile and then out of Africa altogether.

 

Before I knew the vortex that was to sweep me away I looked east and west from atop a favourite sunset watching place in Luxor, Egypt. First toward the new Coptic Cathedral  . . 

. . .and then west toward a final setting sun across the Nile.

Two days later I awoke to look down upon one of the few remaining original villas in Maadi – a suburb of Cairo – built in the days with villas had back yards and gardens to entertain friends and family on quiet evenings.

 

From the 9^th floor patio of Gold’s Gym one can see how the villas and their land have been swallowed by the spreading Cairo becoming more dense by the year. 

A few short days later, yet another city was spread across the land below the window where I slept.

The Moment

When time stops, waves form smoothed sparkling steps as the stream meets a sudden barrier. Memories arrive on a following sea in fresh colours painted by scents and sounds once familiar, once lost, and now all around.



In Amman, Jordan, old neighbourhoods emerge from the grey with feelings smoothed by years in the cask of a busy mind: Cool clear air, a hint of pine, the aroma of a wood fire from a villa nearby.



A brief moment has turned into a time to be refreshed by a cold wind and rain high in the hills of a once ancient City.



A few kilometres east of the Great Beyond the Jordanian Generation X is building a new City with the art, taste and standards of the best the world has achieved to date. A small hotel displays design and taste and good management . ..



. . . and a 400+ song list of lounge music to set guests at ease.
Songs such as by a group called "Vargo".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdWbdg1inGc

. . . and another group called "Ohm Guru"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h507cHlbHYE

On YouTube, these songs are in a genre call “Chill Out” music which, years ago, only applied to the theme for Hockey Night in Canada. Despite the protests and conflicts in the Middle East – or perhaps in response to them - there is even a festival devoted to the genre – the Dubai “Chill Out” Music festival . . .

http://chilloutfestivaldubai.com/pages/artist-details.php?artist_id=79