Sitting awkwardly next to grandfather Damascus, beautiful sister Beirut and busy brother Cairo, Amman sometimes looks and feels like the Cinderella of the neighbourhood, little more than a stop-off point for the country's real highlights. But while other Arab cities trade off their history, this newcomer is fast becoming one of the Middle East's creative capitals.
Amman is a city of seven hills, and almost every restaurant and cafe comes with an incredible view. It also means a lot of climbing: the staircases that twist and turn up the hillsides are a great way to explore. Just north of downtown, the city rises to become Jebel Al-Lweibdeh, and this is the place to head in search of Amman's arts scene.
"I love these streets," Roba Al-Assi tells me as her car struggles up the steep slopes and around blind corners. The passionate Amman advocate has become the city's cultural diarist through her blog, www.andfaraway.net. "This is where the original Ammanis live, the old families." We get to the summit and it feels like we've left the city and stepped into a village. The streets are dimly lit, families sit outside their houses sipping coffee and an old man in pyjamas is chatting to his neighbour leaning over the balcony across the road.
It may feel like a sleepy backwater but inside some of the boxy, whitewashed colonial-era buildings are some of the most exciting and creative shops and galleries in the region. It is unique little stores like Jo Bedu that make a trip to Amman worthwhile. Hidden away in a side street is a garish yellow T-shirt shop that screams out at you. Inside, a life-size car bonnet seems to be bursting out of the wall above the till and brightly coloured T-shirts hang from floor to ceiling on both sides.
Tamer Al Masri and Michael Makdah started designing T-shirts in 2007 and selling them at the weekly handicrafts market, Souq Jara. Their humorous take on life in Jordan was a big hit and they soon needed a more permanent space. As well as T-shirts (in English, Arabic and 3arabeezy - Arabic net-speak written in Roman characters), they now produce laptop cases, stickers and bags and run design competitions.
More than a decade ago, Books@Café opened on a back street on a neighbouring hill, just round the corner from what was then a quiet hilltop road called Rainbow Street. With a huge outdoor terrace climbing up the hillside, the cafe quickly became one of Amman's favourite night-time spots and transformed the feel of the area. Now, this stalwart - some would say founder - of the Rainbow Street scene is dipping its toes into Lweibdeh and could end up having a similar effect on this area. They've partnered with Jo Bedu to create the Camel's B@C. The tiny cafe, squeezed between an apartment block and the T-shirt store, is the antithesis of Books it is quieter and smaller, with no outdoor seating.
Opposite the Camel's B@C is another beautiful little cafe, Crimson, which is pulling in the creative types, even though there's barely room to squeeze in - there seem to be no more than eight seats inside.
All these places sum up what's great about Lweibdeh: it's intimate, arty and a great respite from the crowds in other parts of Amman.
With the shopping bags full of T-shirts, it's time to head downhill for a rest. Darat Al-Funun, or Little House of the Arts, is perched on the edge of Jebel Al-Lweibdeh and comprises three 1920s villas set in some of Amman's most beautiful gardens. Head straight for the cafe, situated on a patio overlooking Amman, and sheltered by a huge tree with a beautiful tiled fountain in the centre. The service is slow but in a place as peaceful as this, it seems quite fitting. Time really does feel like it is slowing down here. You could quite easily while away an entire afternoon with a book in the solitude of this secret garden.
But drag yourself away and take a walk down to the bottom of the estate to find the remains of a sixth-century Byzantine church, which was recently uncovered and restored for use as an open-air cinema. Darat Al-Funun regularly has painters and sculptors in residence, is home to some of the region's best contemporary art and has even attracted the attention of the UK's Tate Modern, which held a joint exhibition in London.
More traditional artists find their home at the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts that dominates Jebel Al-Lweibdeh. The huge high-ceilinged exhibition rooms are home to 2,000 pieces of Jordanian and Arab art. Recently, a huge traffic island was landscaped outside the main entrance to create a beautiful park with an interesting collection of public art. Right next door is Canvas, the gallery's bar and a meeting point for the country's artistic elite. As the sun goes down, the music goes up and Canvas begins to feel a bit like a Beirut rooftop club.
But Amman's real party street is over on the neighbouring hill, Jebel Amman, where the cars aren't moving and horns are blaring. Drivers are leaning out of their windows. Up ahead, a Land Rover with tinted windows and foreign number plates has stopped while the driver leans out of the window in an attempt to get the attention of a group of girls. This is Rainbow Street, one of Amman's busiest spots on a Thursday night. A few years ago, it was a very different place. The cobbled hilltop street was one of the city's most tranquil spots, far removed from the chaos of downtown at the bottom of the hill.
Every Friday, the Jebel Amman Residents' Association (Jara) holds its Friday market, Souq Jara, selling local crafts and home-cooked food. Round the corner, the Jordan River Foundation, housed in a beautiful little villa, sells handmade bags and homeware produced by some of the poorest women in the country. In 2006, the government spent an estimated five million dinars (Dh25 million) on a local regeneration project. The street was re-cobbled, pavements were widened and new retro-style signposts installed. But just as the project sought to cement the neighbourhood's village-like feel, it actually forced out many of the original residents and changed its character for good.
Although the neon signs, loud music and shisha cafes now tend to get all the attention, there is good reason to head over to Rainbow Street. Hidden just off the main thoroughfare is Jordan's Royal Film Commission, which holds regular movie screenings in the most spectacular setting I have ever seen: an amphitheatre has been set into the hillside, making it hard to concentrate on the film when the view of Amman's twinkling lights is vying for your attention. I'm here during Arab Film Week and there's hushed silence, more for the panorama below than the cheesy Algerian comedy being shown on the big screen.
Even when there's no film festival, the Royal Film Commission is a movie lover's heaven. The stunning mansion is now home to a DVD library. It has one of the best collections of Arab films in the world and, for a small donation, they'll let you watch any of the movies in one of their booths.
Music fans are catered for as well on Rainbow Street. The Turtle Green Tea Bar started out as a cafe but quickly turned into a pocket-sized concert venue for unsigned artists.
"The idea was to open an alternative cafe," founder Muhammad Abdullah tells me. "Anybody can play here," he says, gesturing over to a corner of the cafe. By his reckoning, 60 people squeezed into the mezzanine area during the last gig. At the front of the cafe, a huge chalk board covers one wall. Customers can doodle, write a message to a lover or advertise an upcoming event. Local art hangs on the walls and artists meet to discuss their latest projects, staring at laptop screens and flicking through magazines.
The tiny space is full of smoke and chatter. There is a handful of Americans and a Briton, but none of them carry guidebooks - the foreigners in these places are almost always expat workers. Amman is still very much in the shadows of Arab tourism. But Damascus, Beirut and Cairo better watch out - Cinderella will go to the ball.
If You Go
The flight Etihad Airways (www.etihadairways.com) has twice-daily return flights from Abu Dhabi to Amman from Dh910, including taxes
The hotel Heritage House (www.heritageamman.com; 00 962 6 4643 111), one of Amman's first boutique hotels, has just opened on Rainbow Street. One-bedroom suites cost from 99 dinars (Dh510) per night, including taxes
The info Roba Al-Assi's blog, www.andfaraway.net, is a great way to keeping up with the latest Ammani trends. JO magazine (www.jo.jo) and Nox magazine (www.nox-mag.com) have useful listings sections
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Opening Premier League fixtures, August 14
- Brentford v Arsenal
- Burnley v Brighton
- Chelsea v Crystal Palace
- Everton v Southampton
- Leicester City v Wolves
- Manchester United v Leeds United
- Newcastle United v West Ham United
- Norwich City v Liverpool
- Tottenham v Manchester City
- Watford v Aston Villa
RESULTS
Bantamweight
Victor Nunes (BRA) beat Siyovush Gulmamadov (TJK)
(Split decision)
Featherweight
Hussein Salim (IRQ) beat Shakhriyor Juraev (UZB)
(Round 1 submission, armbar)
Catchweight 80kg
Rashed Dawood (UAE) beat Otabek Kadirov (UZB)
(Round-1 submission, rear naked choke)
Lightweight
Ho Taek-oh (KOR) beat Ronald Girones (CUB)
(Round 3 submission, triangle choke)
Lightweight
Arthur Zaynukov (RUS) beat Damien Lapilus (FRA)
(Unanimous points)
Bantamweight
Vinicius de Oliveira (BRA) beat Furkatbek Yokubov (RUS)
(Round 1 TKO)
Featherweight
Movlid Khaybulaev (RUS) v Zaka Fatullazade (AZE)
(Round 1 rear naked choke)
Flyweight
Shannon Ross (TUR) beat Donovon Freelow (USA)
(Unanimous decision)
Lightweight
Dan Collins (GBR) beat Mohammad Yahya (UAE)
(Round 2 submission D’arce choke)
Catchweight 73kg
Martun Mezhulmyan (ARM) beat Islam Mamedov (RUS)
(Round 3 submission, kneebar)
Bantamweight world title
Xavier Alaoui (MAR) beat Jaures Dea (CAM)
(Unanimous points 48-46, 49-45, 49-45)
Flyweight world title
Manon Fiorot (FRA) v Gabriela Campo (ARG)
(Round 1 RSC)
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
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pakistan Test squad
Azhar Ali (capt), Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Yasir Shah, Usman Shinwari
What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
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THE BIO
Age: 30
Favourite book: The Power of Habit
Favourite quote: "The world is full of good people, if you cannot find one, be one"
Favourite exercise: The snatch
Favourite colour: Blue
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES
September 30
South Africa v Australia
Argentina v New Zealand
October 7
South Africa v New Zealand
Argentina v Australia
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Top investing tips for UAE residents in 2021
Build an emergency fund: Make sure you have enough cash to cover six months of expenses as a buffer against unexpected problems before you begin investing, advises Steve Cronin, the founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com.
Think long-term: When you invest, you need to have a long-term mindset, so don’t worry about momentary ups and downs in the stock market.
Invest worldwide: Diversify your investments globally, ideally by way of a global stock index fund.
Is your money tied up: Avoid anything where you cannot get your money back in full within a month at any time without any penalty.
Skip past the promises: “If an investment product is offering more than 10 per cent return per year, it is either extremely risky or a scam,” Mr Cronin says.
Choose plans with low fees: Make sure that any funds you buy do not charge more than 1 per cent in fees, Mr Cronin says. “If you invest by yourself, you can easily stay below this figure.” Managed funds and commissionable investments often come with higher fees.
Be sceptical about recommendations: If someone suggests an investment to you, ask if they stand to gain, advises Mr Cronin. “If they are receiving commission, they are unlikely to recommend an investment that’s best for you.”
Get financially independent: Mr Cronin advises UAE residents to pursue financial independence. Start with a Google search and improve your knowledge via expat investing websites or Facebook groups such as SimplyFI.
