Some things I especially like about Amman (and Tel Aviv)

Food, more food, cats, and a tank museum

(Last week I wrote about my favorite thing in Amman, the Pigeon Keepers. Here are a few more things I like about Amman)

Amman and Tel Aviv are only a hundred miles apart. If you fly between the two¹, you quickly spot your destination as you rise above the airport, just on the other side of the Dead Sea.

Both are new cities that have expanded in last 100 years to accommodate populations driven by external events. Amman more so, having digested multiple surges of Palestinians and Iraqis, mainly from Tel Aviv.

They also have similar cultures despite their headline differences in religion² and wealth, fused by proximity and an intertwined history.

All of which is an overly erudite and wordy way to say they are more alike than people realize and happen to share things that I like, which is mostly really good food and lots of wandering, but cared for, cats.

Below is a list of those things, as well as a bunch of random thoughts from three weeks in Amman and Tel Aviv.

While most of the details are about Amman, given what I wrote above, the broader themes also apply to Tel Aviv. Except it being inexpensive. Tel Aviv is not inexpensive. At all.