AMMAN — Loyal to its annual tradition, The Boulevard in Abdali has recently kicked off its Christmas celebrations with the lighting of its Christmas tree, igniting the holiday spirit with bright, colourful lights and decorations.

 JERASH — Italian Ambassador to Jordan Fabio Cassese on Sunday visited Jerash to check on the construction of a new training centre for the restoration and maintenance of antiquities.

 The ruined city of Jerash is Jordan s largest and most interesting Roman site, and a major tourist drawcard. Its imposing ceremonial gates, colonnaded avenues, temples and theatres all speak to the time when this was an important imperial centre. Even the most casual fan of archaeology will enjoy a half-day at the site – but take a hat and sunscreen in the warmer months, as the exposed ruins can be very hot to explore.

 PETRA — Canadian tourist Roxanna Ferguson has recently had what she called a “spiritual trip”, when she walked among the warm candle lit walls of Petra and towards its venerable Treasury at night. 

 AMMAN — Around 160,000 people visited the 19th National Olive Festival and bought agricultural products worth JD1.64 million, organisers said on Sunday.

 AMMAN — In order to solve an outdated approach to cultural research management (CRM), a local NGO recently decided to build and manage a vocational training programme that would directly involve local communities.

 AMMAN — When Natasha Twal-Tynes, a former reporter for The Jordan Times, left the country 13 years ago to live in the United States, she never put aside her “dream” of writing a novel.

 AMMAN — The 19th National Olive Festival received some 40,000 visitors during its first two days, during which olive oil sales reached around JD480,000, organisers said.

 DENVER — A superheated blast from the skies obliterated cities and farming settlements north of the Dead Sea around 3,700 years ago, preliminary findings suggest.

 AMMAN — A draft nomination request to include Um Al Jimal archaeological site on the World Heritage List has been finalised, the mission preserving the Byzantine town said on Sunday. 

 AMMAN — “If you call me John Tyler in Petra, locals will not know me, while, if you say John Nawafleh [a local tribe’s name], everyone will know me,” John Tyler told The Jordan Times in a phone interview on Thursday.

 AMMAN — Some 450 Jordanian and Syrian women have been coming together in Irbid, as part of local self-help groups where they learned how to establish their own businesses, while developing strong social bonds and friendships.

 AMMAN — On the opening night of their series of Christmas concerts, Dozan wa Awtar singers on Thursday night scored a full-house booking at the Terra Sancta College Theatre, with the event wittily entitled “Cinnamon Christmas”.

 AMMAN — The 19th National Olives Festival kicked off on Wednesday allowing farmers to showcase their olives and other rural products.

 AMMAN — When Aqaba-based Ayla Oasis planners perfected the concept of sustainability as an integral component of the mega development project, they foresaw every possible positive outcome of such integration, executives said. Except for one thing that came as a bonus, not only for the luxurious residential and commercial estate, but also for Aqaba and Jordan.

 AMMAN — A fish-shaped glass vessel from the Byzantine period was just one of many significant discoveries found at Khirbet Yajuz, some 11km north of Amman.

 AMMAN — A total of 32 budget flights, each carrying 180 passengers, have arrived from several European countries to Jordan each week since Ryanair and EasyJet began flights on November 1, the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) said on Monday.

 AMMAN — A group of young people passionate about art have followed the lead of a 23-year-old Syrian artist in supporting local communities through creativity.

 AMMAN —  The Italian archaeological mission to Jordan s Medieval Petra recently concluded its 2018 excavation season in Al Jaya village (some 200 kilometres south of Amman), which resulted in the excavation of the urban Jaya Palace.

 JERASH — Having zero additives is the secret behind the “unbeatable” taste of hummus and broad bean dishes, or foul, served at the Smadi Restaurant in the northern Jordanian city of Jerash, the owner said, and customers seconded that.

 AMMAN — A team of Polish archaeologists recently unveiled the largest discovered Neolithic settlement in the mountain valley of Munqataa in southern Jordan, some 170 kilometres from Amman.