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The ancient town of Salt was once the capital of Jordan
or Balqa region. A 20-minutes drive northwest from
 Amman
(about 30 km) transports you back in time to a town of
picturesque streets and alluring houses from the late
Ottoman period, with their characteristic long-arched
windows.
Salt is the idyllic place for appreciating the
architecture, stopping off at the small archaeological
museum, and finishing up at Salt Zaman, a lovely
restored old building in the heart of the town,
charmingly furnished with antiques and handicrafts. Salt
also houses a Handicrafts School where you can admire
traditional skills of ceramics, weaving, silk screen
printing, and dyeing.
Furthermore, Salt was under the Ottoman rule and it came
into its own in the late nineteenth century when
merchants from Nablus arrived to expand their trading
base into Transjordan. The merchants brought
sophisticated architects and masons to work with the
honey-colored local limestone. Buildings were put up in
the ornamented Nabulsi style to serve as grand
residences and merchandize centers. Salt is famous for
weaving, ceramics, silk-screen printing and dyeing. Salt
is easy to walk around and there are plenty of banks in
the central area.
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