Named after a famous 15th century Spanish navigator and explorer, the island has been a French possession since 1897 It has been exploited for its guano and phosphate Presently a small military garrison oversees a meteorological station
Tropical
Low and flat
The national language of Jordan is Arabic Most Jordanians speak English, especially in urban area such as Amman French and German are the second and third most popular languages after English You might encounter some Cauacasian and Armenian languages because of the vast number of Caucasian immigrants that arrived during the early 1900s
There is no economic activity on Juan de Nova Island
Jordanian cuisine is quite similar to fare served elsewhere in the region The daily staple being khobez, a large, flat bread sold in bakeries across the country for a few hundred fils Delicious when freshly baked
For breakfast, the traditional breakfast is usually fried eggs, labaneh, cheese, zaatar and olive oil along with bread and a cup of tea Falafel and hummus are eaten on the weekends by some and more often by others There's no convention for when you should or should not eat any type of food It's up to you This is the most popular breakfast Manousheh and pastries come in as the second most popular breakfast item All of the hotels offer American breakfast
The national dish of Jordan is the mansaf, prepared with jameed, a sun-dried yogurt Grumpygourmetcom describes the mansaf as "an enormous platter layered with crêpe-like traditional "shraak" bread, mounds of glistening rice and chunks of lamb that have been cooked in a unique sauce made from reconstituted jameed and spices, sprinkled with golden pine nuts" In actuality more people use fried almonds instead of pine nuts because of the cheaper price tag While mansaf is the national dish, most people in urban areas eat it on special occasions and not every day Other popular dishes include Maklouba, stuffed vegetables, freekeh
The most popular place to eat cheap Mansaf is the Jerusalem restaurant in downtown Amman
Levantine-style mezza are served in "Lebanese-style" -which is typical to Jordaian style- restaurants around the country, and you can easily find international fast food chains including McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Burger King In addition to chains well-known in Europe and North America, there are some local businesses such as:
As for foreign style restaurants, there is no shortage of them The best ones are usually found in 5 star hotels, but the price tag is high Italian restaurants and pizza places are somewhat abundant in Amman, Madaba, and Aqaba, but are very hard to find in other cities
More and more cafes now serve food There is an abundance of Middle Eastern-style cafes serving Argeelleh in addition to the full complement of Western and Middle Eastern coffee drinks There is also a good number of Western-style cafes which usually serve Western-style desserts, salads and sandwiches
The minimum age for drinking alcohol is 18 years For such a small place there are a lot of bars and quite a few different clubs Despite duty on alcohol being lower than the UK most popular bars set their prices close to what you'd expect in London Normal pub closing time is 11PM and most clubs have to be closed by 2AM there is no "drinking-up-time" There are a few bars with alfresco areas including one with a view over the bay toward Elizabeth castle Most of the working-men's pubs became trendy wine bars in the early nineties so there's not much chance of finding a pool table in town There are two bars which sell Absinthe
There is quite a good music scene, in part due to licensing regulations which allow some bars to stay open till 1AM if they have live entertainment The bars with a late licence never have a cover charge but all the clubs do
The main town of St Helier is compact enough that you can wander from pub to pub and club to club quite easily
There are no public accommodations on Juan de Nova Island
Work opportunities for the casual foreign visitor are somewhat limited in Jordan The majority of foreigners working in Jordan are on contract work with foreign multinationals and development organisations Amman is the 'gateway to Iraq' and a key base for the continuing efforts to rebuild its neighbour
There is the possibility of picking up casual English teaching work if you hunt around hard for opportunities
Fluent Arabic speakers might have more success, though the process of obtaining a work permit is not particularly straightforward Engage a knowledgeable local to assist you
