Climb into Amman's artsy heart

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.