Trips

Wed., 2/23/22 - Amman to Petra, Jordan

After another nice breakfast, our group departed from the hotel for sight-seeing along the King's Highway north of Amman. The King’s Highway was originally built and paved by Roman soldiers. They worked 14-hour days and took 8 years to place the stones for the 190 miles of the original road from Syria to the Gulf of Aqaba.

Eventually, we arrived at Mount Nebo. The views from the summit included looking down on Moses’ Spring and looking out toward the Dead Sea, the Jordan River, Jericho, and Jerusalem - still very hazy so you have to take this on faith. Mt. Nebo is supposedly where Moses looked out at “the Promise Land.” He died near Mt. Nebo but his grave has never been found. The bases of four churches were uncovered on Mt. Nebo in 1976. The remains of a Byzantine church contain magnificent mosaics in the Diakonikon-Baptistry area. Franciscans now own the mountain and maintain the site.

	Moses' Spring - one of the two places Moses is believed to have obtained water by striking a rock.
Places you can see on a clear day from the top of Mount Nebo	From the top of Mount Nebo - not such a clear day
	Mosiacs of the Diabonikon
Mosaic details	Mosaic details
Mosaic details	Mosaic details
Mosaic details	The day's second stop was at a mosaic factory operated by the Queen Noor Foundation as a Community Development Institute. At the Institute women and handicapped people are taught and employed to make beautiful, intricate mosaics to hang or as tables, etc. The store was an art gallery of wonderful work. A design is drawn on cloth; mosaic pieces are put in place using just flour and water paste; the pieces stick to the cloth so it can be turned upside down; a frame is built around the tiles; water dissolves the paste so the cloth can be removed; cement is poured over the exposed tile pieces; it sets up in two days; when flipped right side up it is a smooth mosaic piece. We admired the mosaics, painted ostrich eggs, and intricate carpets as well as souvenirs made in China.
At the Mosaic Factory operated by the Queen Noor Foundation	At the Mosaic Factory operated by the Queen Noor Foundation
At the Mosaic Factory operated by the Queen Noor Foundation	At the Mosaic Factory operated by the Queen Noor Foundation
At the Mosaic Factory operated by the Queen Noor Foundation	Leaving the Community Development Institute, our bus drove on to the city of Madaba, a city of 100 churches. There, we first entered St. George's Orthodox Church which contains an ancient map of the Holy Land done in mosaics on the sanctuary floor. The mosaic has 3 million tiles and took 2 years to complete. It shows the River Jordan, the Dead Sea down to Egypt, and the Nile River. Intricate and impressive.
Street sign	Stop in Arabic
St. George's Greek Orthodox Church	St. George's Greek Orthodox Church
St. George's Greek Orthodox Church	St. George's Greek Orthodox Church
Mosaics in St. George's Greek Orthodox Church	Mosaics in St. George's Greek Orthodox Church
St. George slaying the dragon	Lunch in Madaba - starters and chicken and French fries with a local dessert
Decorated truck	After lunch, we continued on to Petra leaving the King’s Highway and driving on the Desert Highway (Rte. 15), a six lane highway from Amman to the Gulf of Aqaba and Saudi Arabia. There were many large trucks on the road. The land changes from rock strewn soil to desert, hard packed sand, and few living plants or animals. This is an area of open mines for phosphates. We saw some tents of the local Bedouin tribes. A short detour took us to a viewpoint to look at the ruins of a 12th century Crusader fort, Mont Real, also known as Shobak Castle. The castle was located along key trading routes and was able to control the main road from Egypt to Syria. Khaled said that in the time of the Crusaders, all the land around the fort was dense forest. It is hard to imagine now.
Grain elevators	Wind farm
Mont Real, also known as Shobak Castle	Fine electrical work
Cisterns on a house/apartment roof Water is a real problem. Sometimes it is weeks and more between times when water is available. When water is provided, it is stored in these cisterns kept on the roofs of buildings.	Cistern on top of a hotel

 

On arrival at Petra, the first order of business was another PCR COVID test - necessary to enter Egypt in two days time. The test cost us each $30 US because we are still unable to get Jordanian money out of an ATM machine.

Dinner was at the hotel. More starters, a meat dish (lamb), some puff things, and dessert. This was the first lamb we have been served.

The group went to “Walk Petra at Night.” Candlelight (luminaries) light the path to the Treasury. We opted for rest and laundry in the hotel.

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