Jordan March 29

No rain today; and that's a good thing.

It was an up and down day, literally. 

I hired a car and driver to visit some of the famous spots in the area. Most of the biblical sites are in the middle of nowhere, and public transport is not an option, therefore the car and driver. 

We started out by driving up to Mount Nebo. This is the highest point in the area, at over 800 m, and it is the spot from where Moses, after wandering in the desert for 40 years, was able to see the promised land, and where he died. Bummer! It is high above the Jordan River, and you can see Jericho, in Israel. On a clear day, which today was not, Jerusalem can also be seen.

The biblical sites associated with Jesus, weren't noticed, until the 4th century. Before then this was part of the Roman Empire, and the state religion was pagan. After Constantine became emperor and made Christianity the state religion, there was a sudden interest in the sites associated with Jesus, and early Christians started to built churches at these sites. Earthquakes and the Muslim invasion put an end to Christian sites, so many were not rediscovered until the last two centuries.

In 1933 archeologists excavated at Mount Nebo, and discovered churches from the 5th century.

The view from Mount Nebo is striking; very desolate and aesthetic. The temperature in the morning was cool.

From Mount Nebo, we drove to Bethany, on the banks of the River Jordan, which is almost 400 m below sea level. This is the location where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Once again Christians started to make pilgrimages to this spot, in the 5th Century and various Christian churches have places of workshop there. Right now there are almost 10 small churches there, Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Coptic, Protestant, Armenian, to name a few. The baptism site is at a spring flowing into the Jordan River, a few meters away. We walked to the river, which is a mere creek. On the opposite side is Israel, and there were groups of tourists there, but they didn't get to the actual baptism site.

Because of the low elevation the temperature here was much warmer, mid 20's, humid, and the vegetation was lush.

From Bethany we drove a few km south to the Dead Sea. Floating in the Dead Sea was one of my ambitions, and it was an interesting experience . Sea water is about 4 % salt, the Dead Sea is 39% salt. You can't swim, all you can do is float. Another thing, the taste is terrible. 

I was surprised at the size of the lake, it's 50 km long, and 15 km wide, and, at 418 m below sea level, the lowest point on earth. There are a lot of spas on the lake, because the mud from the lake is said to be therapeutic. I did not participate.

After the Dead Sea adventure we drove back up to the Dead Sea Lookout. Quite spectacular. The scenery is very stark, no towns, just desert, not the sand type, just brown earth, rocks and stones. Very little vegetation. I was amazed at the number of goat and sheep herds that we saw during the day. The tribesmen are still nomadic, and live in large rectangular tents. This area gets very hot in the summer, so they move north or into the mountains. I'm amazed that there is enough grazing for the animals.

We returned to Madaba by 4; a long and interesting day.