Jordan March 27

I have to admit flying isn't the thrill it used to be. Just checking in is a pain. The new automatic kiosk are designed by sadists. You have to put in your passport. The picture clearly shows photo up. After trying 4 machines I finally saw someone get in. I asked, and he showed me that it's photo down. I could almost hear the laughter of the gremlins in the machine.

The flight to Vienna was uneventful. One interesting point. The seat next to me was occupied by a dog...a real dog. There were actually two dogs on this flight. Another first for me.

There were several small children on the flight to Amman, from Vienna.

I preferred the dogs.

Once I arrived in Jordan everything went smoothly. I was at my hotel by 3 in the afternoon.

I spent the rest of the day wandering around Madaba, my first stop. It goes back to Biblical times, and was ruled by the Greeks, the Nabateans, the Romans, and finally Muslims.

It lay abandoned after 900 AD, until a small group of Christians, Greek Orthodox, and Catholic resettled it many hundreds of years later. The interesting fact is that the old, central part is almost 100% Christian, while the suburbs are all Muslim. They outnumber the Christians almost 10 to 1.

During an 900 year span, from 100 BC to 800 AD,  Madaba was the centre for making mosaics, and the main tourist attraction right now are the mosaics. The best known is a map of the entire area, covering Jordan, Israel, and parts of Egypt. The geographic accuracy is amazing. It shows all the gates of Jerusalem, as they are still today. It identifies 150 cities and towns, also the River Jordan and the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean

It was originally 16 by 6 meters, and consisted of over 2 million pieces. What is left still lies in the floor of St. George's church, where it was created in the 6th century.

I did a some walking, and it was interesting. The streets are dirty, lots of garbage, full of small shops. The largest supermarket I saw was about the size of a small 7-11 store.

The varieties of female fashion is great. The majority wear the full length dress, but I only saw a couple of cases where the face was fully hidden. Don't get me wrong, some of the long dresses are beautiful, and quite sexy. It's fun seeing a bunch of female students, some in jeans, some wearing the traditional dress.

Jordan March 28

There were two things I did not have expect, cold and rain. In less than 24 hours I have experienced both. Last night was only 8. My room has a radiator which didn't have any controls, so I went to bed cold. Fortunately I had brought a long sleeved Merino wool undershirt, and a pair of long underwear. I wore both to bed last night. This morning I discovered that the radiator was from days of yore, and I had an AC unit that had a remote control.

It also rained this morning, on and off, but heavy at times. That's what happens when you don't bring any rain gear.

I did not let the rain deter me, and I saw all the tourist sights in Madaba. As I mentioned there is a lot of history here, and a lot is documented by mosaics. I have seen a LOT of mosaics today, and I have visited a lot of churches.

The two best locations were an Archeological Park, which has a collection of mosaics from the area, nicely displayed. The other is a site which has the Church of the Virgin Mary, and the Hippolytus Hall, which was a private villa, with a beautiful mosaic floor. Both of the last two are in their original location, uncovered after more than a thousand years.

The main cathedral in Madaba is dedicated to the beheading of John the Baptist, another story you don't want to tell your kids at bed time. The church is situated at the highest point in the town. There are also 100 steps to get to the top of the bell tower. Lovely view.

I am quite fascinated by the way women are dressed here. The standard dress is at ankle length. Even though the dresses are loose, some are very stylish. Very few are just plain. Most women wear a scarf, and that can also be quite a fashion accessory. Make-up is also very noticeable on some of the women. There are a lot of stylish women.

A small minority wear the niqab, where the only thing visible are the eyes. I saw one woman, completely in black, only the eyes were visible. I noticed that when she lifted her dress, not to step in a puddle, she had a pair of very colourful leotards underneath.

It is funny to see such a woman driving a car. You don't know whether she is going to a mosque, or whether she is off to rob a bank.

My hotel is quite nice. The bed is great, it has a memory foam mattress. Heavenly. Breakfast is included, and it is a feast. Eggs, pancakes, fresh orange juice, even beans ( no, thank you). No bacon though. Those Muslims don't know what they are missing.

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.

Jordan March 30

Travel day today. I had a car and driver from Madaba to Petra. At one point, before I left I thought about renting a car; thankfully I didn't. The road signs are 99.9% Arabic only. It would have been Moses in the desert for 40 years, all over again .

There are two highways going from Madaba south, the King's Highway, and the Desert Highway. The first one is the old one that goes along the Dead Sea, and passes through all the towns and villages. The Desert Highway is new, and more direct, but less interesting. 

We took the one first, and it was much more scenic. We passes through Wadi Mujib, a spectacular canyon. (Wadi means valley or canyon). Wadi Mujib is 500 m deep, and 2,5 km across. It reminded me a lot of the American southwest. It took us over half an hour to go and back up, nothing but switchbacks, and great scenery. Very rugged country. In all the valleys there are springs or creeks and there are farms, and it is green.

We passed through a lot of villages and towns. 

Some observations. Garbage cleanup is a lost art in Jordan. You can tell when you get near a village, the garbage along the road increases linearly as you get closer. I saw a group of trees with large birds on them. It turned out to be black plastic bags blown there by the wind.

Sheep and goat herding is everywhere, from the outskirts of cities to the most remote mountain side, and right along the road. And they all had young kids herding them. This is not a dying profession, although my high school guidance teacher never mentioned it to me.

Back to the tourist bit.

One of the sites I wanted to see was the Crusader Castle at Karak. This was the largest of the Crusader castles in Jordan. It is on a peak, sharp drops on three sides, and overlooks the Dead Sea in the distance. It is large and was manned by 1000 soldiers, and sheltered 200 horses. It took Saladin several years before he finally starved out the defenders. After Saladin, the Ottoman and Muslims used the castle for several hundred years. 

I liked the well-equipped kitchen.

We also saw another, smaller castle, Shobak, on the way to Petra. This was also known as Montreal Castle.

I am very pleasantly surprised at my hotel in Petra. It's close to the entrance to Petra, and has all the anemities, even a fridge, and a safe.