20091226 – Amman to Petra

(Some of this text is from the OAT handbook).

Today was a travel day plus some interesting visits. We left Amman at 8:30 bound for the King’s Highway. This ancient route was the road for traders, armies and pilgrims throughout history.

Our first visit was to the mosaic city of Madaba. Here we saw the mosaic map on the floor of Saint George’s Greek Orthodox Church, the oldest map of the holy land. This 6th-century map shows the entire region from Jordan and Palestine in the north to Egypt in the south. Large portions of the mosaic are missing but it includes a fascinating plan of Jerusalem. To get to the church, we strolled through the town and saw many interesting shops and cafes.

Our next stop was at Mount Nebo. This is where Moses stood on the top of the mountain a saw the Promised Land. He promptly collapsed and died. Mount Nebo is the presumed site of his burial. Pope John Paul visited the site in 2000 and ther is a monument commemorating his visit. The main sanctuary of the church is being restored, so we couldn’t go in. We did get a view of the Promised Land although it was a little hazy.

Our third stop was at a institute of mosaic art. We watched artists create mosaics. Then we browsed their showroom to see if we wanted to buy any mosaics or other crafts that they had for sale.

Our next stop was for lunch. We had the typical buffet with other tourists. After lunch, we stopped at a liquor store to buy wine and beer. I was very surprised that there was a place to buy booze in a Muslim country. Maybe the king imbibes.

Speaking of the king, we have seen him on photos and billboards throughout the country. He is greatly respected. What is unusual about the billboards is that he is in different dress on many of them. The usual dress is native, but today we saw him in a basketball uniform.

We got into the bus and began our 3-hour drive to Petra. We made a tourist stop at a truck oasis. We made another stop at a castle built by the Crusaders where Ann picked up a bunch of rocks for Ellen. Another stop was close to our hotel at a spring where Moses smote a rock a water sprang forth. Local were filling water jugs there.

We finally reached our hotel around 5:00. We cleaned up, took a short walk and met everyone for dinner at 6:30. It’s now 8:30 and we are just thinking about bed.