Day 4: Travel to Petra via Mt. Nebo and Madaba

It is approximately 143 miles from Amman to Petra and we travelled down the Desert Highway, one of three main north/ south highways in Jordan. As soon as we got out of the city, the landscape changed dramatically and we saw few towns, a lot of desert and evidence of the mining of potash. Some Bedouin tents were spotted here and there as well as herds of sheep and goats. Our first stop was very biblical— Mt. Nebo where Moses, as an old man is supposed to have looked down on the Jordan Valley of Canaan which God had given to the Jews, knowing he was refused admittance. He reportedly may have been buried there too, but others claim many other sites. It is the known spot where he was seen alive. It was somewhat hazy but you could make out the Dead Sea way in the distance. The Franciscans built a church there and run the site. We saw a nicely preserved mosaic floor, one of several in our travels. The whole place was beautiful and very peaceful and contemplative especially as the Franciscan monks enforced a rule of silence in the church. Next up was the town of Madaba. St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church was pretty traditional with lots of icons, statues, lamps, and a very famous Byzantine mosaic floor. It is a map of Palestine with each of the kingdoms labeled. The picture in the courtyard was helpful in identifying each section.” Down the street was lunch, then an informative trip to a Mosaic factory. It was very tourist oriented of course, but was part of a collaborative established by Queen Noor, the widow of King Husain who died around 1990. It insures that local residents, including a mix of special needs people be trained and have jobs in this coop. They make elegant mosaics, most of which are hundreds and thousands of dollars, exquisite rugs, and lesser priced tourist items. We supported the local economy by buying a dish cleverly meant to look like a mosaic. The small mosaic table that Wendy eyed would have cost about $1500 so we declined. Finally, we arrived at our hotel, the Petra Guest House which is literally next door to the entrance of Petra. It has a cool “Cave Bar” where enjoyed a glass of wine/ beer. This was the first alcohol of the trip. O.A.T ( so far) does not include it, and, since Jordan is a Muslim country, alcohol is not often available and is very expensive when it is. Looking forward to an intense and wonderful visit to Petra tomorrow. Previous

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Day 3: Jerash, Ajloun Castle, and a home hosted dinner

Thursday, Day 3. Jerash and Ajloun Castle, home hosted dinner

The day started early with an hour long trip north to Jerash, an ancient 6500 year old city about 27 miles from the Syrian border. Jerash is said to have the best preserved expanse of Roman ruins outside of Rome. About 25% of it has been excavated over the past 70 years. We entered through the impressive Hadrian Arch and started to realize how immense Jerash is. The gigantic hippodrome originally seated 15,000 and was home to chariot racing and other events, Much more recently it offered chariot racing re-enactments, but sadly, COVID shut that down. We wandered through the Zeus temple amphitheater where hoards of school groups had gathered. (Field trips near the end of school, just like the states). It was so lively with students spontaneously dancing to a bass drum and bagpipes. The bagpiper saw us Americans and broke into a rendition of Amazing Grace that somehow morphed into Yankee Doodle and was a real crowd pleaser. We walked miles through many sections of the ruins, through the forum, a large oval plaza, and the long Cardo main road that had huge diagonal original stones. They were placed diagonally so that chariot wheels did not get caught in the ruts. In a few places you can see the outline of wheel ruts right in the limestone. There was also the ruins of a Byzantine era Greek Orthodox church with a largely intact mosaic floor. A very large temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis, protector of the city, was the tallest structure in the city. We had a pleasant lunch at the nearby Green Valley Restaurant. We then headed west to the town of Ajloun, transitioning in time from the ancient Greek and Roman period to the middle ages. Here we visited a medieval fort known as Ajloun Castle. It was built in 1184 by Saladin to defend northern Jordan from the invading European Crusaders. Our guide Mohammed told us that while the crusades were fought for control of the Holy Land, it was not really a religious (Christian versus Muslim) fight, but rather a political (European versus Arab) fight. To support this he points out that a large percentage of Saladin’s army included Christians (Eastern Orthodox and Arab Christians). It is said that from the top of the castle on a clear day one can see the skyline of Jerusalem and into the Golan Heights. Unfortunately, it was hazy out so our view, while very nice, was not did not expand that far. It was an exhausting and jam packed day, but after only an hour to clean up, we were brought to the home of a lovely widow. OAT includes at least one home-hosted dinner on each trip and this one was really quite lovely. Our host was joined by her daughter, a very funny and outspoken young woman who had just two weeks ago, given birth to her second child. One by one, the entire family joined her- her daughters’s husband, a sous chef at a local restaurant, her other son, a renowned executive chef, and finally her mother and aunt who lived nearby. The chicken with basmati rice dish was delicious, and after dessert, some of us got to hold the newborn and play with her 2 year old as well. We enjoyed this tremendously and think it is one of the nicest ways to meet the locals. Previous

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