May 4 -6 Jordan an ancient and storied land

May 4 Ancient history and Roman Occupation

We arrived in Amman Jordan early afternoon.  We were immediately thrust into the history of this “new” country though ancient land.  Jordan was formed by the allies after world war I, but its’ history reaches back to the dawn of western civilization.

Our first stop was at the Citadel, a hill top in the middle of this bustling city where there are several buildings dating from pre roman times as well as a museum exhibiting artifacts that date from more than 3,000 years ago.  Here we see the Roman temple of Hercules, built on top of Greek foundations.  Also, there are the remains of a mosque, a palace and administrative buildings built much later in the, 8^th century during the Umayyad Period. 

Next, just down the hill from the Citadel is a roman amphitheater. 

We end our day touring with a late lunch of wonderful middle eastern favorites, hummus, tabouli, babaqanus and many other dishes.  Way too much food for just the two of us. 

May 5^th From the Bible to the Desert landscape of the Bedouin

Our day started with a visit to Mt. Nebo, the reported place of Moses’s burial.  Here it is reported in the Bible that Moses was able to see the “land of milk and honey” before he died.  From here you can see the Dead Sea and Jericho. 

A church was built here in the 4^th century parts of which are still extent within the walls of a new church, an exceptional and exquisite example of integrating the modern with the antiquities.  The church floor includes a mosaic from the 4^th century that tells the history of the Christian religion in the early roman empire.  Each row shows a different era, from persecution at the top, to full acceptance in the last row.

The Church is maintained by the Franciscans, who also created a school to teach the mosaic craft to keep this ancient art alive and provide employment for the local tribes.  We visited a place where many are employed in creating many hand-crafted mosaics as well as pottery and other items.  We did contribute to the local economy!

Our next stop was the Church of St. George, a Greek Orthodox church.  Here is a mosaic from the 3^rd century that shows a map of the holy land.

Lunch was next on the agenda, and again great food, but way too much.

We then drove south to the desert area known as Wadi Rum, also known as the Valley of the Moon.  This is where T.E. Lawrence met with and convinced the Bedouin to join a revolt against the Ottomans, helping the allies in WWI.  This is also the place where The Martian was filmed and the next Star Wars film.

We drove through the desert driven in a 4×4 by our Bedouin driver Atalah,  The landscape was awe inspiring and at the same time other world-like. It was easy to see how one could take this as the landscape of another planet. 

We stopped just before sunset and Atalah, lit a fire and made tea.  He also had some Bedouin cake that he offered us.  Cathy also got a lesson in Bedouin cosmetics in the form of a rock that when rubbed created a red powder used for blush.

May 6 The ancient city of Petra

Our hotel was just a brief walk to the entrance to the archaeological park that is the Nabataean city of Petra.  Believed to have been settled as early as 9,000 BC it was a major trading center in the 1^st century.  The city of rock-cut architecture is accessed through a long gorge.  Along the sides there are conduits and dams constructed to bring water to the 20,000 inhabitants.  In 1985 the government took over the site after a UNESCO designation and moved the Bedouin community that had settled there to another village just up a hill from the city center.  However, the Bedouin are still evident in many souvenir stalls and restaurants, as well as offering donkey and camel rides through the park.

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Carving of a caravan, you can see the feet of the leader and the camel

After our guide Jehad, led us through the main part of the park to a place for lunch we were left on our own to wonder.  From here we decided to head up to what is called the Monetary.  This was a climb up 900 steps.  Jehad warned us that not many do this because it is an arduous trek.  But that did not deter us, despite the 90-degree heat.  It took about an hour, but we persevered to get to the top and we were glad we did.

This day we walked about 9 miles through this ancient land and saw some amazing antiquities.  We really could have had another day to complete the journey, but alas, it was time to move on to Europe.