I had the best of intentions to blog while we waited at the airport on Monday night. But, even though we were there by 7:00pm for a 12:30am flight, there was no time! By the time we collected our stored luggage, found our way to the terminal, re-shuffled day packs into carry-ons, changed out of our sweaty Jerusalem gear (Yes! I got to visit there after all...but that's for another post) and had some supper, it was time for security. You would think that three hours would be enough time to get through with little trouble and have lots of time to blog on the other side, right? Nope. We made it through with only 20 minutes to spare before boarding. So, here I am, safely back in Fisherville. After much laundry, picture sorting and a bit of relaxing, I finally have time to tell you about Jordan.
I already told you about the crazy border experience. Now for the touring! Our first stop was Jerash. This is one of the cities of the Decapolis. Of all the cities, this is the best preserved because it is located in a valley, not on a mountain top. Thus, rains washed down lots of soil from the surrounding hills and covered the ruins completely. Thus, gates, columns, and theatres were not pillaged for building materials by later societies and the ancient city could be well reconstructed. Like Hippos-Sussita, this city was also destroyed by the 749AD earthquake.
My favourite part about Jerash was the moving columns. At the temple of Artemis (I think...things are beginning to run together) there are columns that are designed to move with the wind to prevent them from falling down. They are absolutely huge. Our guide had a spoon wedged between a seam in the column near its base and pushed the column. The spoon moved! A lot! It was amazing. Others in our group took turns pushing the columns.
Before we'd had time to really absorb Jerash, we were off to Mount Nebo. This is the traditional location from where Moses viewed the Promised Land before he died. Unfortunately, the church at that location is closed for the next year as they lift one mosaic floor and display it on the walls in order to uncover and show the earlier floor underneath it. The best part about this location was being able to see the Dead Sea. I knew I wasn't going to get to visit it, but to see it from afar was the next best thing. We also made a very quick stop at Madaba. There is a church there that had a floor mosaic that is a map of the holy land. It is really interesting and quite detailed. It is too bad that much of it is missing.
After these tours it was time for the long drive to Petra. We stayed overnight there and then spent the next day walking around. In total, our guide estimated that we walked over 17km! My poor feet. But the city of Petra is amazing. Even before you get to the city, the canyon that you have to walk through has some spectacular rock formations and the colours of the sandstone are beautiful. All of the buildings which were carved into the rock were spectacular. The most impressive of them were the Treasury and the Monastery. Another one that I liked was a tomb (can't remember more about it than that...) that was later converted into a church. The acoustics were great. We had one of our group members sing for us to test them out. She was pretty much singing in harmony with herself, the reverb was so long. We also saw a Byzantine era church which has been discovered with beautiful mosaics. The most strenuous part of the trip was the 850-step climb up to the Monastery. What a hike. Again, I observed no guard rails or barriers between people and cliff edges. I saw one little Bedouin boy about 5 years old or less creep so close to one edge that one more step, or one false move and he would have ended up at the bottom of a cavern that seemed endlessly deep. Although the Monastery itself was amazing, for me the climb was worth it because of the view from the lookout points above the Monastery. This, of course meant more climbing, but it was well worth it. The view of the mountains was unlike anything I have ever seen. Even the pictures I took cannot adequately describe what I saw there. One of the things we were able to see is the traditional site of Aaron's tomb waaaay across on the very top of another mountain.
Of course, we had to then descend to the Monastery, then descend the 850 steps to the city of Petra, then wind our way back to the Treasury, then hike back out through the canyon to get to the hotel. All along the way there are people offering you rides of all kinds from donkeys to horses, camels and carts. Their sales pitch goes something like this: "You need taxi? Ride to (the top of the mountain, the Treasury, the parking lot - anywhere!) Only 20 Dinars!" 20 Dinars is about $30. I'm certain to ride all the way would have cost at least a hundred dollars as the donkeys take you to the bottom of the mountain, the camels take you to the treasury, the carts take you to the horse drop-off and the horses take you to the park entrance. Being cheap, I walked the whole way.
Like any tourist place, Petra had its cheesy side. Just before you enter the park gates there are several gift shops and places to buy food. My personal favourite is the Indiana Jones store and the Indiana Jones snack bar. Too funny!
The next morning, after breakfast, we were on our way "home" to the Kibbutz with only one touring stop: the city of Aman. I'd have to say Aman was the nicest city that we drove through in Jordan. Many of the others seemed run down and dirty. I'm still trying to figure out if that is because they actually were run down and dirty, or because I'm just not used to that kind of terrain, building material and plant life. Many parts of Jordan were absolutely barren of all greenery. Nothing but sand and rock as far as you can see. Anyway, back to Aman. Much of our tour was driving through, but we did stop to look at a few things. Our first stop was a walking tour of one area. I'd call it more of a running tour, actually. Running because Sami (tour guide) was moving fast and there were people everywhere. If you didn't run to keep up, you would lose him in a sea of people. The other reason you had to run was because Sami had a tendency to stop in seemingly random places, hold out his hand for a slit second and then plunge across five lanes of traffic. If you weren't right behind him, the traffic started moving again and you were stuck on the other side. We only got split up this way once. After that, you kept up with the group at all costs! We must have crossed major streets about five or six times. Only once did we use a crosswalk.
We stopped at an ancient theatre in Aman, which was very impressive and also at an archaeological museum where there were a few of the Dead Sea Scrolls. That was exciting. Sadly, about half of their scroll collection was on loan to some other museum and they didn't seem to have any biblical scrolls there. But, it was still great to see.
Lunch in Aman was one of the highlights. We called ahead for "Barbeque." Their version of BBQ was six people at a table. In the centre were several kinds of salads and "dips" for pita bread. The waiters put bowls of food on the table, but you aren't allowed to serve yourself. They served for you and kept your plate full. They also brought around things that are best described as "appetizers." Once we were finished with this course, they brought out the BBQ. The platter was loaded high with lamb, chicken, French fries, onions, tomatoes and peppers. Again, no serving yourself. The waiters dished up a heaping plate for each of us. Then, for dessert, we had a plate of crispy delicious watermelon (and keep in mind that I generally don't like watermelon!) and tasty cantaloupe (which I also don't generally like.) All this was served in a restaurant that was tent-like with a couple of fountains, a stream and a bridge. Absolutely beautiful.
After returning to the Kibbutz, we had to pack and get ready to leave for home. Our bus was coming at 6am so that we could also squeeze in a side to trip to Jerusalem! We were so pleased to be able to see it after all, even if it was only for several hours. I'll tell you all about it either tomorrow or the next day.
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