March 24 took us to the amazing land of
Jordan!
Jordan is in a very unsettled part of the world...
Syria to the North,
Iraq to the East,
Saudi Arabia to the Southeast,
Egypt to the Southwest,
and Israel to the west.
Seems strange to even travel there...
but it was awesome!
First of all, let me get this out of the way.
The flower arrangements in the 2 hotels were AMAZING!
All live flowers....
Look closely at this arrangements. It is sticks.
The flowers are real cuttings put in clear tubes of water
or put into little balls with a bit of water.
First of all, let me get this out of the way.
The flower arrangements in the 2 hotels were AMAZING!
All live flowers....
Look closely at this arrangements. It is sticks.
The flowers are real cuttings put in clear tubes of water
or put into little balls with a bit of water.
Amman from the hotel window...
North of Amman are the ruins of
Jerash
People lived here as early as 3200 BC,
but most ruins are Greco-Roman.
Jerash was part of the Decapolis ("10 cities" in Greek),
back when Amman was called Philadelphia.
The Oval Plaza was quite impressive...
From up above....
Interesting water system...
Loved the flowers growing in the ruins....
The North Theatre...
The South Theatre...
complete with entertainment...
sounds like, "Are you sleeping, are you sleeping, brother John?"
Pillars from the Great Temple of Zeus...
This was an amazing place.
Then onto
Madaba...
where you find beautiful old mosaics.
I think I need to learn to do this when I get back to the U.S...
buying a mosaic in Jordan was ridiculously expensive.
And a very early map on the floor of a church...
Then onto
Mount Nebo
Most Christians believe Moses is buried somewhere on Mount Nebo.
I'm thinking he was translated...
This was erected in 2000, when the Pope visited.
If you look closely, you can see books at the bottom
and faces emerging all over the rest.
It represents the Bible coming to life.
Very nice.
Being here in "Jordan, the other Holy Land,"
I have to agree.
This is where they say Moses stood on Mount Nebo and saw
the Promised Land.
This represents Moses' staff with the serpent on top.
Look a little familiar? (Think medical symbol.)
And my buff husband, pushing the Abu Dadd,
which is a stone that was used as a fortified door of a
Byzantium Monastery.
Coming down the other side of Mount Nebo was a very winding road,
which eventually led us to...
The Dead Sea
Tough to have to enjoy the sunset on the Dead Sea
at The Marriot Resort.
Tough, but hey, someone has to do it!
The Dead Sea is the earth's lowest elevation on land.
Once you walk to the beach, the elevation is 427 meters below sea level.
The beach is a fun, interesting place.
They provide plastic water shoes so your feet survive,
you take mud out of pots provided and rub it all over your body,
let it dry for 15 or so minutes,
then go carefully into the water...
float, and wash it off.
Very therapeutic, and much cheaper than at the spa.
In fact, 3 days of doing this and my poor arthritic feet were feeling much better!
The Dead Sea is much saltier than the Great Salt Lake, and much more pleasant
to be in...no brine shrimp, no smell...
plus you float even easier.
In fact, I always had a hard time getting my feet to go back down.
I had to get myself back near the shore and grab onto rocks to be able to stand up.
No selfies covered in mud or floating because poor Rick was working the whole time,
and my hands were either muddy or wet...
Really, who can resist a sunset?
The rock stairs...
and beautiful arbors made me a bit homesick for Utah and my backyard.
Then back to Amman so the next day we could head to....
Moses's Spring!
What? You've never heard of it?
Apparently it is where Moses brought forth water from a rock.
Who knows?
And I bought this...Guava fruit drink.
Hahahahaha!
It was like drinking applesauce.
Yummy, but unexpected.
But the real trip for this day was...
Petra!
Cool!
Cool!
Cooler...
Even cooler...
Even cooler....
Coolest!
Hello Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!
Or maybe this is the coolest!
The crack in the rock we had just walked through for 1/2 mile.
Camels everywhere...anyone for a stinky ride?
Though not nearly as stinky as the donkeys or pony carriages.
In fact, carriage probably took the prize for smell...
most people had their noses covered if they were in them.
Oh, there's Indy!
Street of facades...
The Theater....
The Temple looking back down towards the road...
we ate our lunch in the temple.
(Bit different from when I usually eat lunch in the temple.)
On our way to the Monastery.
Someone said there are about 1,000 steps.
Some people rode donkeys.
We young, tough people walked.
Every step.
The Monastery!
(With my very own Indiana Jones, of course.)
High altar in the Monastery.
Coming back down from the Monastery.
There are tons of little shops along the way, so I may
own a new scarf or two...
(which are hanging in my bathroom airing out...they smell like smoke from the little fires they use to cook their lunch on)
...wonder if I can find Febreze here....
Back down.
Almost run over by camels....yes, they are running...
and stinky horse carts...
and donkeys, but didn't get a picture of them coming at us.
Petra is an absolutely fascinating and amazing place.
Well worth going to!!!
Reflections on Jordan
Jordan is an absolutely amazing place.
The thing that really hit me was how many similarities it has to Utah...
desert
salt sea/lake
red rock of Petra/Bryce Canyon
many places named the same (good job, Mormon pioneers!)
great religious heritage
So, here is the quiz:
Jordan or road to Wendover?
(Jordan, coming down from Mount Nebo)
Jordan or Central Utah?
(Jordan...notice the camels on the hill)
(Jordan again)
(and Jordan again)
Rick's co-worker kept pulling out his phone and showing videos of his family
4-wheeling at Jericho, on the Little Sahara, in Utah...
people couldn't believe it wasn't in Jordan.
Many people think of Israel as the Holy Land.
Jordan is the other Holy Land.
Many Old and New Testament things took place here.
Think Abraham, Lot, Moses, Ruth, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ.
Think Job, Paul, Joshua.
This link was interesting. Please don't think I consider this to be factual...
I just found it interesting as I tried to place in my mind what things happened here
in days long ago.
Will I study it all in depth?
No.
It doesn't matter to me.
What does matter, is that I've now been to Jordan.
I have seen, experienced and felt things I hadn't before,
and will have a better idea of the layout of the land when I read things in the Bible.
No comments:
Post a Comment