Petra & Amman Jordan Day 5
Petra & Amman Jordan
Day 5 - Thursday, November 25, 2004 - Travel the King's Highway to Petra & Discover Madaba - Mt. Nebo
This morning's challenge was getting all of the luggage into the back of the mini bus! The young man from the hotel was not as proficient in packing as those of us who were wanting to give helpful suggestions.
He finally got them all in by packing some things behind the back seat. We had a late start leaving the hotel and did not get out until 9:20. We headed south toward Petra where we will spend the next two days.
We went through the main street of Amman and one of the first things we saw was a shepherd herding his goats in the middle of the city. We passed through the most exclusive area where Samir explained that all of the rich immigrants from Iraq had built their multi-million dollar homes.
This is the same area where our American Embassy is located. It is HUGE with a double walled fortress, many satellite towers, and guarded by a tank and Jordanian guards on every corner. One cannot take pictures, close to the area, or even have cameras visible in the car/bus or the soldiers will confiscate all the cameras in the vehicle.
We spent the day traveling the King's Highway, the oldest paved road in the world, renowned for its scenery and history as we wound our way from Amman to Petra - about 200 KM. This ancient route was the road for traders, armies, and pilgrims throughout history. It was built by the Romans in about 100 AD.
We stopped at Mt. Nebo, known as the burial site of Moses, with a spectacular view overlooking the green Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea. Early Christians built the Church of Moses here. In the 6th century, it was expanded into one of the largest complexes of monasteries in the Middle East.
There are interesting mosaics in several buildings here. In 2000, the Pope was here to visit the area and the mosaic straw mats were place here for his arrival. There is even a viewing stand for his use overlooking the valley as Moses had.
We stopped at the Madaba Handicraft Center where we watched local disabled students created the famous mosaic art typical of the area.
Then we traveled a short distance and were let off at the city center so we could walk through the town and had an opportunity to take photos and talk to the locals. Here we see the mosaic map on the floor of Saint George's Church, the oldest known map of the Holy Land and told the story of the Old Testament.
We continued our walk through the narrow streets about another kilometer to find our restaurant where we were served a buffet of typical Jordanian foods - excellent again - we have not had a bad meal here!
At 2:15, after lunch we drove around the rounded hills of the limestone plateau until we reach the Wadi Mujib, a dramatic deep gorge mentioned in the Bible as Arnon's Valley. We descended 3,000-foot walls to the bottom of the wadi, or valley, passing through an incredible dry landscape. Samir spoke to us about local family customs such as marriage, divorce and family.
After a long day of driving, through very flat and arid lands (much of it used for agriculture) we arrived at Petra and our 5 STAR hotel at 7 PM. We were given 30 minutes to get our luggage and then met in the dinning room for another super buffet.
As tonight is Thanksgiving, we were welcomed by turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce. Gennie had a chocolate fix for dessert with three different plates! After dinner we met in the theater for a brief lecture on the history of Petra and what we can look forward to tomorrow. At 9:30 we were back in our room working on this log.
Petra Marriott Hotel - - - Meals: B, L, D
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