Sights of north-west Jordan

Madaba

Today, we have a road trip covering various sites in the north-west of Jordan:  shifting our base to Madaba, Mt Nebo, the Baptismal site of Jesus, and a dip in the Dead Sea.  It seems a bit silly to change hotel to Madaba which is only less than an hour out of Amman.  Sometimes the hassle of packing and unpacking makes it not worthwhile, but that’s what we had decided on in advance.

We had hired a driver Jamil for two days.  He is Palestinian from Bethlehem (which means House of Meat in Arabic but House of Bread in Hebrew and Aramaic).

Leaving around 0830, Jamil drove us through the Abdoun area where rich people live.  But their houses are just typical big brick blocks with not much land.  Passing the US Embassy, it was a low rise building with the road blocked off by shipping containers for additional protection.

We dropped in at Madaba even though it was still early, to catch a couple of sights and try drop off our luggage at the Black Iris Hotel in advance.  The latter wasn’t a problem.

The St George Church with its mosaic map floor was still in prayer.  So, we went to the Archaeological Park nearby to look at excavations of mosaics.  Then we continued to the Church of the Apostles, which is no longer a functioning church, but home to some of the best mosaics around.

Finally, we went back to St George’s to see the mosaic floor which depicts a map of the Middle East with Jerusalem in the undamaged (or restored) portion.  It is written in Greek and dates to 6^th Century AD.

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Mt Nebo

We left Madaba afterwards for Mt Nebo.  As we approached Jamil pulled off the roadside and we walked up the hill by foot.  The site is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as where Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land.  In Christian and Islamic traditional belief, Moses was buried somewhere on this mountain.  In contradiction, there is another grave for Moses near to Jericho and Jerusalem.

A church was built in 4BC here and a modern building protects its remains, especially the mosaic floor.

From the viewpoint, we had a panorama of the Promised Land and the Jordan valley.  The West Bank city of Jericho is usually visible from the summit, as is Jerusalem on a very clear day.  Pope John Paul II visited the site four years ago and planted an olive tree near the church.

The site was excavated and maintained by the Franciscans.  I was a little surprised to see a group of charismatic Christians here as some can be rather anti-Catholic.

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Baptismal Site

Jamil presented us with a choice of going to Jesus’ Baptismal Site or the Dead Sea first.  We thought it would be better to go the Dead Sea last so we wouldn’t be wet and salty for the remainder of the excursion.

Wrong!  It proved to be the wrong choice as it was long stinking hot experience at the Baptismal site.  Once out of our vehicle we had to wait for a bus and then a guide to be taken the actual Baptismal site.  Kim got grumpy with the heat and the two oldies found it tiring.  We managed to hitch a ride back to our vehicle using the manager’s pick-up truck.  And there were many flies there too.  Perhaps it may have been a better experience for them later in the afternoon when cooler.

As for the visit to the Baptismal site of Jesus, we were told that it had dried up and the one we’re seeing is a short distance away from that one.

The river starts in Mt Hermon, Lebanon.  Where we are, it is only a small stream and Palestine/Israel is just across the small body of water.  We had a simple cloth canopy over us while across the other side, work was nearly complete for a lavish tourist facility.

There were a variety of visitors.  A German group was having a prayer while an Arab group collected a small bottle of the muddy water from the stream.  In a small bottle it looked like lemon juice!

Someone asked if it was Israel just across the stream.  The response from the guide was “No, it’s the West Bank (of Palestine).”

There were security checks by soldiers on the road in the area, as we had to pass a military area, since we were just next to Palestine/Israel.

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Dead Sea

When our ordeal was finally over, we hopped back into the car to Amman Beach on the Dead Sea.  We had a buffet lunch first up.  Kim was upset as he thought Jamil had taken us here to earn commission.  But I was fairly confident that it was probably the best choice instead of a top-of-range resort where we would have had to pay even more.

The meal was good, with a delicious tender fish and a nice dessert of hot milky spaghetti and custard.

Once fed, we prepared ourselves for a dip in the Dead Sea.  Wading in was an unusually difficult experience due to a mix of buoyancy, deep mud and rocks.  The water didn’t get much deeper as I waded out further, so I just sat down and floated.

It was remarkably easy for all of us to lie back as if we were on a fully-reclining seat.  And I believe that if I had a newspaper, I could have lay back and read it.  It didn’t take long for the novelty to wear off and we were out and changed to our street-clothes soon after.

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Back in the car, we started our drive back.  The sun went down behind the West Bank mountains before 1700.

We rested in our room in Madaba till 1900 when we walked into town for a light dinner at Ayola Cafe.  After a big buffet lunch, I was happy with my toasted cheese and tomato sandwich, delicious pink grapefruit juice and a cuppa tea.  We brought some semolina cakes and water on the way back to the room.

Conversations with Jamil

Our driver for today and tomorrow is Jamil, a Palestinian from Bethlehem (which means House of Meat in Arabic but House of Bread in Hebrew and Aramaic).  It is always nice to meet an English-speaking local as it gives an insight into local life and what they think.

Jamil has lived and worked overseas, including in Chile where his brother lives.  He has a son working for Microsoft in California and another in France.

I guess he must be considered reasonably well-off.  He has a live-in full-time Sri Lankan maid for the family.  [Edit:  So did our driver at Wadi Rum who pays USD300 per month.]

Jamil explains that Jordan is very American.  It’s like the 51^st state of the USA.  I said “I thought Iraq was the 51^st state”.  He said, nope, maybe they’re 52^nd!

A cop tried to extract a bribe from Jamil today.  But before the cop could say much, Jamil said “Ramadhan Karim” which kinda reminded the cop to behave properly during the holy month.