Floating on the Dead Sea

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On Friday morning, I joined up with the Ingall's again and headed out to visit the various historical Christianity sites a stones throw from Amman. Our first stop was Mt. Nebo, the Memorial of Moses, the presumed site of his death and burial place, and center for pilgrimages since early Christian times. The site was located high above the Jordan Valley on a cold windswept hill with sweeping views of the valley and Dead Sea.

From here, we cruised down the hillside to an important place associted with Jesus and John the Baptist, the settlement of Bethany where it is presumed the baptism of Jesus took place. The site is located along the Jordan River, and along the border with Palistinian controlled territory in Israel.

For sure, the highlight of my day was taking a dip in the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth, (1,371 Ft. below sea level). It is also one of the saltiest bodies of water on earth, with a salinity of about 30%. The Sea is about 11 miles wide and 42 miles long and it is called the Dead Sea because it is completely devoid of any life,...except for the tourists floating in it. This is especially comforting for those of you out there afraid of big nasty sharks...there are none here. Because of the high salt content in the sea, you literally float on the surface, unable to submerge your own body under the water. The Sea is very calm and placid on the surface, and floating around in it was a nice and relaxing, albeit funky experience. I'm sure you have all heard of the various bath products called "dead sea salts" which come directly from this spot. Like the sea salts, the mud which you can scoop up from the seabed floor is rich with thearaputic properties. We joined many of the local beachgoers by slathering on a healthy coat of this nutrient rich mud and letting it bake onto us under the hot sun for about 30 minutes. After rinsing off in the sea, my skin truly felt silky smooth and revitalized,...A Free Spa Treatment!!

Later that evening, Laura hit another home run by taking us to an amazing Lebanese restaurant (my FAVORITE cuisine) in Amman, a place called Tannoureen....YUM YUM!. After three days in Amman, tonight would be the end of my time traveling with Tom, Judy and Laura, for tomorrow I would continue my trek around the globe. It was a real treat to share my three days in Jordan with the them, wonderful people.

Tom, Judy and Laura: Thank you, thank you for treating me like family and I hope you are home safely, enjoying your ice cream.

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Photos

Baptism Site
Script explaining the historical significance of the Baptismal site.

Mud Baths
Displaying our 30 min. slathered on mud treatments.

Baptism Site
Dried up River Site

Comments

[Phil Foss]

Dead Sea Inspiration
Is the Dead Sea spiritually inspiring? (I'm envious of your journey - - - what a wonderful experience. And your photos are excellent, I enjoy them immensely.)

[Wanderlusst]

Dead Sea
I suppose it could be a spiritual experience....I didnt really have one there though. I'm glad you are enjoying...MIchael

[Jessica Castillo]

Trippy
Wow, trippy. Thanks for sending your link, what a cool blog! Elements misses you.

[Alan Holmstrom]

Mike, your e-mails are great as are the pictures and commentary. Missed you at Thanksgiving. Sounds like you had a good time. Love, Dad

[Chase VanRossen]

Mike, Like others who have commented, I find myself greatly looking forward to each installment of your blog. I have even started forwarding them to Roberta. We are both immensley jealous while reading these at work! Continued fun and safe travels, Chase and Roberta

[Laura]

Missed you at the Amman Citadel
Michael: It was great traveling with you. We wish you could have joined us on our last day in Amman visiting the Citadel and of course getting to the 'good' ice cream place in Abdoun. Safe travels! Laura

[kristie]

Re:Travels
"The World is a book,and those who do not travel read only a page".