Blogs from Madaba, West, Jordan, Middle East

Today was the official last full day of our tour around Jordan and as we all climbed into the van that would take us north to the city of Jerash, we all came to the somber realization that the end was near. Driving into northern Jordan, I was amazed by the number of refugee encampments that we had driven by. Our guide Faisal had explained that not all of these were Syrian refugees but many of them were Palestinians living in the encampments for over 10 years. He had indicated that estimates range from 1/3 to about 40% of the Jordanian population consisted of refugees. That high proportion of the population just amazed me. We pulled into the Jerash ruins which are considered to be of the best preserved Roman cities in the Middle East. I ... read more

We got an early start on the road and made our first stop at Shobak castle, where we were the only tourists. Shobak castle lies on a remote knoll 1 1/2 hrs north of Petra. It was constructed in 1115 by the crusader king Baldwin I and was used as a desert stronghold along the King's Highway. The castle was eventually taken by the Muslims after an 18 month siege by Saladin. I had read of the castle in my guide book and they recommended bringing flashlights for the more remote sections, to include a long and dark secret passageway which they provided directions to find. We did find the passageway which was little more than a narrow cave, and slipped and slid down through the bowels of the castle and into the mountain for the ... read more

After breakfast there was really nothing more to hang around for so it was time to move on. At the end of the 1km dirt track from the Bedouin camp is a 'B' road. We asked one of our hosts the best way to get back on to the Desert Highway. Do we go back the way we came or continue on this minor road? The answer we were given was to continue on the road for about 20 minutes and we will join a main road that will take us to the Desert Highway. We looked in the direction that the Bedouin was pointing and all we could see was a range of mountains!! We didn't try to ask what the terrain was like. ‘OK' and ‘not bad'seem to have different connotations in Arabic. As ... read more

Geo: 31.7195, 35.7941In addition to being windproof, our tent was also exceedingly dark. Before the sun rose, I heard what sounded like a persistent hum. While it sounded like rain, I was convinced it couldn't be, given where we were. I went out to the necessary a little after 7:00am, and while the sun was now up, I could clearly see in the sand the distinct impressions of rain drops. I later confirmed that there had indeed been rain showers earlier that morning. While there were rudimentary toilets (and showers...no one partook), there was no way to really get clean after the previous day's activities, but we resigned ourselves to this fate and simply got up and washed as best we could. Whatever electricity there had been the day before was exhausted from the solar generator, ... read more

Today, we should visit Jerash in the morning. In the afternoon, there was more time for Madaba, because we didn't had that much time yesterday to see everything. But first, we had breakfast at our rooftop restaurant in our hotel (Mariam hotel, in Madaba). Again, the breakfast contained out a small English breakfast (eggs, vegetables, some small lamb sausages), flat bread with hummus, and small, sweet breads, coffee, tea and fresh juice. After breakfast, we left to Jerash, together with our guide Omar and of bus driver Waél. Jerash is one of the best kept Roman city's of the world, and the best kept Roman site of the Middle East. Only 5-10% was found, the other parts are still buried at the site or buried underneath the modern city of Jerash. In the Old Testament, Jerash ... read more