Blogs from West, Jordan, Middle East - page 9

Started our day with a Second Cup coffee! Hell yeh, been a while! Even had a Canada flag in the window. Made our way out of Amman, bound for Mt Nebo. Holy place where Christians believe Moses is said to have seen the promised land. He then died there at age 120. Old guy! He was buried here and churches were built on top of the hill. Totally cloudy, windy, and hazy so could not see a thing. Apparently you can see all the way to Jerusalem. Also went on to River Jordan and Bethany Beyond The Jordan. That means it is where Christians say Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist, also where the 1st 5 Apostles met, and Elijah ascended to heaven on a chariot. Of course! Was big Military area as was border ... read more

See letter in English below Amman 17/01/07 ¡Hola Lou! Hoy casi no me podía levantar. Porque había quedado con Félix, que si no me habría quedado más tiempo en la cama. He tenido el mismo desayuno de siempre: tortita con miel, pan con mermelada, huevo duro y té negro. Hemos ido a Madaba en autobús, desde Abdali, que nos ha dejado un poco apartados del centro. De camino al centro nos hemos cruzado con unos chavales muy simpáticos que nos han preguntado de dónde éramos. Madaba es conocida como la ciudad de los mosaicos, por los muchos que se encuentran de la época omeya y bizantina (les dio por hacer muchas iglesias y decorarlas con mosaicos). Algunos parece que guardaban mucho polvo. Aún hoy en día la población cristiana de Madaba es muy elevada y ronda ... read more

The ancient city of Madaba offers the largest and best preserved range of mosaics in Jordan. A short one hour mini-bus trip from Jordan's northern bus station, this city is setup well to stroll around to each of the sites. These included the the Madaba Archaeological Park, St Georges Church, Madaba Museum and Church of the Apostles. The Archaeological Park contains a number of original floors in the Church of the Virgin and the Hippolytus Hall, as well as a studio and workshop to learn and continue the art of mosaics. St Georges church has what remains of the floor, which was originally a very detailed decorative map of the greater Jordan Valley area. It also has many new mosaics and paintings, all very impressive. The Church of the Apostles has the very impressive "Personification of ... read more

Scott and I headed out of London after a busy 2008. We were heading for Jordan on an 8 day whirl-wind tour; a few days of culture, a few hiking, a few by the sea and of course a visit to Petra. We arrived late Christmas Eve into Amman, we were lucky enough to finish the bottle of red wine on the plane, not sure anyone else was really drinking! Our ‘hotel’ was in down town Amman, right in the thick of things. We awoke to a raining grey Christmas Eve and set off on a walking tour around the city. Down town was gritty, we went past the souks, mosques, fruit & veg markets, along to the Roman theatre, and after a bit of lunch up to the Citadel for wonderful views across the city. ... read more

We started early (again) to catch a bus to Madaba, a small town that boasted lots of mosaics, including a fairly well preserved map of the Holy Land that dated to the sixth century. Keeping with the Biblical theme we continued to Mount Nebo where Moses had stood to view the surrounding lands. The view was a bit hazy, and we decided that Moses had been quite silly to accept all those lands if they were as barren then as they are now. After this we carried on to the Dead Sea, descending to 400m below sea level to sample the waters at a 5-star resort. Unusually it was rather wavy, so we had to be quite careful not to get water in our eyes or mouths (like pretty much everyone I failed and found (a) ... read more