Advertisement
Published: June 11th 2017
We've had another wonderful day today in Jordan. We left the hotel in Wadi Musa at 8 am this morning, for the drive along the King's Highway to Shobak Castle, a Crusader castle built in 1115 CE. The drive took maybe 45 min or so. Sami parked the mini bus and we walked uphill to the castle. The castle is quite imposing, perched on a hill. The sun was behind the castle so the light wasn't good for photos, but you can get the general idea.
The castle was built by the Crusader king Baldwin I, and it withstood attacks from Salah al-Din before falling in 1189 after an 18 month siege. It was later occupied by the Mamluks in the 14th C. Some of the castle is restored, having been damaged by earthquakes in the distant past. There is an escape passageway built into the castle so the important people could escape during a siege. The passageway goes down 375 dark narrow steps - a few of us walked down 10 or so steps to see what it was like. The steps were quite narrow so we had to step carefully.
The scenery around the castle is really
Shobak Castle
Looking up at the castle from the ticket office. Mohammed is in the foreground. dramatic and you can see ancient stone houses built into the hillside. You get an excellent panoramic view of the surrounding hillside from the castle.
We had an enjoyable and informative tour of the castle with Mohammed, then we walked back to the parking area and rejoined Sami for the drive to the next stop at Dana Village. We enjoyed the view of the Dana Nature Reserve from the viewpoint. Dana Nature Reserve is the largest in Jordan, and is home to many endangered species including ibex. It is a popular hiking spot.
The village of Dana is a 15th C stone village, which was abandoned a generation ago as villagers moved to larger towns in search of jobs. We saw the abandoned stone houses as we passed on the way to the viewpoint.
At the viewpoint is located a small silver artisan workshop, which was started to provide jobs for local women. They make some lovely silver jewellery, all of it using designs based on the flora and fauna of the Dana Nature Reserve. Susan and I purchased some very nice pieces at the attached shop, called the Dana Nature Shop.
We then made a
refreshment stop at a a kind of rest stop for coffee and sandwiches. Susan and I took the opportunity to have another yummy Turkish coffee.
We then settled in for our approx 1 1/2 drive to Madaba. On the way Mohammed pointed out a truck in front of us which had three camels in the back. This was met with much enthusiasm by our group, but the truck was going very quickly and we couldn't catch up to take photos. There were cries of "speed up Sami!" and the chase was on. At one point Sami drew up alongside the truck and the driver couldn't help but notice our interest (a bunch of excited tourists clustered around the windows of a tourist mini bus, all attempting to take photos might have been a give away).
The truck driver pulled over so we could get out and take photos, We piled out of the mini van and rushed over to the truck. There were three baby camels in the back, around 7 months old. We took lots of photos, then trooped back on the mini bus and continued on our way.
We arrived at St. George's Church in
Madaba, to view the ancient mosaic map of the Holy Land. This well known floor mosaic dates back to 565 CE. It was rediscovered in the late 1880s when a new church was built on the remnants of a Byzantine church. The map is the oldest map of Palestine in existence and is important historically. It is also quite a lovely mosaic.
Madaba has a large Christian population (about 1/3 compared to about 5% nationally). Maybe that was why we spotted numerous liquor stores in the town!
After viewing the mosaic map we stopped at a nearby mosaic school. There are numerous mosaic schools in the area, all run by a Jordan royal family foundation. Disabled people are taught to make the mosaics. There were many very beautiful mosaics but they were very expensive. They also make pottery which is made to look like mosaics, and we purchased two very pretty mugs in this style (they were quite expensive but much cheaper than the mosaics), and a pottery plate, and a few Christmas tree ornaments.
We stopped at a liquor store (called the Hangover Liquor Store if you can believe it) and bought a few beers for
the drive back to Amman (no it wasn't our idea we have other beer drinkers with us!). The drive took about an hour or so. We checked back into the La Locanda hotel. Susan's cousin Fadia picked her up for another family visit, but I preferred not to accompany her this time and instead relaxed in the room. I made a coffee and had a few snacks for dinner, watched BBC World News, and worked on the blog.
We have another big day tomorrow, first we tour Jerash, then we are going to the Dead Sea. I can't believe it will be our last day in Jordan! On Monday Susan and I are heading to the Red Sea resort town of Dahab, where we will have four nights.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.259s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 21; qc: 65; dbt: 0.2078s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Faye
non-member comment
Another great day. Interesting mosaics and cute camels!