Visiting the sites of the Holy Land

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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) it hurts and (b) it tastes disgusting). I guess it was interesting in a way, but I can float in a swimming pool so nothing new for me, although the inability to keep my legs under me was funny. However, we couldn't do any of the usual poses (book and/or tray of drinks) due to the waves.

After we grew tired of this we retreated to the resort's swimming pool and sun loungers. I tried a few lengths in the pool, but found I was quite weak, presumably from not eating much (and not having much luck keeping it inside when I did!). The whole area was infested by flies so we did not stay long before changing and heading inside to wait for the bus. It temporarily didn't start, but then decided it would drive off after all. Hooray for self-repairing buses.

As the sun set we drove along the east bank of the Dead Sea and then headed inland past Keraak, another Crusader castle, reaching Wadi Musa sometime after 7pm where we had dinner in the hotel. It was edible too.

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Photos

Mosaic map
A mosaic map of the Holy Land inside a church

Dead Sea
Floating in the Dead Sea