Darcy in the Holy Land!!: Jordan!

Hi everyone! Sorry it has been so long. We didn’t have internet often in Jordan and Egypt, so I didn’t try to post. I will work on those entries now that I’m home! Jordan was a really neat country, I wish we would have had some more time there. We started off in Gerash which was a Roman city of the Decapolis (a loose association of gentile cities in the time of Jesus). It was a really beautiful site with huge monuments, and we have not seen a city like it since Ephesus. It had lots of colonnaded streets and temples and a beautiful theater in which there were Jordanian men playing bagpipes and drums! It was really odd at first, but our guide explained that bagpipes originated in Mesopotamia, and the Scottish changed them a little. They are a really traditional Jordanian instrument and we heard them at another site, and at a wedding reception at our hotel that night! It was really strange to hear bagpipes in the Middle East!

A view of Gerash

The bagpipes in the theater

Then we toured the acropolis of the ancient city of Amman. There were nice temples there as well, and a small museum containing some Dead Sea scrolls, with way less security so we could take pictures. And statues that are some of the earliest carvings of people…whose noses look like Michael Jackson’s? Our guide was proud of the fact that MJ bought his nose from Jordan, haha!

The next day we saw the site of Jesus’ baptism on the Jordan river. It was interesting because Israel is building a platform directly across the river from Jordan’s site, and the river is only about 10 feet wide, so its not very scenic. The Bible describes John baptizing people at “Bethany across the Jordan” and archaeologists found the site Saint Helena built a church on by using a mosaic map from the floor of a 6^th century church that we also got to see in Madaba. The map shows the Holy Land of the time, so you can see Jerusalem and pick out the main street and the Holy Sepulcher, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea (with a fish swimming away from it because it is too salty), the Nile River Delta, and other cities. It was really amazing. We also drove up to the top of Mount Nebo where Moses looked over into the Promised Land before he died. It was really a spectacular view. You can see the green fertile land surrounded by nothing but desert, and imagine how exciting it would have looked to Moses after wandering the desert for 40 years.

Me by the Jordan river

The Madaba Map

The view of the Promised Land from Mt. Nebo

Then Saturday we went to Petra! It was one of my favorite sites on the whole trip. The city was almost magical. You start off down a really long and narrow corridor between two huge winding cliffs of beautiful sandstone swirled with reds and purples. Along the way were niches carved into the stone with images of the three goddesses who the Nabateans prayed to, who would then take their prayers to the main god. Then suddenly through the opening ahead you catch a glimpse of the “treasury”, then the passage opens up to the full view. It was just stunning. It is amazing how they carved the whole thing out of the rock. It was actually a tomb of a king, and never used as a treasury. And unfortunately we couldn’t go inside, so I didn’t get the Indiana Jones adventure we were all hoping for, even though we were humming the theme song the whole time.

Going through the siq

The first glimpse

Me and Lori in front of the Treasury

After the treasury, the path opens up to the city, where there were several other smaller tombs carved into the cliffs, and caves that were homes. There was one that we could actually go and walk around in. The swirls of red and purple on the walls, ceiling and floor are absolutely beautiful! Further down was the Roman city with columns and temples, and a Byzantine church with beautiful mosaics. We stopped for a quick lunch, then got on some donkeys to climb up to the monastery! The donkeys were neat to ride… a little scary because mine and Lori’s kept trying to pass each other for the lead on really narrow and steep steps next to a deep ravine. But they were fun! They took us about ¾ of the way up the mountain, then we had to get off and climb the rest of the way. The monastery was beautiful. Very similar to the treasury, but less ornate. It was a temple tomb that may have later been used as a church. Then we climbed up further to a high point advertising “the best view in Petra.” I don’t think I will ever be able to explain how physically intense all of our hiking and climbing has been. My leg muscles are incredible though! haha. It really was beautiful seeing all of the mountains from that high. All along the path going up were Bedouin men, women and children selling trinkets and jewelry and sure enough there was a tent at the top selling souvenirs too. We talked to the man and asked if he has to walk up the whole mountain everyday, and he said no, that he lives right there at the top! What a front yard! He also played for us on a little guitar and sang. After getting back down to the bottom we had to walk an hour to get back through the site to the bus. Fortunately after a certain point a horse ride is included in your ticket price, so we rode horses up the last part of the hill. The next day we got on a ferry boat to Egypt! More on that later!