2023 Israel & Jordan

 A long day! We left the Kempinski Hotel in Amman a few minutes before midnight and arrived at the Queen Alia Airport at 12:30. Our driver was a friend of Zuhair's who drove us for $50US. It was a little confusing figuring out where the check-in counter was and when we got there, it wasn't even open yet for our 3:40am flight on Lufthansa to Frankfurt. Our flight actually left a few minutes early at 3:30 and arrived at 6:15. At one point I could look down and clearly see the brightly lit shoreline but don't know it was Turkey or Greece. It was raining lightly in Frankfurt and we had to take a bus to the terminal because we were early and there were no empty gates. We went to the Z gate area and went to the Business Class line for Lufthansa (code-share for our United flight) and was told that the terminal was down so we had to use the Economy line. While standing in the line, someone asked if we were on United and then just waved us through. Then another security check before

 We left the Movenpick Dead Sea at 8:30 for the 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Jarash, The Roman city of Jarash is one of the 10 Decapolis  cities and is considered the Pompeii of the Middle East. At one time it had a population of 30,000 people and covered 17 square km. Only about 20% has been excavated and unfortunately, before it was re-discovered, the "New Jarash" was built over large parts of the ancient city. There is a huge entrance gate built for the visit of Emperor Hadrian in 129CE that leads to the south "Philadelphia" gate of the city. The Roman "Cardo" road passes through the city from the south to north gates. You can see the grooves in the road that were made by the wagon wheels so many years ago! Water was brought via aqueduct from a distant spring and distributed from  a central reservoir to basins along the road. There is a temple to the goddess Artemis who is also mentioned in St. Paul's epistles (or maybe the book of Acts).  There are huge

 First thing in the morning we headed up to Mt. Nebo, the mountain from which Moses viewed Jericho and the Promised Land across the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. Moses died there and was buried nearby but his burial site is unknown. The valley below is green and is the site of "Moses' Spring" which is where the Israelites found water after traveling through Canaan. The view is spectacular. A Byzantine church was built on the top of the mountain in the 4th century and was enlarged to a basilica and monastery in the 7th century. The floor has remarkable mosaics from the 4th century which were covered by later mosaics which did not have motifs of living things. The earthquake in 749 destroyed the church and it was only rediscovered and excavated by the Franciscans in the 1900s. Then off to a training facility for making mosaics. This was founded by Queen Noor as a way to give people a valuable skill and reduce unemployment. There is a large adjoining store where one can bu

 A damp, drizzly, foggy and chilly morning as we left Petra for Wadi rum. On my previous trip, we stopped at an overlook where there was a great view looking down at Petra and the mountains. This morning the visibility was about 100' so there was no point in stopping. The dense fog went on for about an hour which made it very difficult for the driver - our guide said we had to stop at a rest area so the driver could rest and get a coffee. On the bus, Zuhair gave us more of the complicated history of Jordan involving the Ottomans, British, French, and Arabs. Lawrence of Arabia, a British soldier, engaged the Arabs in the fight against the Ottomans but when the war was over, the British didn't give the territory to the Arabs as had been promised. The Hashemites had historically been in the regions corresponding to Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan but when everything was divided up by the British and French, the Hashemites only got what is now Jordan. Palestine was also a British pr

 The day turned out better than expected in that it didn't rain. It was exceptionally windy and very cold - 38 in the morning and a high of 45. At times the wind blasted us with sand and it was like being in a wind tunnel. Overall, we were able to enjoy our time at Petra. Petra is the 7th modern wonder of the world. Its main culture started in the 4th century BC with the Nabateans who were merchant traders and controlled some of the important trading routes from the middle-east to Africa and Europe, mainly Rome. At the time, Frankincense and Myrrh were twice as valuable as gold and these substances were in great demand for Roman rituals. Petra was at its height in the first century BC and first century AD. Petra was a city of 20,000 to 30,000 people with large temples and a large amphitheater. Petra is located in Wadi Musa, the valley of Moses and the only access is through a very narrow, 10' - 50' wide, and very deep mile-long cut through the rock which made it almost invi

I had a surprise at breakfast - usually I have a bowl of yogurt with fruit and nuts this morning. By mistake I used sour cream instead of yogurt. It was ok but not what I was expecting. At the breakfast they have large bowls with yogurt, sour cream, labneh (a middle-eastern yogurt-like cheese), cottage cheese and another white creamy substance but no labels.  Off at 7:15 this morning to the border, a 45 minute drive. Then through Israeli and Jordan immigration and customs which took 1 1/2 hours. One thing that is distinctly different on entering the country is seeing large photos of King Abdullah and the previous kings. Jordan is officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Hashemites are direct descendants of the prophet Mohammed and have long been responsible for the routes to the sacred sites of Medina and Mecca. After the defeat of the Ottomans by the Arabs and British (Lawrence of Arabia) in 1917, a king was declared and has ruled since. The king appoints the prime minister and

 A hazy but warm morning looking out over the Sea of Galilee. We took the "Shabbat" elevator down from the 12th floor which took quite a while. The ultra-orthodox Jews are not allowed to create a spark on Shabbat so they are prohibited from pressing a button to select a floor on the elevator - it therefore stops on every floor and opens the door! This feature is only on Shabbat, from sundown Friday to Sundown Saturday. It was about a 45 minute ride to Nazareth a mixed Arab Christian and Arab Muslim community.  Along the way we passed through Cana, the site of Jesus' first miracle of turning water to wine. In Nazareth we entered the Church of the Annunciation to see the cave where Mary was told by the angel that she was going to have a child and to "have no fear". There are beautiful original mosaics of the 5th century Byzantine church which was enlarged during the Crusader period and is now covered by a huge 1960s Catholic church, the largest in the middle-east.

 Breakfast didn't start until 7:30 and Masada was only 15 minutes from the hotel so we had a more relaxing morning. Masada was the winter fortress-palace of Herod built around 33 BCE on the top of a mountain close to the Dead Sea on the edge of the Judean Desert. It looks like a volcanic butte but is composed of sandstone. It is hard to imagine what was involved in carrying materials up such steep slopes. Most of us took the cable car up to the top, about a 4-minute trip, although two of our fellow travelers walked up the steep switch-back trail in the intense sun, taking about an hour. Herod was a Jewish king but also liked Roman comforts. There are traditional Jewish "mikva" baths and also Roman heated baths which have fires underneath. Many of the floors still have beautiful mosaics from the time. He directed the construction of large cisterns and an elaborate set of channels to fill them with water. He died around 4 CE and this was largely abandoned. Around the year 6