Jerash/Mt.Nebo/Madaba/River of Jordan

15^th April: Jerash/Jarash  Regency Palace Hotel Amman

Arriving back in Amman at lunch time we decided to take a drive to Jerash just 50 kms from the Syrian border. (close enough for us) There we were introduced to Mohammad our guide who took us on a very informative tour of the very early Roman ruins of the cities of the Decapolis along with many other Muslim visitors. As we were driving along we noticed that the people just stopped anywhere along the road and ate- in amongst the numerous speed cameras they have set up. Safety while driving does not appear to matter, with up to five people in the back seat and little ones standing up with the windows fully wound down. In the local towns it is not uncommon to see a ute full of men. (similar to Vietnam)

16^th April: Madaba, Mt. Nebo and the River of Jordan

Madaba

Once again, being woken to the call of prayer at 4.30am we were ready to set off early.

We arrived at St George's Greek Orthodox Church in Madaba to see the mosaic floor that was discovered from centuries ago and then onto the mosaic factory.

Mt. Nebo is a memorial to Moses who died somewhere on the mountain after speaking with God. A tent had been erected over more mosaic while the church was being renovated and at long last I was able to feel it as it is made out of goats' hair.

Jordan River

After going through a checkpoint of 10 guards at Bethany it was quite exciting to think that we were actually going to the site where Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. We walked along a track where Jesus was supposed to have met Andrew(didn't really know anything about him) and stopped at the spring which flows to meet the river. Along side of us was a military zone set up to keep an eye on the border to Israel.

Having reached the river, I decided I had to put my feet in it to say I had been in the same river as Jesus - all this under the watchful eye of an armed soldier. As you can see by the photo the river is only about 4metres wide and the Israeli access has been taped off.

                                                        From thetop of Mt. Nebo