Jordan: Madaba, Mt. Nebo and Petra by Night

Monday February 4, 2013 – Jordan

I woke up early and waited for the alarm to go off.  Losing the hour didn’t seem to hurt me, but I guess it was because I was so tired last night.  I packed up and went to breakfast.  There was oil and herbs in addition to cheese and bread.  I had a hard boiled egg and something that was a cross between French toast and bread pudding.  It didn't look all that appetizing, but it was pretty good.  

Ahmad picked me up at 8:30 and we set out for Madaba.  I remembered to put my guidebooks in my little bag today so I could read about where we were going/had been along the way.  Madaba is famous for the mosaic in St. George’s church which was discovered only 120 years ago when Christian folks came back to settle there after being pushed out of Karak and started to rebuild on top of old foundations.  What is cool about this mosaic is that it is a map of the holy land from the Byzantine period and even though big parts of it are missing, you can still tell what cities were where and their relative importance.  

This sign is much better than the pictures I took of the actual mosaic.  Mine is in three parts and at and angle. 

St. George was a busy guy.  No wonder there aren't any dragons left today.

The view God showed Moses saying something like: Here it is,
 the promised land, so sorry you wondered the desert with a bunch
 of unruly folks for 40 years and all you get to do is see it.  Ha!

The guidebook says there are other mosaics to see in town, but we didn't stop at any of them, instead we went up the hill to Mt. Nebo, the place where tradition has it, God showed Moses the promised land at the same time telling him, he wasn't going to get to go.  The view was quite spectacular and I had a good day weather wise.  It was pretty windy up there and so cool, but that was probably for the best to keep the haze moving.  There are some mosaics in the church up there as well, but it was closed for renovation, so all I could see was a picture of them.  Here, like at Ajloun Castle, I was asked if I wanted a guide to show me around.  I am always torn when given this choice.  Today I got as far as asking how much it would be, he said 10JD, or about $15.  It wasn't that big a place and I already knew the story, so I declined.  Of course the history would come alive even more with someone talking about it, but I just didn't know if it was worth it. 

A mosaic being made - live!

On our way up the hill we stopped at a mosaics workshop/store.  It was interesting to see the folks making the mosaics.  The have local rock which is cut into thin slices and then they use pincher pliers to cut irregular shapes as needed to fit their pattern.  The pattern is written in reverse on a piece of cloth which is stretched over a board.  The pieces are secured with a paste of flour and water until the mosaic is finished.  Then a frame of the correct size is made and filled with cement and the mosaic is placed face down into the cement and patted in until the cement comes up between the rocks.  When the cement is set, the cloth with the flour paste is washed off and the mosaic is polished.  This particular workshop had disabled people working in it, which I thought was cool.  I was also shown the ‘fake’ mosaic on pottery and then the ostrich egg decoration style as well.  I was offered sage tea which was pretty good and then I was followed around the store where my every question was anticipated.  The pieces were expensive, but I was talked into buying a round mosaic of the tree of Madaba.  The tree represents apple, pomegranate and olive, the three main trees around here.  There are two types of trunk, one for the tree the other is the snake of temptation fame.  Then there are vines of grapes to represent the wine production of the area.  I like it and it will be an adult purchase.

The Dead Sea - with a sandy beach?

There were many more people at this beach than there were
when we visited the Israeli side. It was a much nicer day and
a much nicer beach, if the 'spa' amenities were not as nice.

From Mt. Nebo we went to the Dead Sea.  My tour  included admission to a resort and use of their fascilites while bathing in the sea.  I needed to rent a towel again, 1.5JD +3.5JD deposit.  If I wanted to use a locker, I needed another 5JD but I had given up by then and just lugged all of my stuff down to the beach.  There were many more people here than there had been on the Israel side, but it was a much nicer day and the resort and the beach were much closer together.  Surprisingly, the beach was sandy rather than salt and shoes were not required to go into the sea.  The wind was much calmer today but the water was still cool.  I walked out a ways (the slope was faster than it had been on the Israel side) and sat down to float.  A group of Americans, college age, in some sort of performing group) came to my end of the beach and were very entertaining as they took pictures of each other and squealed when they got in.  It was interesting how worried they were about their stuff on the beach, if anyone local looking came close to their stuff, one of them would get out and go stand by it.  I wonder if they were even cognizant of the racial profiling they were doing and made the connection to how angry they would be if it were done to them in reverse.  Ahmad had told me there was no time limit, so I was surprised that he came down to the beach to find me.  I asked if it was time to go and he said it didn't matter, but the implication was yes, we should be moving on.  I got out, went back up to the resort and rinsed off in the cold shower.  It was maybe 1pm and before we went in, Ahmad asked if I wanted to eat there or in Petra.  I asked which was better and how far it was to Petra.  He said 2 hours and that Petra was better.  I said ok, so we headed off.

An accidental picture, but one of my favorites

Snow!  

First we had to go back up Mt. Nebo and through Madaba before we could get the King’s Highway south.  I watched the desert go by for a while, but I nodded off several times.   We had to climb some hills as we approached Petra and I was surprised to see snow on the ground.  Ahmad said it was from 2 days ago, so while it was pouring in Tel Aviv, it was snowing here.  Interesting. 

We came down the other side and could see the hills into which Petra is carved.  It was after 4 when we stopped for lunch.  There were two big tour buses of folks coming out of the restaurant (never a good sign) and a big buffet inside.  I said, could we go somewhere where I could have a small lunch, since I had already told him that I didn't eat dinner last night due to the large late lunch we had yesterday.  He said ‘as you like’ and we left, but in the car he asked why I changed my mind.  I told him, I didn't want to miss dinner again (since I had already paid for it as part of the tour) so I wanted a small lunch not a big lunch buffet.  He said ok, and we went off to buy the ticket for Petra at Night and then he took me to the hotel.  I said, what about lunch?  He said, you didn't want lunch.  I am trying not to be grouchy, but it is hard.  The hotel guy said I could get room service.  I asked when was dinner, he said 6, I said I’ll wait.  I check in and move into the room, which is at the end of the hall on the ground floor.  I can see wifi from here, but can only just connect if I stand at the door.  I checked mail and Facebook to find that the 49ers lost the Superbowl. 

I had read in my guidebook about a cooking course offered in Petra in the evenings.  We had passed a restaurant with the same name so I went out to check it out.  I also wanted to make sure I could get to the start of the Petra by night tour while it was still light.  I think I found the starting place for that and then went looking for the cooking class.  They have class every night for 35JD which includes recipes and dinner.  I am the only one signed up for tomorrow so far, which the guy said was ok, if it was ok with me.  I put down a deposit, and need to be there at 6:15, so I hope my afternoon doesn't run long and he doesn't decide to cancel if no one else signs up.

The salad course of dinner was really tasty

I was also looking for a snack to tide me over to dinner.  I went into two shops that had drinks and things and a small packet of crackers was either 1JD or 1.5JD.  This seemed outrageous to me, so I walked out in both cases.  I ended up stopping at a pizza place for a falafel and hummus sandwich for 3JD which seemed much more reasonable.  I headed back to the hotel to write and change before heading down to dinner and then out to the Petra at night tour.

I thought Ahmad had told me 8pm, but perhaps I was remembering the pick up time for the morning, anyway I rushed through my dinner in the hotel restaurant in order to be at the entrance to Petra at 8 only to find out that I was 30 minutes early.  I went to the guest house to use their bathroom, and ended up buying some postcards and stamps and meeting another Californian who is teaching in Istanbul.  What a coincidence.  I went out on the patio and wrote a couple of the cards and was visited by an orange cat who made himself at home in my lap while I was writing.


There was quite a group gathering at the entrance and I saw a couple that I met at the border to Jordan on Sunday.  They had grown up in the San Diego area but moved to Ohio when they graduated from college because California was getting too expensive in the early 1970s.  They had been in Petra that day and were nice to chat with while we waited for the gates to open.  I kind of lost track of them once we were inside as it was pretty dark as we walked the 2.5 km through the valley and then through the siq.  The path was lined with candles in paper bags which provided enough light to see where to go, but not necessarily where you were stepping.  The stars were out and gorgeous.  The walk was very cool and without being able to see well, I could focus on the sounds and smells.

The luminaria showing the way into Petra

 The show had three parts, first a guy played a stringed instrument, which we learned later was the ancestor of all other stringed instruments, while he sang (as shown in the video).  Then a guy played a flute and walked around in front of us and finally a third guy told us a little about Petra and the instruments we had heard.  It was well done and I felt like it was the most professional of the entertainment options I had had to this point. We were served mint (or maybe sage) tea and instructions were given about when to go where.

A different orange cat makes himself comfortable during the show.

The walk back out of Petra seemed longer (it was slightly up hill) and it was windy at times, but it was a good preview, without giving anything away of what would come tomorrow.