• Christie MitchellRTW 2022Christie Mitchell
    What they say is the Official Baptism site of Jesus
    All the trails covered like this to give some relief from the intense heatFirst view if the Jordan "river" 😳The mighty Jordan River. 😢1Guarded by three of these guys with very big gunsJordanian flag on this side, Israeli on the other2JORDAN, touching the JORDAN, standing in JORDAN. 😂2Active baptisms going on on the Israel sideHitting the gift shop after to cool off - of course more catsCamels just sitting on the side of the road all day for rides 😢And horses. This is next to a freeway. Nice to see he at least had watwr1Made it to the hotel - with the dead sea in the distanceJordan enjoying the view1Beautiful sunset over the seaThe lights on the other side are the city of Jericho, and further is Jerusalem1

    Trip to the Dea Sea

    August 20, 2022 in Jordan ⋅ ☀️ 97 °F

    Miles: 2.2 Steps: 6049
    Flights stairs: 3

    We drove about 90 min from Jerash to the Jordan River this morning. “Jordan, wanted to touch the Jordan River, while standing in the Kingdom of Jordan.” 🤣 So I made that happen. ❤️

    The border between Jordan and Israel is separated by the Jordan River, so to get close to it, at least on this side, you need an escort as the banks of the river are under military control. The only place we could find to actually get us close was to visit what they have deemed as the official baptism site of Jesus. We had to register with the government, board a bus, and then we’re escorted in to the area for a brief tour. Very interesting. The best picture I got was standing at the stream, watching baptisms on the other side, with the Israeli flag flying. We were no more than 15 ft away from each other.

    I had read a lot about how the river is now 95% less flow from its original state because of it being diverted upstream - quite the water war between Syria, Israel, Palestinians and Jordan. Pretty sad situation. I didn’t expect much, but I did expect more than what we found. All that the “river” is now, is at best what can be described as a trickle or small stream, and a lot of that is sewage and agriculture waste. 😢 But it was an eye opening visit, and Jordan got her wish.

    We’re staying at a hotel on the Dead Sea for a couple nights. The pool was SO warm, it was almost uncomfortable. Still nice though. But it’s well over 100° as a high temp, so it’s expected. Tonight’s LOW temp is only 83° overnight. But “it’s a dry heat”. 😃    Read more