Har Shelomẕiyyon

Heading off from Petra, we drove first to Sam's home town of Madaba an ancient town in Jordan, southwest of Amman. It’s known for its 6th-century mosaic map of the Holy Land in the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George. The Madaba Archaeological Park preserves the mosaic-rich Church of the Virgin Mary and artefacts from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic eras. Northwest, the biblical hill of Mount Nebo overlooks the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea. We were right in the heart of biblical history - and biblical beliefs, which we were less excited about. At least half of our fellow travellers on the bus were right into this. We suspect that their main reason for coming to Jordan was less about Petra and more about walking in the footsteps of Jesus, Moses et al. The Madaba Map, which is of genuine historic significance, is part of a floor mosaic in the early Byzantine church of Saint George at Madaba. It is a map of the Middle East. Part of it contains the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem. It dates to the 6th century AD.

No organised tour is complete without the hard sell of souvenirs and artefacts, and compared with previous trips to India and Turkey, we'd got off very lightly thus far. We're well acquainted with the routine, so weren't surprised when we were then taken to a mosaic factory in the town. It was certainly impressive to watch the painstaking work involved in making a high quality mosaic from minuscule, but precision-shaped pieces of coloured stone. Then, of course, we were led into the adjacent souvenir shop where large numbers of friendly, smiling sales assistants descended upon us. Some of the handicrafts, which included more than just mosaics, were beautiful (and quite pricey), but as we are trying to de-clutter our lives, we had to disappoint our designated shop assistant whose smile then disappeared along, shortly after, with the assistant herself.

From there, we drove to the top of Mount Nebo, significant to religious people who believe that Moses died and was buried there. If one were irreverent (moi??), one might say that it's such a steep climb to the top of the mountain that potentially anyone could die there as a result of the climb. Many tourists go to Mount Nebo as a kind of pilgrimage, and there is a well set up church and display centre where one can view a number of Roman mosaics which have been uncovered in the area. From the top of Mount Nebo, one can see the so-called Promised Land, even if it was somewhat indistinct through the heat haze on the day that we were there.

This was our last stop before we stopped for an excellent buffet lunch and headed back across the border to Israel. Our guide warned us that we shouldn't expect the border crossing to be easy by comparison with the northern crossing which we'd used to enter Jordan. This southern crossing over the The Allenby Bridge known to the Jordanians as the King Hussein Bridge is a bridge which crosses the Jordan River near the city of Jericho, and connects the West Bank with Jordan. It is currently the sole designated exit/entry point for West Bank Palestinians traveling in and out of the region, so for that reason we were forewarned that security was likely to be really tight.

The approach to the border crossing from the Jordan side is less than impressive. We caught a brief glimpse of the wall which separates the West Bank from the rest of the region and then our bus drove into a noisy traffic-clogged shambles of slummy traders, people milling around and huge clouds of dust from passing vehicles. Somehow, our driver managed to bypass the long queues of stopped cars and buses and deposited us at the entrance to a modern-looking building where we completed all the security and immigration checks within a mere half-hour or so. We could hardly believe it. After our experience of entering Jordan and after the warnings from our guide, it all turned out to be quick and easy. As scheduled, our bus dropped us off at the Jerusalem Gate Hotel, after which we caught an Uber for the 15 minute ride back to Gil and Mira's.

It was hard work, but we were really pleased that we had decided to do the Jordan trip.Read more