The day we left Amman was long. We were mainly in search of examples of Jordan’s impresssive mosaics. The first stop was in Madaba, about an hour southwest of Amman where we studied the Madaba Mosaic Map – in the floor of the Byzantine church of Saint George. It is probably the oldest map of the Holy Land and it includes Jerusalem, the Jordan River, the Nile Delta, the Mediterranean, the Dead Sea and the Eastern Deserts. It is oriented East/West rather than North/South. Our visit to Madaba was basically a surgical strike – in to see the Mosaic Map and out again to avoid the worst of the crowds. It appears to be a very popular place. What I did see of the city was lovely – it looked thriving – but, of course, we didn’t get an extensive tour.
Back on the bus and we were headed for a visit to Moses’ Spring at Mount Nebo – a bit further south. There is the Memorial Church of Moses constructed in the fourth century where Moses was supposedly given a view of the promised land. The floor of the church is full of mosaics, and while cleaning some of them, more mosaics were found beneath. Again, the crowds were gathering so Basel hustled us back down to the bus for the next leg of our journey.
Along the way we passed a group of camels lounging by the highway and I was lucky enough to get a picture. Usually the bus is going too quickly for me to get any good shot.
We stopped at a Queen Noor co-op which supports local artisans. We watched the incredible artists creating mosaics using local limestone which comes naturally in various colours. They do a lot of Tree-of-Life mosaics for the tourists. There were a couple of artists using tiny bits of limestone to create mosaics on ostrich eggs. They were all absolutely beautiful but also way out of my price range.
Next was our lunch stop at the Kir Heres Restaurant in Karak where we were given a main meal of goat cooked in a yogurt sauce. I’m not much of a goat eater but this was delicious.
After lunch we walked down to the Karak Castle built in medieval times – around the middle of the 12th century. The castle occupants controlled the trade routes (silk and spice) as well as the movements of the local Bedouin because of its central and strategic location. Typical of crusader castles, it sports a moat, slanted walls and towers.
The trip from Karak to Petra took close to two hours so by the time we got to our hotel (the Movenpick) we only had energy for supper and then to bed. The hotel is quite nice and the room very comfortable.