Day 8, Saturday, March 10, 2018 - Amman to Petra

The morning started with a visit to the "Citadel" in Amman. This was called Philadelphia in Roman times and was one of the 10 cities of the Roman decapolis on the eastern frontier of the Roman empire, 10 major cities along the route from Damascus, Syria to Amman, Jordan. In biblical times this was the land of the Ammonites. Roman baths, temples and Byzantine churches have been excavated at the top of the mountain which looks down at a large amphitheater.

We next visited the King Abdullah I mosque which was constructed to commemorate the first king of Jordan who became king in 1948 when Jordan achieved independence from the UK. The current king, King Abdullah II, is the 4th King of Jordan. All the women had to put on black robes with hoods - I'm afraid that they looked like a coven of Wicca priestesses.  The mosque holds 5000 worshipers at one time. At the time we were there, it was empty except for our tour group. Our guide spent some time explaining the difference between Sunni, Shia and other (71) sects of Islam.  He felt strongly that the violent actions of some Muslims was very contrary to the teachings of Islam.

The current king is pushing for more modern development of Jordan with many tall commercial building using modern architecture which really contrasts with most of the Jordanian buildings which are rectangular blocks painted either white or off-white. Many of the older buildings have reinforcing rods sticking out of the roof - apparently this to reduce taxes by arguing that the buildings are not yet complete.

Our next stop was Mt. Nesbo / Pisgah, where Moses is said to have been buried. His grave is said to be under a Franciscan church at the site which has elaborate mosaics in the floor from the 6th century. On the hill below, we could see the spring where Moses struck the rock for water when the Israelites were thirsty on their trek from Egypt. From Mt. Nesbo, God showed Moses the promised land and the city of Jericho across the Jordan which Moses wasn't allowed to enter. It was quite hazy so we couldn't see much of Jericho.

This was a busy day with numerous stops. We visited a Byzantine Greek Orthodox church that is famous for a large mosaic map of biblical sites from the Nile to Jerusalem and Bethlahem. The map was made to show Christian pilgrims in the Byzantine era where the different sites where. Unfortunately, large earthquakes in 761 and 1927 twice destroyed the church, severely damaging the map. The church wasn't rebuilt until the 1960s.

From there we took the desert expressway (loosely speaking) which is an international route from Syria through Jordan to Saudi Arabia. It travels through desert for hundreds of miles. We did see herds of camels along the road. The road follows the route of the Ottoman-era train tracks that Lawrence of Arabia was blowing up in the battle against the Ottomans in 1916.

We finally arrived at the Movenpick Petra hotel which is just outside the entrance to Petra which we will visit tomorrow. The hotel is actually in Wadi Musa, the city of the Moses Valley. Before coming here I read the book "Married to a Bedouin" about a young woman from New Zealand who came here in 1978, married a Bedouin she met in Petra and raised a family with him in one of the Petra caves. Wadi Musa was just a small village then - now it is a chaotic city with hotels, restaurants and shops all over the place and narrow streets clogged with cars. I don't know how the bus drivers do it.

Roman amphitheater from the Citadel in Amman
Women getting ready for mosque visit
David and mom at mosque

View (?) of Jericho across the Jordan
6th century mosaic in Mt. Nesbo church
Crusade castle at Ash-Shawbak on the mountains near Petra



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