Jordan!

Time just seems to fly by! I can't believe how fast it is going, and I just wish that it would slow down. Anyway, I got to ge to Jordan last week!

We left on Monday, starting with crossing the border into Jordan, which did not take nearly as long as it took crossing into Israel. One thing I thought was interesting about that is that there is a big section of land between the two that are unclaimed. Had to have some space between the two I guess.

After we made it across, we drove to Mount Nebo, which had a great view of the Jordan Valley and the Judean Hills from the top.

This is looking towards Jericho (That is the dark green that you see) It was hazy past that, but if it was clear, you would have also been able to see Jerusalem.

Moses was brought here before he was translated, he was shown the promised land, and then told that he would not be able to step foot there. Then he was translated. Also when Elijah was translated, he left Jericho, crossed the Jordan River, and was taken up into a mount before being translated, this mount would have been somewhere near Mount Nebo.

After Nebo, we made a quick stop at Madaba, only long enough to look at a old Greek Orthodox church that had a mosaic Map of the Holy Land on the floors, and to get lunch. 

This is a picture of the General Church area. I like how colorful it was. The church was also St. George's Church, so I had to like it right? I learned that the St. George that is commemorated everywhere in the Holy Land is the St. George who slew the dragon and saved the village.

Here is a picture of the Famous map. It was very helpful in finding some of the sights that had not yet been rediscovered at the time that they found this map. Including sights both in Jordan and Palestine.

Not sure if I have talked about this yet, but one of the things that you see EVERYWHERE is fruit stands. Almost every other store on the main streets are fruit stands, sad that we couldn't trust the fruit in Jordan... Although, we did not have near as many people get sick in Jordan as we did in Turkey:)

Our next stop was Macharus. Not much to see here, other than a good hike. Macharus was one of Herod's 6 palaces, and they think that this is the place where John the Baptist was Beheaded. Herod really liked John, but his wife/Sister-in-law/niece did not, and had Herod put him in Jail, then at Herod's Birthday Party after, Salome, Herod's step-daughter/niece danced for him, he told her that she could have whatever she wanted. Herodius, her mother told her to ask for John the Baptist's head, and because of all the people in attendance, Herod had to give it to her.

View from the top, you can kind of see that it is an body of water just past the mountains, that body of water is the Dead Sea.

This is just a random arch that was part of the Palace.

PETRA!!!!

After Machaerus, we made the 3-4 Hour drive down to Petra, Which I loved. This is the Entrance to the "Siq" Pronounced "Seek" a beautiful slot canyon that is the "Canyon of the Crescent Moon" in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusaders.

This is the water way that is built into the side of the rock. The Nabateans that lived in Petra were really good at channeling the water, so that they could get more use out of the rainfall each year.

You could almost believe that you were in Buckskin Gulch  or some other Slot Canyon in Southern Utah, the difference was this slot canyon, at it narrowest point, is the width of 2 men's wingspans - about 4-5 Meters 

Another view of the water channel down the slot.

Yet Another View of the Siq, sorry I have lots of pictures of Petra, it was my Favorite place, I loved it. Another part of that is it reminds me of St. George.

The Official fish of the desert country of Jordan... The Red Sandstone Fish

 

This is posted out of order, but the Nabateans were famous for their tombs. This would be a family tomb, with each of the Obelisks representing a member, or branch of the Family. - This was before the entrance to the siq.

Had to get my "First Glance" pic:)

The Famous Treasury, where the final scenes of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusaders" were filmed. However, this is also your first real glimps of what Petra is, the 2nd wonder of the world.

There were camels a lot of places, this is farther in, but I rode the camels at the beginning, so I put this picture here.

We got half a day of free time here, so that we didn't have to wait for everyone, and could see what we wanted to see the most, especially since we could really spend a few days here to be able to see everything. I went on 2 hikes, the first, pictured here was to the High Place. This was taken about half way up, looking back on Petra.

And this is looking the other way towards the top. Doesn't it remind you of the hike behind Tuachan?

This was looking South, just below the top. Very pretty, and the Sky was so Blue! I have only seen sky that blue once since I left St. George.

Here is another lookout picture, I can't remember, I think this was also looking South, but was from the top of the hike. Either way, the terrain was all pretty, reminding me of Southern Utah.

Petra was run by the local Bedouin tribes that lived there. This was built into the mountain side, but most were either tents, or Plywood.

This is the second hike, to the Monastery, and again, this is looking towards Petra. It was longer than the High Place, but well worth it.

As I said earlier, there there are Bedouin people everywhere, the other thing that is all over was Donkeys. We were forbidden to ride them, not that I would want to ride them up, but I thought that this was a cute Mother/Daughter Picture. I can't be sure, but I think she was bringing things up to her shop farther up the mountain. There were stands all the way up.

The Monastery was HUGE! We ended up singing in here twice, with a few songs each, include Amazing Grace, I am a Child of God, and Nearer My God to Thee.

As noted above, at the top of the hike to the monastery is also the "View to the End of the World." It was pretty in Any direction that you look.

There are Donkeys everywhere, and often unattended...

Cool Theater, ran out of time, and didn't get to explore it, but it looked cool:)

Another thing that we didn't get to explore, but looked cool were to tombs, these were not the impressive ones, but I had a better pic of them.

After we finished here, we drove to the Capitol of Jordan - Amman. We spent the next two days here.

Day one in Amman, we went to this place, it was the headquarters during the time of the Crusaders? I think. Anyway, this is Hercules temple here, and the Royal Palace is on the Hilltop behind me.

Thanks to American Archaeologists  we have part of Hercules hand of the statue that would have been in the temple. I think they said that the statue would have been 90 feet tall. That is a big man....

next we went to the Jabbok River, where Jacob's name was changed to Israel, and he "Wrestled" with an Angel of the Lord before meeting with his brother Esau.

These are out of order, but we went to Jerash next, the most well preserved Roman city in the Area. These were some cool arches that separated the old and new cities.

My Roommate Ashley and I in the Temple of Zeus

The Gate to the City, I don't remember which one this is, there were tree like this.

Although I had been to Hippodromes before, this was the first that was still sand, and that had a horse in it. We also had a few races in here as well.

The Main Street running East to West. I was standing in the center of the cross, the middle of the city.

Byzantine Chapel Floor Mosaics. 

The Oval Courtyard. Lots of Columns, most of them have been put back up.

My Roommate Katharine and I at the South theater. The Musicians below were playing in this Theater.

The Temple of Artemis. Again....

The retired Royal Musicians. A Drummer and a Bagpiper. They play here occasionally, cool to listen to.

We ended this day with a visit to the Royal Automobile Museum, which had lots of cars in it. They were cool cars, Motorcycles, and Scooters. Here are just of few Pics:

Ferraris!

I think they said this was a Pakistanian painted car ...

Porsche...

Not sure what this one was....

That night we had some free time and walked down Rainbow Street, we found this Crepe place that was really good, and became The destination for the 2 nights that we were there.

Our last day we finished in amman, this is at a theater which they still use for concerts. It can hold 6,000 people, and dates to the Roman times. This is me and my friend Abi

More friends looking up towards the top of the theater. We have from Left to right, Kassie, Jay, Sarah D. Bethany, Sarah T. Emily C. Me, Eleisha, and Liz D.

Another one of Me and Abi.

After the Theater, we went to a big gift shop and waited for the KFC to deliver. It was supposed to be our American food, but we already have fried chicken in the center, and I had to drink Pepsi to make sure that I didn't get sick.

Our last stop in Jordan was the Jordan river where Jesus was Baptized. I told mom that it looked like the Virgin River, only Green, right by the river was more reeds, but farther up the trail, like pictured below, you can see that is is lined with Tamarack trees. It was so cool to be here where the Savior was Baptized. It is to bad that it is the border between the West Bank and Jordan, and so you can't cross the river, otherwise you get in big trouble. So there is a place on both sides.

This was at a look out up the trail from the Baptism site.

Well, that was my trip to Jordan. It was really fun, I really enjoyed myself. I will try to post soon about the Shuk (Open Air market in West Jerusalem - went Yesterday), and Bethlehem (Today), and I think we are touring a tunnel tommorrow, we will see if it is interesting enough to post about. One thing that I am looking forward to is playing for the Formal Talent Show on Thursday night. Just picture, a glass wall, so you can overlook Jerusalem, 9 foot Grand Piano, playing "I Feel My Savior's Love" Arranged by Paul Cardal, and you will be able to see me on Thursday night:)

Have a great day!