Spectacular Views

Hi all,

I feel like I have not updated this blog enough, but that is mostly because I have been doing many things. And I get overwhelmed with how much I can feasibly tell you. And then I put it off.

Last weekend, I was quite the tourist. I went to Umm Qais, an old city that can be traced archaeologically to the Hellenistic, Omayyad, and beyond. Built from basalt rock, the ruins are completely black. The most stunning of which is the amphitheater. When we arrived, we ate at a beautiful restaurant that looked over the Golan Heights, the Sea of Tiberius, and Syria. The food was ok, but the view was stunning. The museum also was excellent. The museum guide gave the tour to Ally and I completely in Arabic, which I appreciated and understood for the most part. He was such a nice person and showed us some interesting things.




If you go to Jordan, please go to this place. It is worth the 3JD you pay and the madness it takes to get there. And it is madness. To get back to Amman, we had to have the tourist police call for a bus. Most of the "companies" they called just flat out refused. In the buses, the played the Qu'ran. It was extremely soothing. I don't know if there are many religious texts that sounds so beautiful while reading.

SPEAKING of religion (such a smooth transition there), I also went on the Biblical tour of Jordan. Now, next to Petra, Biblical sites are the other main tourist attraction and income for the country. But I can not tell a lie. I did not really enjoy the tour all that much.

First, we went to Bethlehem beyond the Jordan, where Jesus was baptized. This is very cool to see in theory. You could see the original stones and marble steps where the baptism took place, which is neat. But they reconstructed a lot of stuff around it. I found that mostly unnecessary and a detraction from the sight. The Jordan river is also essentially a little muddy creak.

Anyways, after that we went to Mt. Nebo, where Moses took the Israelites. It is a nice view, I will not deny. It just felt very overblown. But again, this is a huge source of tourism. I can not really judge. There were also some awesome mosaics there as well.

The second leg of the trip I found more interesting. We went to Madaba where a mosaic dating back 1500 years is located. It depicts a map of the Holy Land designed to guide pilgrims. Sadly, a lot of it was destroyed in the iconoclast. It is beautiful though and extremely remarkable.

The last sight, of which I will provide a photo, was Herod's Palace. This, as the story goes, is the place where the head of John the Baptist was ordered. And from this view, you can see why it was located here. I mean, poor John, but at least he had a nice view in the end. You can see the Dead Sea and the palace can be seen from Bethlehem.


Alright folks. I am boring myself here. I think I may post about food soon!!!

Salam,
Liz