We were up at 6, dressed, and went down to breakfast (a decent buffet) at 6:30. We ate with Dot and Sandy. It was raining pretty hard, and quite cool. Not what one would think of in Jordan. We brought our luggage down and checked out. I stored my big bag since we will be returning there tomorrow night and the van doesn't hold that much luggage. The staff at the hotel was amazingly helpful and friendly.
Rabi (our guide) and Fadi (our driver) picked us up at 7:30, and off we went. First we stopped for Turkish coffee that Rabi got us. Talk about coffee being like mud. He also got us some Jordanian cookies and bananas. The bananas in this area are much smaller, but they taste like the bananas we are used to and not the too-sweet small bananas.
Our first stop was in Madaba (half hour out of Amman) at the St George's church. The attraction here is the floor mosaic discovered in the late 1800s. It is a huge map of the whole region down to Egypt. Parts are missing, but it is impressive. There are some other more modern mosaics of religious figures. I had looked forward to this, and it didn't disappoint.
Our next stop about 15 minutes away was Mt. Nebo - Moses' last stop where he died since God did not allow him into the promised land. At the start of the lovely walk up to the site, there is a monument to Pope John Paul II, a rather interesting one. There is another beautiful mosaic floor - huge. They are restoring many buildings, so the mosaic was the only thing to see except for the amazing view.
We did see the Brazen Serpent cross sculpture by Italian artist Giovanni Fantoni. Luckily it stopped raining and cleared up enough so that we could see the very north end of the Dead Sea and the city of Jerico. Rather impressive. There was also a huge round stone called an abu badd which was used as a reinforced door to the monastery. As we were leaving, we could see the Spring of Moses where two churches were built and destroyed in the earthquake of 749AD.
We went down the street a ways to an Arts and Crafts center where this state sponsored center employs mostly handicapped individuals who make amazing mosaic pieces and other crafts. I loved the ostrich eggs that they basically tattoo with tiny needles into glorious pieces of art work. And of course there was a shop selling large mosaic pieces, the eggs (which ran anywhere from $100 on up to over $1000. I bought a couple of small items. We were served tea while we shopped.
Then we were really on the road to Wadi Rum and Petra. The rain totally stopped, and we saw mostly a dessert landscape. I would love to have the time to create a coffee table book of minarets. We stopped for lunch about an hour and a half later. We had the typical mezza (dips and bread) - hummus, tahine (this time is was a salad tahine with vegetables chopped quite finely) a kidney bean concoction, the Jordanian salsa, and the cuke and tomato salad. We also had two entrees. First was the local dish that the vender at Jerash recommended - mansaf. This is a bedoin dish of rice on a platter at one end and lamb beside it. The whole mess was covered with a thin piece of dough and it was served with a warm yogurt which was a little unusual. It is considered the national dish of Jordan. The other dish was kabseh - a rice dish with vegetables and spices. It was great. Dot and Sandy bought huge Bedouin type coats that must have weighed a ton.
On we drove through mostly flat, arid countryside. They are building a huge pipeline next to this road for water. After another hour and a half, the flat land gave way to large granite and limestone formations that were breath-taking. This is where large parts of Lawrence of Arabia were filmed and is a state preservation site.
We switched to a 4 wheel drive vehicle driven by a local in native garb. The limestone mountains were awesome. We drove over sand and saw amazing scenery. First stop was in front of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom which was a big feature in Lawrence of Arabia. We also stopped by the Anfashieh inscriptions, a Nabatean graffiti picturing a hoard of camels. Later we stopped at a 'local campground' where tourists can spend the night for a fee. It is in a canyon almost completely surrounded by towering limestone. Men with camels came by wanting us to ride. Saw a young camel suckling his mama. We went to the lounge tent - huge, and permanent - and were served tea by a fire. It was gorgeous, and even though it was cold, I would have loved to have spent a couple of nights here.
Back through the sand to the main road, back into our van, and on to Petra. The drive was about 1.25 hours to get to the town of Petre and our hotel, the Movenpick. We are right across the entrance to Petra. The hotel is lovely, and we were checked in quickly by the Ambercrombie and Kent guy in a suit who met us here. We went to our rooms, cleaned up, and met Dot and Sandy for a lovely buffet dinner. Rabi and Fadi stayed elsewhere. I think Rabi had a crash pad in town since he is there quite often.
I had kishkey (a yogurt, shredded wheat concoction that was great), pumpkin salad (not so great), onion salad - good, tabouli - average, spicy green olives, and the best stuffed grape leaves ever - cold, stuffed with rice. Entrees were a decent little grilled steak and chicken with the most amazing pistachio sauce. Dessert was to die for - a Jordanian bread pudding called osh alsarayea. There was also a ton of other desserts but they were not nearly as good. I also tried a local coconut cake called basbossa.
I found that an hour access was only $1.50, so I went to the business center right after dinner and sent a quick email.
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