Woke at 6:30 showered, dressed and hurriedly packed up and went for breakfast. By 8:00 we were on the bus heading south to Madaba. The weather was cool and sunny. During the drive Ayman told us stories from the Old Testament, the origin of the Moabites, Edomites and Ammonites, and of the tribes of Isreal. The site we would be visiting, mount Nebo is where Moses saw the holy land from a distance but was not allowed to enter it.
Around 9:00 we pulled into the town of Madaba and a short while later stopped at the entrance of the church built on top of mount Nebo. It was now extremely windy and cool so we put on another jacket and wandered up the olive tree lined path leading out to the church. We stopped at a statue dedicated to those who donated to the restoration of the church. A little further on was a tent in which were the mosaics of the church floor, waiting for the church restoration to be completed before they would be returned. The church itself was not accessible to us during restoration, so Ayman lead us around the church to the vantage point on the west side overlooking the valley below. He pointed out Jericho and Jerusalem, the Jordan river and the Dead Sea. Standing here it really seems like one can see the entire holy land and imagine Moses standing there gazing over it. We snapped a couple of photos of views and the serpentine staff/cross erected nearby. Heading back we spent a few minutes in the museum learning a bit more about the site, the mosaics and the history associated with this place.
On the way back to Madaba city we stopped at a mosaic factory and shop. The place employs many disabled and special needs people enabling them to make a living. We stepped inside and a lady started explaining the various techniques. Traditionally flour and water were mixed to form a glue, and the stone fragments then glued to a material cloth backing. Later the mosaics would be grouted. Another (cheaper) technique is to directly glue the mosaic pieces with superglue. Inside the shop the lady explained a bit more about the various mosaics. She showed us a big ostrich egg and joked that it was a Jordanian camel egg, no one on our group fell for it but apparently people on other tours do. The eggs were decorated with the finest mosaic work, each finely crushed coloured stone was individually stuck to the egg in intricate patterns. We spent some time browsing the shop and admiring the work. Ayman suggested there would be better prices in Amman, so we didn't buy.
We headed into Madaba and our next stop was the Greek Orthodox Church of St George which is famous as it is on the pilgramige route and contains a beautiful mosaic map of the holy land and Egypt. Ayman again pointed out the significant sites, Dead Sea, mount Nebo, Jericho, Jerusalem, Hebron, the baptism site of Jesus. He also explained where the tribes of Amon, Moab and Edom had lived. We had a bit of time to explore the beatiful church and enjoyed the intricate mosaics and artworks of the life of Christ.
We had some free time to wonder around the shops to buy souvenirs such as mosaics, carvings, tshirts and so forth. Afterwards we had lunch at a restaurant called Ayola after which we were back on the road again.
Some time later we arrived in Karak, a crusader castle, perched high up on a steep mountain. It was extemely windy and cool as we huddled around Aymam to listen to his speech. This was an extremely important strategic castle throughout history, to the Persians, Greeks, Romans and then the Crusaders and Saracens, then ottomans who used it as a jail. All these civilizations wanted to control the kings road or trade route that ran nearby. The crusaders merely built upon and reused much of the stone frUom earlier structures. The main entrance to the castle was constructed at 90 degrees from the causeway that crossed the ditch in front of the massive wall, in order to prevent the use of battering rams. We proceeded inside the castle an into a long high underground passage which Ayman explained was the stables. Only a few narrow arrow slits threw light into the darkness apart from the open entrance we had come through.
Ayman explained a bit of the history of the crusades. In 1095 the pope Urban II decreed the crusades to reclaim the holy land from the Muslims, although other motives such as politics and economics may also have played a role. Nine crusades followed, some ending in failure before even reaching the holy land, before they finally managed to occupy Jerusalem and extended area of Palestine in 1099AD. In addition to Karak the crusaders also built another fort called Montreal near Petra.
A wild brave Frenchman called Raynald de Chatillon and his wife Stephanie, moved into the castle and used to stop Muslims doing their pilgrimage to steal from them and throw them off the castle. Because of his behavior, Saladin the most respected Muslim leader decided to kill him. Raynald prepared an army to meet Saladin but Saladin got there first - Raynald's army was too tired so Saladin triumphed and cut off Raynald's head. Saladin went back to the castle and held it in siege for 8 months but they could not break in. Eventually they stopped the water supply, and that ended the siege. Saladin then attacked Jerusalem and liberated it from the crusaders.
Walking through the massive fort, Ayman pointed out many interesting things, such as the very low doorways (actually designed that way for defence), a kitchen where bread would have been baked and dishes washed, the water reservoir, the jail, the crusader church, four rooms which were initially used as living quarters by Raynald and Stephanie, one of which was later converted by the mumluk Muslims into a small mosque since it faced Mecca. The rooms used by Raynald had no roof in the central reception hall, this was the style at the time. We explored further in our free time, climbing stairs and crumbling walls for better views of the castle and surrounding area. Then we got back in the bus for a long ride to Wadi Musa - which means valley of Moses, it is the town next to Petra.
We arrived in Petra and checked into the "Silk road" hotel. It was a really basic hotel, selected because of its fantastic location close to the entrance to Petra. The room was all purple, even the ceiling, but it was clean, comfortable and they left us a huge plate of fresh fruit which was nice. We headed for a quick dinner in the hotel restaurant, Ayman had promised this would be the best meal so far. He was quite excited to show us the food and explain what it was. The star of the show was a lamb dish called Mansaf, which is a Bedouin dish and also the national dish of Jordan. The lamb was cooked on the bone in fermented yogurt, served on a large flatbread with rice, roasted almonds and lots of yoghurt sauce. They also had maklouba or upside down chicken - a rice casserole which is cooked with the meat at the bottom and then the entire dish is turned upside down to serve. It was all genuinely delicious and the meat was so tender!
At 8:30 we headed out to do "Petra by night" an optional extra we had paid 17 dinar for (R340). Ayman recommended we wait until there were no or less tourists in sight, and then enjoy the walk to Petra's most famous monument, the treasury. We walked with some of our friends, the path illuminated with only candles in paper bags. It created a beautiful romantic atmosphere. We entered the siq - the shaft/gorge and main entrance to the ancient city, the high walls only slightly illuminated. The walk was far and it took us at least 15 to 20 minutes. As we rounded the last corner, we saw hundreds of candles in the sand below the amazing treasury, a huge rock cut monument in the rose red stone.
We arrived just in time to take our seats around the candles, while some music started playing.
It was a flute, playing traditional music. We all sat in silence, enjoying the atmosphere. Soon the flute player walked out into the candles and close to the crowd, then sat down in the centre and started playing another instrument with a single string, he also started singing Bedouin songs. Another guy came around with cups of sweet mint tea for everyone. The end of the show was the "guide" giving his "speech". It went along the lines of "someone spoke to me and I asked her to identify herself, she said she was my mother but my mother was the winds and the earth and the mountain. She said her name was Petra and asked me to tell the visitors to take care of her and enjoy her..." Blah blah blah, Ayman wasn't joking when he said this was the low point of the experience :)
After that we tried to take photos in the dim light and then walked the long road back to the hotel, preparing for an early wake up the next morning for our big day.
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