Middle East

Arrived in Amman yesterday and floated in the Dead Sea. Sian did the mud and salt thing but I declined. Today we visited Jerash, first inhabited in 7500 BC and which was spectacular, and the Amman Citadel.

Dawn over the Dead Sea and the West Bank.
Never ending desert.
A light lunch.
Amman.
Jerash.

Off to Petra tomorrow.

Did that in 1997, but from the Israeli side! Pretty weird to float like that! Did the mud thing, too, but wished I had passed on that later, when trying to shower it off.

I had to edit it to 1997 after checking my records. Time flies.

Day 2. We went up Mount Nebo where Moses was shown the promised land that he would not get to enter. Including the church built over the purported site at the top.
Then to a facility that teaches locals how to make mosaics using the old methods (bought a decorated ostrich egg!).
Then to the Church of St. George in Madapa ( patron saint of England even though he was a Roman). Sian had shorts on so was hauled aside and covered up!
Then on through the endless desert to Petra, ready to visit the old City.

Jerico from Mount Nebo.
Monument to Moses (representing his staff).
Church mosaics.
Students making mosaics.
Sian fully covered.
St. George.
Mount Nebo information.

That's a fun trip. It was quite amazing to be driving around, look up and see something I had only heard about in Sunday School.

I hate that we lost every single picture that we took when Katrina hit.

Went into Petra today.

Approaching the Treasury through the gorge.
The Treasury
Tombs
Stadium
Lower Gate
Temple
Local taxi

Just returned from 11 years in that region. Spent last couple of days in Oyster Bay New York, where I haven’t been in 35 years.

This place is as exotic to me as Jordan is to you [emoji846]

Nice photos Menzies

You’re on a roll... around the world. Enjoy it!

If you swing by Dammam, sound your horn. I'll wave.

Group9 said:

That's a fun trip. It was quite amazing to be driving around, look up and see something I had only heard about in Sunday School.

I hate that we lost every single picture that we took when Katrina hit.

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Reminder to all here to store a copy of everything digital in a cloud platform. Costs are way down, many free, and there's no reason to ever again lose a photo or file to a failed computer or a hurricane. Things have changed a lot since Katrina in that regard. However, cloud backup is an essential today.

Great photos. One of yours reminded me of some of the NFL stadiums these days....

Enjoy it, Menzies. Some great historical sights to see.

Just don't stray too far north.
I'm just east of Duhok at the moment and its time to get out of here.

Got to the Golan Heights, as far north as we went. Now in Cairo. Some more pics later.

menzies said:

Got to the Golan Heights, as far north as we went. Now in Cairo. Some more pics later.

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Any problem entering other countries nearby after visiting Israel?
I visited Israel years ago, it seemed too hard to travel independently so took a tour,after a few days in Tel Aviv on my own. Really vibrant country, saw a lot. Golan Heights was interesting,Masada too.
Stay safe, it seems way less stable there than when I visited.

There is if you get an Israeli stamp in your passport. For countries like Lebanon, Iraq, Iran etc. Not countries I want to visit anyway. However Israel now gives you your stamp on a separate piece of blue paper that you keep with you while you there. So not on your passport. We also have British passports so could travel on those to other countries if we ever wanted to.

BandB said:

Reminder to all here to store a copy of everything digital in a cloud platform. Costs are way down, many free, and there's no reason to ever again lose a photo or file to a failed computer or a hurricane. Things have changed a lot since Katrina in that regard. However, cloud backup is an essential today.

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Yep, no reason to lose that stuff today. I had all the electronic pictures backed up, but never dreamed we would get as much water as we did, and the backup drive was destroyed, too.

The worst thing was, all our regular pictures and albums were stored in a giant plastic bin, that filled up with water, and that the pictures sat in for six weeks before we could start emptying the house out. Nothing but mush at that point.

But, again, that is the trip of a lifetime, and I still have the pictures in my head. Seeing yours are a nice reminder.

Group9 said:

But, again, that is the trip of a lifetime, and I still have the pictures in my head. Seeing yours are a nice reminder.

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We're not picture takers and have all those in our heads. I wonder sometimes how they compare to the real thing. With time, it may be they're even better, the beauty more beautiful. It's like things you go back to that aren't as magnificent as you remember simply because with time you'd made them more so.

Forecast for tomorrow. Third day in southerm Egypt (Upper Egypt) and the temps have been consistent. Hate to think what the "feels like" is!

menzies said:

Forecast for tomorrow. Third day in southerm Egypt (Upper Egypt) and the temps have been consistent. Hate to think what the "feels like" is!

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I remember the great exchange rate when we were there. Drinking Gold Star beer in a bar for .75 U.S. apiece!

Jordan pics are all processed and loaded on my site. Israel and Egypt next.

Jordan 2019 | AtAnchor.com

If you ever get the chance, visit Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the Holocaust Remembrance Center. This is a small part of our visit, to the Children's Memorial, a memorial to the 1.5 million children murdered. The reflected candles represent the children killed, and the names, ages and nationality read out in English and in their native languages. Chilling, but in a thoughtful way, reflective.

The world is not perfect. Jesus sought out the imperfect and dined with them rather than the "perfect." Not a Judaism thought, but a worldly thought none the less.

Israel and more of The Holy Land

Israel 2019 | AtAnchor.com

Egypt short movie and photos.

Egypt 2019 | AtAnchor.com