Madaba and Mt. Nebo

Trip Start Jun 16, 2008
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Trip End Aug 14, 2008


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Thursday, July 17, 2008

A few days ago, I went with a language center program to Madaba and Mt. Nebo. The bus was scheduled to depart at 7:30am. We should have anticipated that this was 7:30 Arab time. The bus didn't arrive until around 8:15 and we didn't leave for another 20 minutes or so. Our first stop on this day trip was Mt. Nebo. Mt. Nebo is the location where Moses was shown the Promised Land. According to the Bible, Moses was never allowed to enter the Promised Land but only allowed to gaze out over it from this mountain. This is also said to be the location of Moses's death. For this reason, the mountain holds special significance for Christians, Jews and Muslims alike. The view is breathtaking. You can see for miles in every direction. The Dead Sea is clearly visiable as is the other side of the Dead Sea: Israel. We were able to catch glimpes of the Dome of the Rock too. It was only noticable because of the eye-catching gold dome. Mt. Nebo has a small museum with many mosaics and ancient artifacts. Inside Church of the Virgin
Inside Church of the Virgin
 On the tip of the mountain is a stylized cross that I'm sure most people have seen a picture of before. After enjoying about an hour or so of the view the 40 of us loaded back on the bus for the quick trip to Madaba.

Madaba is a small city south of Amman that is known for several things, including its mosaics. Our first stop was the Madaba visitor's center where we paid 1.50JD to watch a video. The video didn't work. The money wasn't refunded. After, we took a quick walk to the Church of theVirgin. This church is an archeological site that is home to many preserved mosaics and a mosaic craft school. The church itself has a beautiful mosaic on the floor that is viewed from a walkway suspended above the mosaic. Walking through the church and viewing the mosaics took about 45min before we headed on. It was about 12:30 at this point and we were all hungry. We walked down the narrow streets led by our guide to a restaurant that would have been otherwise unnoticed. After stepping inside the doorway, you were let into a sort of small courtyard oasis. However this oasis turned out to have a fee of 13JD for its enjoyment. We left pronto. Our next option was a few blocks down- a cafe called the Ayola. We settled on this moderately priced sandwich/ coffeehouse. After a 45 minute break for lunch, we crossed the street to the St. George Church. This Church is known for the mosaic that covers part of its floor. The mosaic is the oldest known map of the Middle East. The church is a traditional Orthodax church with walls lined with iconic decorations and ornate frames.

At about 3:30 we loaded the bus and headed back to Amman. I slept the whole way back.
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