Dead Sea

The Kempinski Hotel is quite an amazing property. It lies on the shore of the Dead Sea nestled in among several other hotels including a Marriott property. As far as we can tell, it is the most spectacular. It is one of the few destinations, we would consider returning. Next time we stay in one of the villas. The view of sunset over the Dead Sea from our room. On the other side of the sea is the West Bank in Israel.

It is a big vertical drop from our room to the Dead Sea.

Those are the lights of Jerico in the West Bank of Israel.

The highlight of our two-night stay is a float in the Dead Sea. CJ is a sinker of the highest order. This is the first time in his life he's floated.

What would a dip in the Dead Sea be without giving the mud treatment a go.

It's not easy to wash the dried mud off in 33% saline water. One keeps attempting to flip over. Once you get the mud off, it's replaced by an exfoliation with Dead Sea Salt. 

Two showers later, you're back to normal.

Madaba and Mt. Nebo

This is the main road into Madaba, the third largest city in Jordan.

It is a city of churches and mosques. 

We are here to visit the church of St. George. This is a Greek Orthodox church built over an ancient sixth century AD partial mosaic of the Holy Land.

The mosaic is the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem.

In the afternoon, we visit Mt. Nebo, the place where Moses viewed the Promised Land and died. Too bad it was a hazy day.

At the summit is the Memorial Church of Moses, a church built between 2007 and 2016 to protect the archaeological remains and serve as a place of worship. It houses exquisite Byzantine mosaics, some of which are displayed in situ and others are mounted on the walls.

Following the visit we descend from Mount Nebo at 2300 feet ABOVE sea level to the Dead Sea at 1300 BELOW sea level on one short serpentine bus ride!

!!!!!!!!!!! WOW Petra WOW !!!!!!!!!!!

WOW! WOW! WOW! 

Lindblad puts us up in the Movinpick Hotel. What an excellent choice. It is across the street from the Petra entrance.

Petra doesn't take long to grab you and impress your socks off. By the time you reach its signature Treasury, you've long anointed this Best Attraction Ever. It is more impressive that the Mont St. Michel, Niagara Falls, and even the Grand Canyon.

We did not expect the enormity of it. There is a long gorgeous canyon of towering cliffs leading to the Treasury. 

Another tomb in Treasury square.

The Treasury is spectacular, but it is only the first rest point of a long walk through the city of old Petra. From Treasure Square we must walk a few hundred yards to the next golf cart.

Mo took the walking part of our group down to this place to see colored rock striations. CJ used his cameras to capture their walk. (We'll later see the same things from the comfort of a table on the patio of the restaurant)

There are many additional burial tombs, homes, and temples before one reaches a Roman town.

There seems to be no end to this city, its temples, houses, and tombs.

This is a Roman amphitheater.

As soon as it comes into view, there can be no question these are Roman ruins. 

We have lunch at a restaurant at the far end of the known city. Since we have made the trip mostly by golf cart, we arrive a good hour before the rest of our group who are resigned to the two-hour walk escorted by Mo. We spend the time chatting with the Juan Carlos, the N-G guide from the Galapagos.

Coloured rock formations.

Across the way there is another restaurant. There are windows in these ruins. We forget to ask our guide.

Lunch is another elaborate Jordanian affair.

A few of our more intrepid (read fit) fellow travelers continue on to the Monastery. On our return trip, we discover views we didn't see on the way in as well as different experiences due to different lighting.

An evening in the hotel. 

We didn't realize our tour of old Petra had more legs. As we depart in the morning, Mo has the bus take us out the 'back' way. It affords us an 'aerial' view of Petra.

Additionally, we visit one of the cisterns that serviced Petra. The entrance is through the 'modern' door installed by the Government. Lower on the wall to the right of the door and looking like a dark fan is where the water was released for camel caravans to drink. Camel caravans were as large as 800 camels.

The incredible thing about these cisterns is that they were dug by hand with primitive tools!

Our parting picture of Petra is that of Arabs walking the desert.

WOW! WOW! WOW!