Return to Amman

This is the room the flight attendant/travel agent on our Fiji Airways flight booked for us in Amman.

Hishan picks us up for a driving tour of Amman at ten on our final day in Jordan. First up a bus themed restaurant.

This lantern street takes a steep drop just after the lanterns.

Minarets/mosques are everywhere. There are also a lot of churches.

They have decorated this climb between neighborhoods.

Amman is a very hilly city. The Byzantine church ruin in the Citadel is in the upper right corner and a gorge lower center.

The Citadel from another of Amman's hills.

Typical downtown streets.

One of the market areas. This fellow selling ginger.

Amman's Blue Mosque.

CJ is intrigued by signs. Why are many in English and Arabic, some only in English, and some only in Arabic?

After zigzagging our way through downtown, we drive to an area of caves and a Greek ruin. At times we're pulling G's the hills are so steep. At other times the drop is so dramatic the road disappears. Steep climbs, steep drops, and S-curves too numerous to count. We are getting dramatic scenery and views of Amman neighborhoods.

More caves

Just beyond the caves is Qasr Iraq Al-Amir, the site of a Greek palace constructed between 182 and 172 BCE.

Our guide has timed the visit to the lady's cooperative perfectly. We arrive as the mosque begins the noonish call to prayers. He leaves us to shop while he goes to pray.

He had told us the quality would be handmade and support a good cause. We were looking for specific clothing items. They did not have a large selection and what they did have was nothing what we wanted. There was a pottery shop, a picture and stationary shop, and a clothing shop.

The women will also provide lunch. Hishan returns in time to dish out lunch. He can't seem to understand small portions.

Across the course of the day, we've been treated to hair raising driving but also a wide variety of scenery and neighborhoods from all parts of the social and economic spectrum.

We've seen olive trees, the city turn from urban to rural, and experienced the almost mountainous nature of the city of Amman.

Back at the hotel, we lookout on an apartment building. To its right is a distant and dense Amman neighborhood. To its left is an even more distant dense Amman neighborhood. 

We landed at Queen Alia International Airport which is in the middle of the desert with no city, let alone a huge international capital in sight. Drive far enough and when Amman appears, it is huge!

Bethany

Yesterday, between the hotel not allowing us to access the carts to the beach at 0700 (beach is supposed to open at sunrise) and the time our failing bodies required to climb down to the beach and up from the beach (it is a significant vertical drop), CJ missed the rendezvous time for the group trip to Bethany.

Mo is incredible. He has decided it is not something we should miss. Since most of our group is departing the hotel across the night for their flights, he plans a private tour with golf carts this morning for us.

CJ was not happy to have missed it yesterday but consciously made the decision that the Dead Sea experience was more important than this religious experience. He is thankful to Mo for having righted that wrong minded thinking.

In archeological terms, this site is relatively new. This mosaic documents six people who described the site where John the Baptist conducted his baptisms. The accounts were detailed and self-collaborating. No one could excavate the suspect site because the land was disputed and mined by Israel and Jordan. 

A peace treaty in 1994 between Jordan and Israel resulted in demining the area and excavation of the area suspected to be the site where John performed baptisms. Archeologists unearthed the precise buildings described in the mosaic.

This mosaic depicts the visit of Pope John-Paul to dedicate the site. Pictured are the King and Queen of Jordan, the Crown Prince, and the sheik responsible for uncovering the site.

Carol is performing a self-baptism from the water of the site.

We are standing at the edge of the site in Jordan. The Jordan River is just behind and below us. That is the occupied West Bank in Israel on the other side of the Jordan River.

Carol is thinking about dipping her foot in the Jordan River.

This is the Greek Orthodox Church of John the Baptist located on the site.

Several churches have been constructed in the immediate area. The pope also order that a mosque be built nearby.

Following the visit, we return to the Kempinski to shower and check-out. Mo accompanies us to Amman where we part company. His cousin Hisham is our driver and will be our guide tomorrow. He drops us for lunch at a Mo-recommended restaurant. It is both elegant and excellent.

It's been a long day. Thankfully we have a bottle of the Lebanese Old Vine Carignan to enjoy with simple Jordanian room service.