Madaba, Mount Nebo, and the Dead Sea

30 September 2011

Café De Artists

Rainbow Street

Jabal Amman

5:45 PM

Greetings,

This post should have gone up on Wednesday.  So sue me.  It’s short in order to balance out the novel I just posted.

Today (and by that I mean Wednesday. I'm writing to you from the past) I had a really great day trip with all the SIT people. We started in the town of Madaba where we visited St. George's Church, home to the largest mosaic map of the Holy Land (I know that seems like a small category, but it really is impressive). The map is from the time of the Byzantine Empire and is one of the oldest still in existence. Sadly, only a third of the original remains. The church is full of beautiful mosaics, most of which are more recent, but all of which are painstakingly done by hand. 

The church interior 

 Detail of the map 

After Madaba we went to Mount Nebo, the mountain that Moses climbed to look at the Promised Land before he died. The view was a little clouded by haze and dust, but how cool is it to stand at the same place that Moses stood? Of course, no one knows for sure exactly where Moses was, but ancient tradition is the best we have, and ancient tradition says it was this mountain, and it very well could have been- there aren't exactly a lot to choose from. 

 Alexandra and I at Mt. Nebo. We like to consider ourselves Christian pilgrims, and we plan on taking similar pictures at all the Holy sites we visit. 

The Promised Land 

After Nebo we spent the rest of the day at the Dead Sea. SIT booked us reservations at a private beach (which is good, because I hear the public ones get creepy) that also had a pool and lunch for us. Being in the Dead Sea is a bizarre thing. Not only is it the lowest point on earth (over 400 meters below sea level), it is also the saltiest body of water on the earth- 8.6 times as salty as the ocean. You really do float weightlessly, which is really, really, cool. The salt burning every little cut, hang nail, and- in my case- 23 mosquito bites, is not really very cool. I was in for about 10 minutes before I jumped in the pool. When you get out of the salt water you can feel the grains of salt on your skin- a weird sensation. 

Me, Megan, and Ryan floating 

The Dead Sea got its name because nothing can live in it, but it is also applicable because it is shrinking a meter a year! I was glad I got to see it, because by the time I die it might not even exist! The evaporation makes the salt form sculptures and rocks at the edge of the water. 

 Another sunset pictures

Salt on the edge of the water

All the best, 

Barbara