Part 76 Jordan - Mt Nebo and Petra
Sunday, 29 April 2018 1:16 pm
We arranged a 2 day tour of Jordan and first stop is the 1300 year old church in Madaba.
This area is famous for mosaics and perhaps the most famous is the eastern Meditation map on the floor of this church dating back to around 700AD
Up on Mt Nebo is this huge sandstone disc used as a fortified door of a Byzantine Monastery
Mt Nebo has been inhabited since early antiquity.
However its real fame is derived from the biblical event as described in the Book of Deuteronomy 34.
Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land.... Then the Lord said to him, "This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it."
And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day on one knows where his grave is. --Deuteronomy 34:1-6
In the 4th century AD, a sanctuary was built on Mount Nebo to honour Moses, possibly on the site of an even older structure. The church was finished by 394 AD.
Interesting this area has ‘feeling’
Our driver/guide explains in Jordan there are 50% Christians intermingled with Muslims and all get on well. To use his words “As it should be”
The site is recognised by all faiths as being religiously significant
Below, the view from our room at the Panorama Hotel in Petra.
Sunday 29th April 2018:
Capital of the Nabatean Empire began to prosper around 100BC through the trading of Frankincense , and Myrrh together with other Spices.
Later it was an important stopover for the camel caravans of the Silk Road. Here the caravaners were taxed 25% of their trading goods which in turn made the capital extremely wealthy.
The gateway to Petra is through a 1.2 km long narrow gorge or Sig provides great protection to the city within.
The Siq opens up to Petra’s most magnificent facade, The Treasury or Al Khazna.
Petra was later invaded by the Romans who wanted to control the caravan route, and thus the income. In 363AD the area was hit by a large earthquake which destroyed much of the city.
That earthquake and changes in the caravan routes lead to the downfall of the city and ultimately lost to the outside world.
In 1812 was it ‘rediscovered’ by the Swiss explorer Johannas Burckardt. He had to pose as an Arab and convince his Bedouin guide to take him to the lost city.
The facades are entrances to family tombs of the Nabatean leaders and wealthy traders.
The tombs, temples, homes, and later a Roman amphitheater were carved out of and into the sandstone canyons.
Homes cut into the rich red sandstone provided cool accomodation during the hot summers.
With shops either side, and the main water fountain for collection of household water this was Petra’s equivalent of ‘Westfields’
800 steps and an hour later we were at the Monastery.
As we are leaving the tourist bus crowds are filling everything.
Today 4,000 tourists are here and an average day can be easily up to 5,000 representing 15% of Jordans GDP.
Now it is off to Israel for a couple of weeks to spend time with some great friends.
Our container with the truck will leave Egypt one week later than arranged, arriving in the UK 21st May.