J-Ru Adventures: Jordan... Petra!!

Our trip to Jordan was great. We left on Monday and crossed the border into Jordan, and then went to Mount Nebo where Moses saw the promised land and was translated (Deut 34:1-6). That was really neat to be able to look out into the valley to the Promised Land just like Moses would have. After that we went to Madaba to a Greek Orthodox Church with an ancient mosaic of the Holy Land. It was a beautiful church with some great mosaics, ancient and modern. After that we went to Shobak Castle which is a crusader castle. It was fun to be able to explore there and take some pictures. That is the nice thing about most of the sites here. For the most part you can just go wherever you want and things aren't blocked off and whatnot. Then we came to the city of Petra (also called Wadi Musa). That night we just walked around the city for a bit and went to a bakery and stuff.

Mt. Nebo

View of the Promised Land from Mt. Nebo

Madaba church with mosaics

Shobak Castle

On Tuesday, we went to PETRA!!! Haha, that is so crazy!! It was a great trip and we got to see a lot of really neat things. It started by just walking though the rock cliffs and seeing some of the things that the Nabateans had carved into the sandstone. Then when we got further in, our tour guide had us walk to the right side of the path “for our own safety”, but there was nothing unsafe about the left side, so I was like, haha, whatever. Then he had us turn around as he pointed something out for us to look at. Then he pointed something out that made us move over to the right (so now we were on the left side of the path), but this was all just a big lie to get us to be shocked when we turned around and the treasury of Petra was right in front of us. I was so glad he did it cuz it just made it that much better to turn around and be shocked with the carvings. It was so amazing when you finally walked out of the cliffs too. Anyway, then we went to a synagogue at the end of a suuuuuper huge hike of doom. The synagogue was really neat, and there was a great overlook called the end of the world overlook. After lunch I went with a group that went up to the “high place” where they did sacrifices. It was so high up, and it was a great view down. Then we drove to Amman and just walked around the city again and stuff.

Petra!!! (and the goofy Genie pants)

Random guy at Petra with a donkey with a Scream mask...

On Wednesday we went to Jerash, which is one of the best preserved Roman cities in the world (and the best outside of Italy). There were some great ruins there, and some people playing bagpipes and drums in the amphitheater, and we got to see a gladiator show where they had Jordanians dressed up as Roman soldiers, and gladiators fighting, and a chariot race. Later that day we went to the Jabbok River which is where Jacob wrestled with an angel and his name was changed to Israel. Then we went and saw the biggest and newest mosque in Jordan (or at least the outside… we couldn’t go in). After that we went to a church building and the Amman branch president gave us a little fireside thing. After that we came back and had another chill evening.

Jerash ruins and gladiators

Jabbok River

Biggest and newest mosque in Jordan

Then on Thursday, our last day in Jordan, we went to the Abdullah Mosque and we had to wear these super funny cover-up things. They looked like graduation gowns with hoods, and people were calling it a death-eater’s convention. After that we went to the Amman citadel and saw some of the ruins, as well as some of the Dead Sea scrolls. With the Dead Sea scrolls, they had the copper scroll, which was the only metal scroll they found. After that we drove to the traditional baptismal site of Jesus in Jordan. There is no water left there though, because the water level has dropped significantly since Christ's time. There was also a Greek Orthodox Church of St. John the Baptist there. Then we crossed back into Israel and came back to Jerusalem. It was a really great and memorable trip.

Abdullah Mosque