Jordan 2022 Sights and Sites

Here are pictures from some of the highlights of our two days in the Petra ruins.  One day we climbed to the "High Place of Sacrifice" and the next day to the "Monastery."  The Monastery structure (above) is perhaps the best preserved in the entire site.  Above are two pictures of the Treasury structure at the entrance to the main ruins.  A (once) colonnaded Roman road.  Mosaic from a Byzantine church. More Roman road with the Nabetean era "Great Temple" in the background.  Path on the way to the High Place of Sacrifice (above and below).  Resting along the Roman road.  Resting at the Monastery.  Back down the path from the High Place of Sacrifice.  Somewhere among the ruins.  Path to Monastery (above). In the Siq entrance (above). 

Shobak Castle was the first to be built by the Crusaders in 1115 and originally known as the "Krak de Montreal."  The walls are imposing and have been restored.  There are some Arabic inscriptions carved into the walls that date from 1290. The inside of the castle is a jumble of ruins, tunnels, and half buried room and passageways. One tunnel leads to a water source about two football fields down below ground level.  Our introduction to Petra was by participating in a "Petra by Night" program.  This after dark excursion is done a few nights each week.  Basically, you get to walk by candlelight from the site entrance down through the narrow walls of the gorge or "Siq" passage to the first major building carved into the stone known as the Treasury. We had a great walk there and back and listened to some flute music after we arrived. 

Our destination for tonight was the Dana Biosphere Reserve. On the way we visited the Karak Crusader Castle. In 1812 the ruins of this fortress were described as "shattered but imposing" by a traveler.  That could apply today because there was little inside the collapsed fortress to see but it's looming walls are noticeable from a great distance. During the Crusades, the castle played a strategic role in the region. It is located on ancient caravan routes between Egypt and Syria, and the site was used by the Greeks and Romans. The castle remained in control of Muslim armies after Saladin conquered it in 1138. The Dana Biosphere Reserve campsite we stayed at is managed by the Jordanian Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature.  We spent the night in a tent and walked some of the trails.  Madeleine and Melissa walked a trail to a viewpoint and I took one around the campsite area.  ...

We drove south today.  Our objective was the Dead Sea. Along the way we stopped to visit some sites with mosaics in Madaba.  The sites included an Archeological Park with the oldest mosaic found in Jordan. Inside there was a Roman street and the ruins of two Byzantine churches and a villa.  There was another church with a central portion featuring an image of Thalassa - a female personification of the sea.  There was one active church with a mosaic of a map of the Middle East.  A side trip to search for dolmans was a success!  Then we took a rest stop at a panorama point to enjoy the view of the Dead Sea before continuing on to our seaside hotel for the night. At the hotel we took advantage of their beach to float in the Dead Sea and later watch the sunset from the balcony of our room.

Today we drove north to visit the ruins of the Roman city of Jerash.  The entrance to the city features a triumphal arch built for the visit of Emperor Hadrian. So, it is also known as Hadrian's Arch. Just beyond the arch is a hippodrome that could seat 15,000 people. Today it serves as a grazing area for goats. In pre-COVID days the hippodrome featured chariot races for tourists. There was also a performance of bagpipe music by a Jordanian military band.  The bagpipe music is still performed in one of the two theaters in the city complex to demonstrate the acoustics of the site.  If you look closely, you can see some of the seat numbers in the theater. Next to the theater is a temple to Zeus. (Hadrian's Arch is off to the left of the temple.)  To give some additional perspective there is also a picture of Melissa by the entrance to the temple located at the far left front corner of the ruin.  ...