We left Amman in the early morning to travel to
'Bethany beyond The Jordan' This is the area where historically Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist.
The Baptism Site (Arabic: el-Maghtas) on the Jordan side of the Jordan River is one of the most important recent discoveries in biblical archaeology. Excavations only began here in 1996, following Jordan's peace treaty with Israel in 1994, but have already uncovered more than 20 churches, caves and baptismal pools dating from the Roman and Byzantine periods.
Although the identification is not absolutely certain, archaeology has shown that the area known as Wadi Kharrar has long been believed to be the biblical Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, where John the Baptist lived and Jesus was baptized.
This area is also associated with the ascension of the Prophet Elijah into heaven, which is commemorated at a hill called Tell Mar Elias.
The River Jordan
The baptismal site on the Jordanian side of the River Jordan itself is little more than a muddy stream, since much of the water is removed upstream for use by Israel and Jordan.
The opposite bank is Israel, where a small 1950s chapel, "baptism site" can be seen.
A modern Orthodox church dedicated to St. John the Baptist has been built next to the Jordan River as part of the development of the site. The small church has a golden dome and is painted with Byzantine-style murals inside.
We then travelled to Mount Nebo
Mount Nebo
Mount Nebo (Arabic: جبل نيبو, Jabal Nibu. Hebrew: הַר נְבוֹ, Har Nevo, ) is an elevated ridge that is approximately 817 meters (2680 feet) above sea level, in Jordan. The view from the summit provides a panorama of the Holy Land and, to the north, a more limited one of the valley of the River Jordan. The West Bank city of Jericho is usually visible from the summit, as is Jerusalem on a very clear day.
Religious significance
Judaism and Christianity
According to the final chapter of Deuteronomy, Mount Nebo is where the Hebrew prophet Moses was given a view of the promised land that God was giving to the Israelites.
'And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho'.
—Deuteronomy 34:1
According to Jewish and Christian tradition and the Bible, Moses was buried on this mountain by God Himself, and his final resting place is unknown. Scholars continue to dispute whether the mountain currently known as Nebo is the same as the mountain referred to in the Torah. According to the 2 Maccabees 2:4–7, the Prophet Jeremiah hid the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant in a cave here.
Visiting these sites was very moving and we then travelled to Madaba for a wonderful lunch of typical Jordanian food and then visited the Orthodox Church of George to see
The Mosaic Map of the Holy Land comprising two million pieces of coloured stone.
It was the Christian vision of continuity and completeness that inspired the mosaic artists and crafts workers of the area to make the Mosaic Map of Madaba which considered a guideline for proving geographic regions and borders. This famous mosaic designed in around 570 AD to decorate the floor of a Byzantine church in Mabada. It is more than a geographic text of that era, showing the entire region from Jordan and Palestine in the north, to Egypt in the south, and depicting in picture form: plains, hills, valleys, villages, and many towns and cities, complete with walls and pitched re-roofed houses, while in the Nile huge fish swim.
It includes a charming plan of the holy city of Jerusalem placed at the center of the redeemed acumen: on the left is the north gate from which two colonnaded streets run south. On the straight street through the heart of the city stands the domed Holy Sepulchre. Clearly inscribed above the north and east gates is the legend "Holy City of Jerusalem". Today this splendid map housed in the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, which built in 1896 over the remains of the original Byzantine Church. Only part of the map preserved. It originally measured a staggering 25 x 5 meters and made of more than 2 million pieces of coloured stone tesserae.
We also visited the J
ewel Mosaic Workshop which provides training and employment for disabled people to enable them to learn the techniques needed to produce the famous Jordanian mosaics. We marvelled at the wonderful items produced but were distressed to see one of the employees being hit by a supervisor.
We then continued to our final destination for the day, Petra. We arrived at the Movenpick Resort which is located right at the top of the Petra site and settled into our luxurious accommodation and explored the hotel and shopping arcade attached to it.
