We began our trip by driving north to Umm Queis, an ancient Roman city which has quite a few intact structures, such as a tomb, the base of a massive gateway arch, and several buildings reconstructed by the Turks. I honestly don’t have great recall about Umm Queis because I hadn’t had anything to drink all day and it was stiflingly hot up there, so I started to have some symptoms of heat stroke. Mostly I remember the first few things we saw, and then I just remember being way overheated, tired, and having a headache. When we got back to the bus I guzzled an entire 1.25 liter bottle of water and then slept for the ride to Jerash.
Jerash is the most well-preserved Roman city in the world because for most of the time since it was left uninhabited it was buried entirely in sand. The sand preserved the details of the structures extremely well, and so when we got off the bus to explore (myself feeling considerable better) we found a whole skyline of Roman ruins waiting for us to explore. We saw Hadrian’s arch, which was constructed by the Romans in anticipation of a visit by the Emperor Hadrian. Once entering the city we visited the main forum area followed by the Temple of Artemis and what many believe to be the first machine ever built: a wooden stonecutting machine which used water to cut pillar stones. We visited another theatre where several locals entertained us with bagpipe and drum music.
Tuesday was spent having lectures at JETS about Arab culture. During a break I visited the Safeway next door and discovered a drink that would get me through the whole of the remaining week: Mint Lemonade. Tropicana makes it in Jordan, but unfortunately not in the States. We returned to JETS and finished the day of lectures while enjoying another amazing meal cooked by some of the ladies at JETS.
Tuesday night the guys watched Top Gear (Fletcher had finally stopped hanging out in the girl’s apartment all night watching Australian soap operas) and Ben Baldwin discovered that he could play Pokemon on his laptop. These were all warning signs that for us, culture fatigue was setting in. I loved being in Jordan and the Arabic culture was fascinating, however, after two and a half weeks of it we were really starting to miss the casual, irreverent, and laid-back culture of the states. Constantly being aware of cultural cues and developments was far more exhausting than we’d expected.
Wednesday we hopped onto the tour bus for one last day trip. This time we drove south into the Jordan valley to visit one of the possible locations of Jesus’ baptism. We walked through a winding path into the unusually lush greenery around the Jordan until we came to the river itself. Though most of the water is now used for drinking and thus the river is considerably smaller than it once was, standing on the banks of such a historic river was an exhilarating experience, made even better by the visit of some Anglicans performing Eucharist at the spot while we were there.
Later that day we also visited Madaba, a town south of Jordan which housed one of the more impressive collections of mosaic art in the area. The centerpiece of this collection was a church floor which had been “mosaic’d” so that it formed a massive map of the whole holy land. Though parts of the mosaic were damaged, the whole thing was simply spectacular.
Our final two days of lecture began on Thursday and were filled with much learning, more mint lemonade, and one very security-filled visit to the U.S. Embassy to talk about the State Department. Friday afternoon we spent a good 3 hours or so doing what Chris called “preliminary processing.” We went over and had group discussion about the major things about biblical geography, Arabic culture, and Israel which we had noticed during our weeks in Jordan.
Saturday was to be our “free day” where we could pretty much do whatever we wanted. Ben Baldwin and I decided that first on that list was “sleep” so we didn’t get up until 10:00AM. After we’d gotten ready for the day we jumped into a taxi and met the rest of the group (who’d been wandering university campuses and buying coffee) to grab lunch with some Muslim friends of Hannah’s she’d met while working at Yellowstone. They took us to an Arabic restaurant and ordered us Mindee, which is basically chicken on top of some really fancy rice. We ate until we were stuffed, and the whole meal demonstrated the Arabic sense of time since we didn’t get our check and leave until 2:00PM. Following that we split up to shop and get one last taste of Amman before we left.
At 8:00 that night we set off for the airport, and after spending some time at the gate chatting with world travelers and one R+B band, we boarded our flight back to New York. I watched a movie, and then, after a long trip filled with crazy stories, profound moments, amazing sights, fantastic food, and other travel clichés… I fell asleep on the way back home.
And now I'm not in Jordan anymore.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
IT'S OVER 9000!!!!! Years Old, That Is
We arrived in Jericho mid-morning the next day and toured the site. Our guide wasn’t supremely knowledgeable (we hired him from the gate) but he did try his best. We saw several walls, which although they weren’t the original walls were still about 9,000 years old. By the time we got to the top of the remnants of the city it was getting REALLY hot, so we ducked into the visitor’s center cafeteria to get some lunch. The power was out temporarily, so they brought us falafel sandwiches and cokes with ice.
After a supremely refreshing lunch the power came back on and we loaded onto the bus to drive back into Jordan for the final week of our trip. Israeli security was again both confusing and harsh, but we made it through and into Jordan, whose security was more reasonable. After a long day’s drive we got back to the apartments and collapsed into a heap.
Our next day was willed with lectures and Sunday we took some time to relax. Instead of rushing off at around 8:00am like most of the days thus far, we instead slept in until around lunchtime, then paid a visit to the Jordan times. The senior editor came out to talk with us about Jordanian issues and the “Arab Spring” as it’s been called by the news media. He was optimistic about the future for Arabs, but at the same time didn’t think that one revolution would change a country entirely.
After visiting the Times we went back to the apartments for some much needed rest before our day trip on Monday.
After a supremely refreshing lunch the power came back on and we loaded onto the bus to drive back into Jordan for the final week of our trip. Israeli security was again both confusing and harsh, but we made it through and into Jordan, whose security was more reasonable. After a long day’s drive we got back to the apartments and collapsed into a heap.
Our next day was willed with lectures and Sunday we took some time to relax. Instead of rushing off at around 8:00am like most of the days thus far, we instead slept in until around lunchtime, then paid a visit to the Jordan times. The senior editor came out to talk with us about Jordanian issues and the “Arab Spring” as it’s been called by the news media. He was optimistic about the future for Arabs, but at the same time didn’t think that one revolution would change a country entirely.
After visiting the Times we went back to the apartments for some much needed rest before our day trip on Monday.
In Which I Get Mad at Monks
We started our grand tour of Jerusalem in the Garden of Gethsemane, which is mostly covered by a massive Jewish cemetery now, but several groves of trees and churches built to commemorate Biblical events. The cemetery itself was interesting because Mokhoul explained several Jewish burial customs to us, such as the custom of placing stones on the tombs of the dead so that they can bring them to the temple when messiah comes. Gethsemane was my first taste of the bittersweet pill that is commemorative churches. These churches are beautiful and truly spectacular buildings, but as we toured these churches I found myself profoundly distracted by the spectacle of everything. Also really irksome was the various orthodox church’s habits of selling “holy” things inside the church. One particularly irritating moment came when Dr. Haddad went to take a brochure from a visitors stand and a nearby monk wouldn’t let her have it without a donation. I’m sorry, but what the heck!? That’s just disgusting. If it’s a church it’s a church, if it’s a store it’s a store. DON’T MIX PROFITEERING WITH RELIGION!
Ranting aside the churches were astounding, with frescoes, paintings, mosaics, and golden adornments hanging everywhere. Putting aside my concerns and misgivings about the place of decadence within places of worship, I was very impressed with the beauty of it all.
After we finished in Gethsemane (which Moukhoul explained came from the words for “Olive Press”) we headed into the City of David region of Jerusalem to trek through Hezekiah’s tunnel. This tunnel was built by the Israelite King Hezekiah to bring water into the city of Jerusalem and represents a tremendous feat of engineering for 800 BC. Using oil lamps and hand tools the Israelites managed to carve a tunnel which took us a good 40 minutes to walk through straight through the mountain Jerusalem is built on. The tunnel itself was straight out of Indiana Jones. Rock walls and about mid-shin depth in most places flowing through the bottom of the tunnel really made the tunnel spectacular. We came out near the Pools of Shalome, where Jews had traditionally washed before walking up to the temple.
Speaking of the temple, our next stop was the Western Wall, or as Americans call it the Wailing Wall. This wall is the closest thing to the Temple that modern Jews have, and as such security was tight. Inside the barricades we found that many families were celebrating Bar Mitzvah’s at the wall while others prayed fervently with hands on the wall. The area near the wall was divided into two sections, one for men and one for women, but women were tossing candy over the wall at their sons celebrating Bar Mitzvah so the separations weren’t as strict as the ones we’d seen in Muslim areas. Also, before men could go to the site, they had to don a kippa (aka a yarmulke).
After we ate lunch we decided not to spend the 45 minutes to an hour waiting in line to get into the area around the Dome of the Rock. Instead we visited several places along the Via Dolorosa, but in all honesty I was so worn out that a lot of the impact of these places didn’t strike me as much as it should have. We visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is the supposed sight of Jesus death and burial. The church itself is spectacular, but my experience there was again tempered by the problems I have with the profiteering and almost panhandling going on within the church.
Following this we bid farewell to Moukhoul and thanked him profusely for his kindness and willingness to show us around his country. From then until 7 we had free time, so we started by meeting up at an Israeli Starbucks analog, ordering coffees and iced mint lemonades and discussing the plan. We ended up splitting into groups, with Brenda, Dr. Haddad, Jennifer, Hannah and I headed up onto the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and walked around to the Western Wall while Sam, Ben, Zach, and Fletcher took a nap under some trees. The rest of the group went shopping in the Muslim Quarter Bazaars. For my part, walking on the walls was definitely the best choice. The view was amazing and the people watching we did on the walls were the best way to end the day in Jerusalem. On the way back to the meeting point at the Jaffa gate, we bumped into several members of the other Covenant group that was in Israel at the time, but everyone I knew was apparently napping back at Jerusalem University College.
We came back to Bethlehem for another night at the Angel Hotel before heading to Jericho the next day.
Ranting aside the churches were astounding, with frescoes, paintings, mosaics, and golden adornments hanging everywhere. Putting aside my concerns and misgivings about the place of decadence within places of worship, I was very impressed with the beauty of it all.
After we finished in Gethsemane (which Moukhoul explained came from the words for “Olive Press”) we headed into the City of David region of Jerusalem to trek through Hezekiah’s tunnel. This tunnel was built by the Israelite King Hezekiah to bring water into the city of Jerusalem and represents a tremendous feat of engineering for 800 BC. Using oil lamps and hand tools the Israelites managed to carve a tunnel which took us a good 40 minutes to walk through straight through the mountain Jerusalem is built on. The tunnel itself was straight out of Indiana Jones. Rock walls and about mid-shin depth in most places flowing through the bottom of the tunnel really made the tunnel spectacular. We came out near the Pools of Shalome, where Jews had traditionally washed before walking up to the temple.
Speaking of the temple, our next stop was the Western Wall, or as Americans call it the Wailing Wall. This wall is the closest thing to the Temple that modern Jews have, and as such security was tight. Inside the barricades we found that many families were celebrating Bar Mitzvah’s at the wall while others prayed fervently with hands on the wall. The area near the wall was divided into two sections, one for men and one for women, but women were tossing candy over the wall at their sons celebrating Bar Mitzvah so the separations weren’t as strict as the ones we’d seen in Muslim areas. Also, before men could go to the site, they had to don a kippa (aka a yarmulke).
After we ate lunch we decided not to spend the 45 minutes to an hour waiting in line to get into the area around the Dome of the Rock. Instead we visited several places along the Via Dolorosa, but in all honesty I was so worn out that a lot of the impact of these places didn’t strike me as much as it should have. We visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is the supposed sight of Jesus death and burial. The church itself is spectacular, but my experience there was again tempered by the problems I have with the profiteering and almost panhandling going on within the church.
Following this we bid farewell to Moukhoul and thanked him profusely for his kindness and willingness to show us around his country. From then until 7 we had free time, so we started by meeting up at an Israeli Starbucks analog, ordering coffees and iced mint lemonades and discussing the plan. We ended up splitting into groups, with Brenda, Dr. Haddad, Jennifer, Hannah and I headed up onto the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and walked around to the Western Wall while Sam, Ben, Zach, and Fletcher took a nap under some trees. The rest of the group went shopping in the Muslim Quarter Bazaars. For my part, walking on the walls was definitely the best choice. The view was amazing and the people watching we did on the walls were the best way to end the day in Jerusalem. On the way back to the meeting point at the Jaffa gate, we bumped into several members of the other Covenant group that was in Israel at the time, but everyone I knew was apparently napping back at Jerusalem University College.
We came back to Bethlehem for another night at the Angel Hotel before heading to Jericho the next day.
Oh, That Air Raid Siren? Yeah, That's Probably Nothing
Wednesday we drove the bus south to the seaside city of Ceasarea. We pulled over by the remains of Herod the Great’s aqueduct, which was perfectly placed on a Mediterranean beach, where we gleefully waded and enjoyed the beautiful blue waters of the sea. The scenery remained amazing as we drove through Modern Ceasarea, which is sort of the Beverly Hills of Israel. The ancient city itself is comparable to a very nice tourist retreat in America. Restaurants, a coffee bar in the remnants of a mosque, and a movie explaining the history of the town welcomed us to this remnant of Herod. Ceasarea was built by Herod the Great and survived multilple regime changes until the Arab sultan Beibars razed the city to the ground at the close of the crusades.
While touring the Roman ruins, an alarm went off which Moukhoul explained were used to warn of Hizbollah rocket attacks, but he suspected this alarm was merely a test. Increased air activity worried us after this, but nothing showed up in the news that night.
We later toured the massive Herodian fortress near Bethlehem. Herod the Great constructed an enormous palace with a series of escape tunnels throughout the mountain it sits on. We would have visited Herod’s tomb but more recent archeological diggings blocked the way.
Our final stop of the day was the Church of the Nativity, site of Jesus’ birth as alleged by many Christians. We toured the amazing Byzantine church, which was covered with mosaics and the remains of paintings on all the walls, and descended into the grotto underneath with the supposed spot of Jesus birth marked with lavish adornments and a silver star. It was incredible and made me feel very thankful to God for sending his son to such a messed up world (especially after all the turmoil we’d seen before then in the trip). However the decadent trappings of the place and the almost transactional way in which local monks traded money for “holy water” or even just tourist brochures really damaged my impression of the place. It was too showy, especially since the whole point of Jesus’ birth was that it wasn’t lavish or what anyone expected. It was humble, and totally unlike anything built on this site today.
After the church, checked into our hotel and took a short walk, grabbing some ice cream and discussing everything from accents and former jobs to the culture of the local people and American attitudes towards homosexuals. It was good bonding time for the group, and when we got back we retired to bed, happy and looking forward to Jerusalem in the morning.
While touring the Roman ruins, an alarm went off which Moukhoul explained were used to warn of Hizbollah rocket attacks, but he suspected this alarm was merely a test. Increased air activity worried us after this, but nothing showed up in the news that night.
We later toured the massive Herodian fortress near Bethlehem. Herod the Great constructed an enormous palace with a series of escape tunnels throughout the mountain it sits on. We would have visited Herod’s tomb but more recent archeological diggings blocked the way.
Our final stop of the day was the Church of the Nativity, site of Jesus’ birth as alleged by many Christians. We toured the amazing Byzantine church, which was covered with mosaics and the remains of paintings on all the walls, and descended into the grotto underneath with the supposed spot of Jesus birth marked with lavish adornments and a silver star. It was incredible and made me feel very thankful to God for sending his son to such a messed up world (especially after all the turmoil we’d seen before then in the trip). However the decadent trappings of the place and the almost transactional way in which local monks traded money for “holy water” or even just tourist brochures really damaged my impression of the place. It was too showy, especially since the whole point of Jesus’ birth was that it wasn’t lavish or what anyone expected. It was humble, and totally unlike anything built on this site today.
After the church, checked into our hotel and took a short walk, grabbing some ice cream and discussing everything from accents and former jobs to the culture of the local people and American attitudes towards homosexuals. It was good bonding time for the group, and when we got back we retired to bed, happy and looking forward to Jerusalem in the morning.
That Shower Came From Star Trek
The next morning started bright and early with the obnoxiously loud telephone in our room ringing for our wake-up call. Sam Bowman answered it and I got up to take a shower. After breakfast we loaded up in the bus and drove across the north of Israel to the seaside town of Capernaum. Our guide explained the remains of a Jewish synagogue we found there, which were made of a type of stone not found anywhere near the Sea of Galilee. This meant that the Jews (who were building a larger synagogue as a way of thumbing their noses at the budding Christian population in Capernaum) had to ship the stone from somewhere else, which would have been incredibly expensive. The upshot of this is that one of the stones used in the synagogue was carved by someone who inscribes his name as a son of Zebedee, which provides secondary confirmation that the family of Zebedee described in scripture actually existed in that area at the right time for two to become Jesus’ disciples.
From Capernaum we drove deeper into the disputed Golan Heights.Prior to the 1960’s the whole Golan area was part of Syria. In the mid-60’s, the Israeli military launched a surprise simultaneous assault on every major Arab air force and essentially obliterated them all. This meant that their subsequent land invasions of the Sinai peninsula in the south, and the Golan Heights in the north were easy victories as the Arabs had no way to contest the Israeli fighter jets dropping bombs on their heads. Since this assault (named the Six Days War) Israel has held the whole Golan region, though it exchanged the Sinai Peninsula for a peace treaty with Egypt.
We stopped for one final time before returning to Nazareth for the night at Hatzor (Hazor in the Bible). Hazor was the site of a major city and is the famed location of Jabim’s palace during the time his people oppressed Israel until Deborah the Judge’s uprising. The view was amazing, only slightly lessened by a haze which settled across the whole of Israel caused by dust storms blowing in from the southeast. We finished touring Hazor, and by now we were all completely exhausted. We returned to the hotel, ate dinner, and relaxed for a few hours while preparing for the drive to Bethlehem the next day.
From Capernaum we drove deeper into the disputed Golan Heights.Prior to the 1960’s the whole Golan area was part of Syria. In the mid-60’s, the Israeli military launched a surprise simultaneous assault on every major Arab air force and essentially obliterated them all. This meant that their subsequent land invasions of the Sinai peninsula in the south, and the Golan Heights in the north were easy victories as the Arabs had no way to contest the Israeli fighter jets dropping bombs on their heads. Since this assault (named the Six Days War) Israel has held the whole Golan region, though it exchanged the Sinai Peninsula for a peace treaty with Egypt.
We stopped for one final time before returning to Nazareth for the night at Hatzor (Hazor in the Bible). Hazor was the site of a major city and is the famed location of Jabim’s palace during the time his people oppressed Israel until Deborah the Judge’s uprising. The view was amazing, only slightly lessened by a haze which settled across the whole of Israel caused by dust storms blowing in from the southeast. We finished touring Hazor, and by now we were all completely exhausted. We returned to the hotel, ate dinner, and relaxed for a few hours while preparing for the drive to Bethlehem the next day.
No, Officer, I Don't Normally Dress Like This
We met up the next morning with Adventure Mark to make the border crossing. Israeli security deserves its reputation as the strictest in the world. As soon as we got off the bus I was pulled out of line along with several others and questioned about all sorts of things: the reason for our trip, where I was from, who I was, who my parents were, if someone gave me anything before coming, who was paying for my trip, what was the name of my school, why was my bag smaller than everyone else’s, etc. Finally, after explaining my father’s lineage to the third or fourth generation to the passport stamper (no joke, they asked all that stuff) I made it through with the group and we met our guide for the next several days. He was a Galilean Arab Christian whose name was Moukhoul (which is an Arabic version of Michael). I just thought it was cool that his name had a “kh” in it.
Moukhoul was extremely friendly, and he explained our tour as we drove to Bet Shaan, one of the ten cities of the Roman Decapolis, and the only one in Israel. Bet Shan is the historical site of the death of Saul as well as the subject of David’s lament in the beginning 2 Samuel. While there, we toured another Roman theatre, saw a mosaic containing an advertisement in Greek for a local store, and marveled at the ingenuity of the Roman roads there. We ate lunch (a chicken and hummus pita sandwich with vegetables amusingly called a shnitzel) and set off for Meggido.
As we drove, we passed a number of historical sites, such as Mount Tabor (home to the battle between Deborah and Sisera in Judges) Mount Carmel, and the site of Gideon’s mustering of the troops of Israel. What really struck me about coming to Israel was just how close together everything was. You could see Nazareth and Mt. Tabor are literally right next to each other and Meggido is easily visible from both. The plain in between the three sites was home to 70% of the battles recorded in the Old Testament, because the land there was the most fertile and the most valuable for farming. I almost wonder if the reason that the land is so fertile is because so many people were killed there over the course of history. When I used to read in the Bible about the Promised Land being the land of milk and honey what I never realized is just how drastically more fertile and desirable Israeli land is than anywhere else in the Arab world. Jordan, for example is very rocky and dry, and is one of the three water-poorest countries in the world. In Israel, everything is green and beautiful and vegetation and trees are everywhere. It’s a totally different world than Jordan.
We arrived at Meggido, which is also known as Armageddon and is thought by some to be the site of the Last Battle mentioned in Revelation. Biblical interpretations aside, this place has seen some serious wet work over the millennia. The city itself overlooks the plains I mentioned earlier where most of the fighting in the Bible takes place, while the actual city has been destroyed and rebuilt a staggering twenty-five times!!! This makes is a treasure trove of archeological information and tells us a lot about life in ancient times. Meggido itself is one of the oldest cities in existence. One sacrificial circle in the city was used without ceasing for over 2,000 years. To prevent enemies from cutting off access to water in the city, King Solomon dug a gargantuan shaft into the earth and then tunneled over to the spring so that even in times of siege the water from the spring would flow right into the city. We actually walked along the tunnel since water no longer flows through it and out to meet our tour bus at the end of our time in Meggido.
Our last stops for the day were all in Nazareth, which is just a short distance from Meggido and is clearly visible from there. Our first stop was the Mount of Precipice, which is believed to be the site where Jesus escaped an angry crowd by leaping off of the mountain itself. The view of the city and of the plains around from up here was incredible. Next we visited the Basilica of Annunciation, which is a colossal church built on the site where many believe Mary and Joseph lived for the first few years of Jesus’ life. The church itself was lavishly adorned and featured art from every country in the world depicting Mary (and usually Jesus) in the style of their culture.
Finally, we drove up the the St. Gabriel hotel, where we would stay for two nights and which was very similar in style to Carter Hall back at Covenant. Again we were served a huge dinner (everything in Jordan and Israel was big) of chicken, fish, bread, hummus, and vegetables. We took a short walk after dinner and had a good hour or two of just talking as a group. Even though most of us didn’t even know each other when we got on the plane, by now we were a tight group and were becoming good friends through shared experiences. We even had a good number of inside jokes (Ben’s always late, I’m married to Alicia and attract cats, Becca’s sixteen years old not twenty one, etc.) We had an early start the next morning, so I wrote this journal, then went to bed.
Moukhoul was extremely friendly, and he explained our tour as we drove to Bet Shaan, one of the ten cities of the Roman Decapolis, and the only one in Israel. Bet Shan is the historical site of the death of Saul as well as the subject of David’s lament in the beginning 2 Samuel. While there, we toured another Roman theatre, saw a mosaic containing an advertisement in Greek for a local store, and marveled at the ingenuity of the Roman roads there. We ate lunch (a chicken and hummus pita sandwich with vegetables amusingly called a shnitzel) and set off for Meggido.
As we drove, we passed a number of historical sites, such as Mount Tabor (home to the battle between Deborah and Sisera in Judges) Mount Carmel, and the site of Gideon’s mustering of the troops of Israel. What really struck me about coming to Israel was just how close together everything was. You could see Nazareth and Mt. Tabor are literally right next to each other and Meggido is easily visible from both. The plain in between the three sites was home to 70% of the battles recorded in the Old Testament, because the land there was the most fertile and the most valuable for farming. I almost wonder if the reason that the land is so fertile is because so many people were killed there over the course of history. When I used to read in the Bible about the Promised Land being the land of milk and honey what I never realized is just how drastically more fertile and desirable Israeli land is than anywhere else in the Arab world. Jordan, for example is very rocky and dry, and is one of the three water-poorest countries in the world. In Israel, everything is green and beautiful and vegetation and trees are everywhere. It’s a totally different world than Jordan.
We arrived at Meggido, which is also known as Armageddon and is thought by some to be the site of the Last Battle mentioned in Revelation. Biblical interpretations aside, this place has seen some serious wet work over the millennia. The city itself overlooks the plains I mentioned earlier where most of the fighting in the Bible takes place, while the actual city has been destroyed and rebuilt a staggering twenty-five times!!! This makes is a treasure trove of archeological information and tells us a lot about life in ancient times. Meggido itself is one of the oldest cities in existence. One sacrificial circle in the city was used without ceasing for over 2,000 years. To prevent enemies from cutting off access to water in the city, King Solomon dug a gargantuan shaft into the earth and then tunneled over to the spring so that even in times of siege the water from the spring would flow right into the city. We actually walked along the tunnel since water no longer flows through it and out to meet our tour bus at the end of our time in Meggido.
Our last stops for the day were all in Nazareth, which is just a short distance from Meggido and is clearly visible from there. Our first stop was the Mount of Precipice, which is believed to be the site where Jesus escaped an angry crowd by leaping off of the mountain itself. The view of the city and of the plains around from up here was incredible. Next we visited the Basilica of Annunciation, which is a colossal church built on the site where many believe Mary and Joseph lived for the first few years of Jesus’ life. The church itself was lavishly adorned and featured art from every country in the world depicting Mary (and usually Jesus) in the style of their culture.
Finally, we drove up the the St. Gabriel hotel, where we would stay for two nights and which was very similar in style to Carter Hall back at Covenant. Again we were served a huge dinner (everything in Jordan and Israel was big) of chicken, fish, bread, hummus, and vegetables. We took a short walk after dinner and had a good hour or two of just talking as a group. Even though most of us didn’t even know each other when we got on the plane, by now we were a tight group and were becoming good friends through shared experiences. We even had a good number of inside jokes (Ben’s always late, I’m married to Alicia and attract cats, Becca’s sixteen years old not twenty one, etc.) We had an early start the next morning, so I wrote this journal, then went to bed.
In Which Hot Peppers Cause Consternation
The next morning Rimaan slept till 10:45am, so I just lay on the mattress next to his (we slept on mattresses he dragged into the living room late at night while Jennifer shared a room with his sister) until he woke up and we had breakfast. One of the biggest parts of Arab hospitality is that they feed you CONSTANTLY. All night we were plied with fruits (which are dessert foods here) cakes, nuts, bread, and all sorts of food. Breakfast was a feast of pita bread, yogurt (which I politely avoided while pretending to eat) meat that was sort of like bologna, and leftover cake from last night, served with Arabic hot chocolate (which is a million times better than American hot chocolate.) I got the sense while in Jordan that Arab tastes in drinks run really sweet. Everything from their tea to their soda to their fruit punch is at least twice as sweet as you would expect from American drinks. The only exception is the Turkish coffee, which is blacker than anything you find in America and which my dad would probably love.
Later that morning we said our goodbyes to Rimaan and his family and rejoined our group for a lunch at the Al-Quds restaurant. (Al-Quds is the Arabic term for Jerusalem, and the restaurant was full of photos of the city and specifically of the Dome of The Rock) The food there was delicious (I had lamb, but lots of people ordered Mensaaf, the national dish of Jordan, which is basically meat and rice served with goat yogurt.) Also served was pita bread with hummus, which is the Arab analogue for bread and butter and which I am wholly addicted to.
After lunch we met up with Yusef, a local guide to take a walking tour of Amman. We visited an ancient Roman bath house, of which only one wall remains following a huge earthquake some years ago. Here Yusef explained the history of several different Arab kingdoms during the Middle Ages. We also toured a Roman theatre which would have seated several thousand people, and in fact, still does, as it is sometimes used on special occasions for events. The biggest attraction we saw was the Citadel of Amman, which started out as an Ammonite fortress on a mountain (it’s actually the confirmed site of Uriah the Hittite’s death on the orders of David when David wanted to marry Bathsheba.) and was successively built upon by the Romans, the Byzantines, and the Moors. We passed the Temple of Hercules, a Moorish palace and the remnants of a Mosque before visiting the Archeological Museum, which contained pieces from the Early Bronze Age through more recent history.
After the tour we returned to our apartments to pack for our five day excursion to Israel the next morning.
Later that morning we said our goodbyes to Rimaan and his family and rejoined our group for a lunch at the Al-Quds restaurant. (Al-Quds is the Arabic term for Jerusalem, and the restaurant was full of photos of the city and specifically of the Dome of The Rock) The food there was delicious (I had lamb, but lots of people ordered Mensaaf, the national dish of Jordan, which is basically meat and rice served with goat yogurt.) Also served was pita bread with hummus, which is the Arab analogue for bread and butter and which I am wholly addicted to.
After lunch we met up with Yusef, a local guide to take a walking tour of Amman. We visited an ancient Roman bath house, of which only one wall remains following a huge earthquake some years ago. Here Yusef explained the history of several different Arab kingdoms during the Middle Ages. We also toured a Roman theatre which would have seated several thousand people, and in fact, still does, as it is sometimes used on special occasions for events. The biggest attraction we saw was the Citadel of Amman, which started out as an Ammonite fortress on a mountain (it’s actually the confirmed site of Uriah the Hittite’s death on the orders of David when David wanted to marry Bathsheba.) and was successively built upon by the Romans, the Byzantines, and the Moors. We passed the Temple of Hercules, a Moorish palace and the remnants of a Mosque before visiting the Archeological Museum, which contained pieces from the Early Bronze Age through more recent history.
After the tour we returned to our apartments to pack for our five day excursion to Israel the next morning.
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