“The wandering Arabs have certainly more wit and sagacity than the people who live in towns; their heads are always clear, their spirits unimpaired by debauchery, and their minds not corrupted by slavery, and I am justified in saying that there are few nations among whom natural talents are so universally diffused as among the Bedouins.” - Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, 1812
So Amy was all patched up and we were ready to continue our adventure. One thing that we agreed on was that we would just skip the crazy capital city of Amman all together and spend an extra couple of days in the wonderful town of Madaba, where we had stayed one night at the beginning of the trip. But before Madaba we had a long drive there from Aqaba. Luckily, there were some nice ruins to see along the way.
On the King's Highway...
Sel'a is a 2000 year old Nabatean ruin atop a 300 foot high rock hill. It's another one of those high places of sacrifice and, according to all we read, very hard to find and hard to get to. But as we approached the site, there were signs pointing us to a visitor center, apparently a new building. We stopped and met a guide who would take us there. At the visitor center was a group of girl scouts, who were all very excited to see some foreigners and practice their english.
Hanging out with King Abdullah...
We hopped in the car and drove down an incredibly steep road to the entrance to Sel'a. The guide then took us to the bottom of the rocky hill, where he left us to make the climb on our own. Straight up the big rock we went, along ancient steps carved by the Nabateans. When we got to the top there were several carved buildings and small plazas, much like the one in Petra, but much smaller. There was an amazing 360 degree view from here of the surrounding countryside.
It's up there...
There was another nice Nabatean ruin, this time a town, not far away. This was Deli'a and much of it had been restored, so you could see many of the structures. Unlike Petra, Deli'a was actually a town with buildings, not carved facades.
Deli'a, a Nabatean town...
After a long drive, we finally arrived in Madaba. As opposed to the rest of Jordan, Madaba is a town whose population is mostly Christian, and has been for 1500 years or more. There are many churches here and the real draw to Madaba is its mosaics. They go back to Roman times and often, there was a church built on top of a Roman building, so when excavating it, archaeologists have found not only the Byzantine mosaics from the 5th to 8th centuries, but even older Roman mosaics. There are several sites you can visit in town and you can easily spend a couple of days here.
Madaba...
A mosaic school and shop...
Amr, a master mosaic artist. We bought this beautiful mosaic...
Roman mosaics at Mt. Nebo...
Madaba was our favorite town in Jordan because it was big enough to be interesting, but not too big to be overcrowded and tiring. Also, the restaurants here are fabulous, especially Haret Jdoudna, a wonderful place with all sorts of tasty Jordanian dishes. Plus, they had wine! After a week in the Bedouin tents with only tea to drink, it was great having a glass of wine with dinner. Jordan has a nice selection of red and white wines that are made not too far from Madaba.
Resting after a big meal...
We had researched some towns nearby and found a good one to visit, Al Salt, which had some old buildings and a great souk, or market. On the way, we visited an old temple, apparently about 2000 years old and done in the Greek style, although it really wasn't Greek. This was really off the tourist route and of course we were the only ones there.
The beautiful countryside of northern Jordan...
Walking around Al Salt was very wonderful. Indeed there was a great souk and a really nice restaurant where we had a delicious lamb dish. There were some beautiful old houses that we saw as we wandered around the neighborhoods in the old town. People were very kind and, as was usual in Jordan, welcomed us to their country.
