Madaba, Mt Nebo and Kerak

 The next day we were headed out of Amman towards Petra. Along the way we had 3 stops: Madaba, Mt Nebo, and Kerak castle before we stopped for the night at Wadi Musa- the town just outside of Petra. But before we left Amman, there was one important stop to make. The supermarket.

So excited! Ayman told us that we wouldn't have the opportunity to pick up snacks or other sundries for the next couple of days, so we should stock up now while we had the chance. Mainly, this was for our big day tomorrow at Petra, although there would be places to have lunch, there wouldn't be any nibbly type food available and "Trust me," he said "you're gonna need it." He didn't direct us to the type of food that would be good to bring and I must say that the choices that some of our fellow travellers made was puzzling. Is cheese a good idea as snack food in the desert? Really? Nutella? I bought hard fruit and veg and some granola bars.

Our first stop was Mt.Nebo. This was the place where Moses got a glimpse of the promised land and then died. After all his hard work he was not allowed to enter the promised land. Harsh. There's a modest church that has some ancient mosaics dating to 530 CE! I could imagine the view - allegedly you can see Isreal across the valley, however, we had a hazy, windy day and visibility was disappointing.

 

Onward!

We stopped just before lunch at Madaba. We were here to see the famous Byzantine-era mosaic map of the holy land which is preserved in the floor of the Greek Orthodox Basilica of Saint George. There are approx 2 million pieces of coloured stone that depict the Nile delta and the valleys, villages and towns that surround it. Really cool! 

We had about an hour to kill before lunch after that so naturally we went shopping. I ended up buying a runner made of camel hair. Where I was going to fit it, I don't know.

After lunch, we were back on our little tour bus and on the way to Kerak Castle. The way was winding and dry. There ain't much growin' in these here parts.

We stopped mid-afternoon at Karak Castle, one of the largest Crusader castles in the Levant. Built in 1142, it is a massive structure with large ditches all around it to defend against sieges.

Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (aka Saladin) tried twice to capture it and failed. It was his nephew in the 1188 who finally capured this important post. There were many battles to win this castle and it changed hands many times. In 1893 the Ottoman empire regained control and housed a garrison in some parts of the castle, but other parts had been pilfered by the locals who took the stones containing potassium nitrate which is used to make gunpowder.

Its was really quite spooky in there, dark and cool, with the wind howling through the place kicking up the dust and dirt. You could almost hear swords clashing and the battle cries of the Crusaders and the Saracens fighting for their lives...or maybe it was just me.

After our visit to the castle we got back on the bus to head to Wadi Musa a small town just outside the ancient city of Petra. We arrived late and we had the option to visit the famed Treasury at night, but I just wanted to go to bed, knowing that we were getting up at the crack of dawn and walking all day. Tomorrow Petra! SO EXCITED!