Our Adventure Into Jordan

We departed the Galilee this morning with fond memories secured in our hearts and headed south.  A little less than an hour later we came to the Sheik Hussein Bridge to cross into Jordan.  It was a slow but interesting process to cross the border.  Once across we met our Jordanian guide Orea.  She told us it was like the cookie and later called us the ‘cookie group.’  Her name is the female version of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband and friend of David.
   Our first stop in Jordan was for lunch at the Artemis Restaurant.  Ask your friend or family member about the man making bread outside and how good it was as we ate it!

Next stop, Jerash.  This Roman city was amazing.  We saw a major arch at the south end dedicated in 129 AD to Emperor Hadrian. It is hard to describe in these short sentences all that we saw. The long cardo (cutting north to south across the entire city) was the most impressive I have ever seen.  At the theater, we were treated to bag pipes (this was once overseen by the British) and learned to dance to it.  See the video below.

Our other major stop today was Mt. Nebo.  From somewhere on one of these peaks Moses was given the opportunity by God to see the Promise Land but was not allowed to enter since he had failed to treat God as holy before the people when he became angry and struck the rock to get water rather than speaking to the rock as God directed.  God then gave him a private burial somewhere up there, but no one knows where.

The final trek of our day was the looooong bus ride to Petra (3 1/2 hours).  Following a late dinner we headed to bed to prepare for our walk into the colorful and amazing city of Petra.

Here are some glimpses from our day.