Jordan

Our last "baby moon" as they call it, the last holiday without kids, without diapers, without someone else's much needier schedule. For the long Orthodox Easter, we decided to go to Jordan, only a 1-hour flight away to Amman, and check it out. We'd heard great things about it, couldn't wait to go.

Left on Friday morning, early. Had an easy flight, car rental and got to Madaba, mostly to go to St George church and see the mosaic map. And it was pretty amazing, from the 5th century it still pretty much depicts the political situation of the Modern Middle East. Makes me wonder why we (well, some of us) try so hard... then we had lunch at Saraya. Your standard meze, but a very nice little courtyard, cool and out from the sun and very nice people. After lunch we went to Mt Nebo -see picture.

We drove the (very) scenic route to Petra, had dinner and called it a day. It's an amazing place, the area of Petra, inhabited since prehistoric times and very important on the trade route for hundreds of years, there is a lot more to see than just the treasury (made famous by Indiana Jones), see picture. Ralph made it to the Place of High Sacrifice, I couldn't. Too many steps and too hot and too fat. The only thing we really missed which is labeled as a must see was the monastery.

Sunday we drove back up towards toward the north and stopped at Karak. A crusader stronghold, it was very large when occupied and is on an amazing piece of land. It's in a higher state of disrepair than the 3 here in Cyprus, but impressive none the less.

Later on Sunday, we tried to swim the dead sea. At something like 6x the salt rate than the ocean, one can't swim. Ralph did his best to turn somersault, to swim, to do just about anything. His efforts fruitless, you can see him bobbing like a cork in the Dead Sea picture above. I, on the other hand, was as graceful as a elephant on rollerblades. Impossible to get in due to the waves (it was very windy, even had white caps out there), and once I got in, this expanding bump made me front heavy and I kept cap-sizing. Sure, laugh! It's funny now, but let me tell you, it wasn't then!

Monday we departed the Dead Sea and just a few clicks north is the Baptism Site where Jesus was baptized. Only open since 1994, after a 30 year military occupation after the 1967 war with Israel, it wasn't very crowded, is amazingly simple and I loved the explanation of HOW this is the site and not where the Israelis charge to get in.

We then drove to Amman, had dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant, the oldest in the country. Up at 04:30 Thursday to return the car, catch the flight to Larnaca and make it back to work by 09:00.

Whirlwind, again. Tiring this time. But worth it. We had a lovely time and would recommend it to any historical or holy site seekers. The number of holy sites in Jordan is truly amazing. It's pretty easy to fill up 4 day, thinking 5 may be required to do it right. They don't seem to capitalize off of them as much as Israel tries to, and certainly less bombs there. With some cautions, let me know and I will fill you in!