17.1 – The Dead Sea Experience
Date: Mon 12th Nov'12
Location: The Dead Sea, Jordan
It's one of those places you always hear about: The sea is so salty that you can float on it. So salty that there are no fishes that can survive in the sea, hence the name. Naturally I had to go there and take a dip.
But first, the shared taxi would pass by through the town of Madaba. The town of Madaba is famous for its mosaics, made up of thousands of those little tiles (called tesserae). One particular mosaic is of great importance. Known as the Madaba Map, it was found on the floor of the Byzantine church of St George. The map depicts the entire area of the Holy Land, as it was in the 6th century. Cities such as Jerusalem were depicted in great detail, with gates and streets visible. This is of great significance in understanding the layout and the location of long lost buildings in the Jerusalem and other cities in the region. The Madaba map is the oldest known map of the Holy Land.
The next stop on the itinerary: Mount Nebo. This peak at 817m high was the location where Moses was standing when the Promised Land was revealed to him. The site (1JD at the time) itself was not anyth! ing spectacular; there were some pilgrims, of course. The church that was there was under repair works, and the mosaic floors patterns which was uncovered when archaeologists dug around the hill were on display. The whole point of being up at the summit was then to be able to look across the desert plains and see views of Jerusalem. It was cloudy and not the most perfect of conditions: I could see Jericho beyond the Jordan-Israel border, but that was about it.
Back in the taxi and off we headed to Bethany-Beyond-The-Jordan. This was the location where Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. A stream called Wadi Al-kharrar which was fed by the Jordan River. Today, the stream is dry, but ruins of a church and a cross shaped baptismal pool has been discovered by archaeologists recently. The site was dug up in 1996, after treaties signed by Israel and Jordan meant that the area was safe to explore. There was an fine orthodox church on the way to the banks of the Jordan River, where we can see across to Israel, and the site where they have their own visitor and tourist centres. Of course we could also baptise ourselves in the waters of the River Jordan. In truth it was a bit underwhelming. There were hardly any other people at the site, and the infrastructure was poor. At the ticket entrance area (12 JD!), there was a toilet but no proper sitting area or refreshments. We had to wait for the transport to the entrance, and it was raining. The entrance area had no proper shade, so ! we had to! wait in the rain.
We headed for the Dead Sea, by now we were deep inside the Jordan Valley, and 400m below sea level. This was probably the highlight for today. The Amma! n tourist! beach (16 JD entry) was just a small strip of beach really, and further up the shore, there were restaurants, a swimming pool and changing facilities. The Dead Sea. I went into the surprisingly not-too-cold water (considering the weather now in Jordan) and floated up. An accidental gulp and the 33.7% salinity water made me gag, while the sea water stung my eyes. Then I got my mud/clay coating over my body, which is said to be therapeutic when combined together with a rinse in the salty water. I did the requisite floating around and looking nonchalant while my pal took photos. One more item checked off my list then.
Tomorrow, Jerash – Roman ruins galore.
There are many hotels, guesthouses and hostels that organize trips out of Amman. A shared taxi will bring you around each of the sites. Common is the Dead Sea route, covering the abovementioned sights. Another popular tour is the tour of the Crusader castles. This shared taxi option is great if you are travelling alone (15 Jordan dinars upwards) but if you have enough in your group to fill a cab, it might be cheaper to negotiate with the cab driver yourselves.
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