The "Jordanian approaches circuit" - Day 3 (Cont.)

The "Jordanian approaches circuit" - Day 3 (Cont.)

Wadi Mujib - Karak
The 24th of January 2011

"One of Jordan's most spectacular natural features lies between Madaba and Karak", Wadi Mujib - as in accordance with Mathew Teller ... and the truth is there are some really stunning view points into a barren like landscape, cutting through 1200m of altitude from the desert plateau in the east down to the Dead Sea in the west.

Wadi Mujib images

The presence of human life - a herd of sheep in line (Left). Bedouine carpets on the Canyon(Right).

 The herd of sheep that "forced" the bus to halt (Left). View taken on the way to Karak (Right)

The Southern stretches of the King's Highway pass through increasingly arid landscape up to  Karak, which still lies within its Crusader-era walls. Its Crusader castle is said to be one of the finest in the Middle East and its downfall linked with Reynald of Chantillon, a ruthless, vicious and unscrupulous warrior who arrived in the Holy land in 1147. Poking into dark rooms and gloomy passageways was the proposal of the guide and so we walked int its dungeons... with added excitment.

Karak Castle images

We finally drove to Petra ... and  although we shall be "exploring" the site throughout the  whole day tomorrow, one first image of the village dwellers has already impacted me ... (the woman without a face).

Photo shooting session prior to NAV 's yearly ceremony ...

The enterprise I have been working at as an Aviation English teacher for the last 28 years holds several ceremonies a year and although I have rarely attended any of them, felt it to be impolite not to attend the 18th of January dinner ceremony to praise those who have dedicated 25 years of their life to the enterprise (I being one of them), together with the 12th anniversary of NAV (Air Navigation) after the splitting up of the original ANA (Airports and Air Navigation) into two enterprises.

I feel the many students who have attended my classes are my best judges ... they are the ones who know who I am ... how committed I have been over these years and how I react in and out of the class ... they judge me (I believe) for  my actions ... who I am and what I stand for ...

I dressed up for the occasion ... (as rare as my "ceremony absences") ... I went through a photo shooting session (even rarer) ... but did I make a diference or simply stood out as "being different"..., I wonder.

Note :

The photos were taken by my photographer friend Lurdes. I owe the make-up to my  hairdresser friend Paula.

The "Jordanian approaches circuit" - Day 3

The "Jordanian approaches circuit" - The morning of day 3

The King's highway -  Mount Nebo - Madaba
The 24th of January 2011

We took to the "Kings's highway" (translation of  an old Hebrew term simply meaning main road), running through some of the  loveliest Jordan countryside (we were told) and considered  the most import  route of the North-South trade, fairly early on our way to Petra via Madaba, leaving Amman behind.

Mount Nebo, considered one of the  holiest sites in Jordan, has  a unique resonance for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. The view from the vantage point where Moses  after having led the Israelites for forty years finally saw the Promised Land is  absolutely awe-inspiring, once we can enjoy a view on the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea; Jerico and Jerusalem. At its cliff-edge platform there is a stylized cross in the form of a serpent, having been inspired in Jesus's words in John 3 - " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the  Son of the Man be lifted".

We were unfortunately deprived of visiting the 4th century church and Monastery complex  with its sumptuous mosaic floor,  as it was undergoing restoration works, but a tent raised in the Eastern Centre made it possible for us to see several mosaics also found in Mount Nebo, depicting hunting scenes.

Our next stop was Madaba, a city of ancient origins, whose main attraction is the Greek-Orthodox church of Saint George, dating to the times of Justinian, where the remains of a Byzantine mosaic map of the Holy Land (which must have been laid in the second half of the 6th century) is to be seen and whose purpose might have been to better direct pilgrims to sites of biblical significance.

Different views of the inside of the Greek-Orthodox church of Saint George

Church Icons (Left). Partial view of the Byzantine mosaic map (Right).

This little church impacted on me and to simply imagine that this east oriented map once comprised over two million stones and measured 15,6 metres long by 6 metres wide was astounding.

Equally astounding were the ostrich eggs decorated with very tiny handmade mosaics depicting iconic scenes, we were given the chance of seeing amongst other artifacts at a local handicraft factory. The images of these amazingly precious "pieces of art" haunted me all the way to Petra. I don't know why I hesitated and ended up not bying one of those, irrespective of being fairly expensive.  I don't think I'll have another opportunity to ever come across such a beautiful and unique type of mosaic Art.

View of  a commercial street in Madaba

We shall be continuing South ... but I have kept inspiring images of the places we have visited so far.

The "Jordanian approaches" circuit - Day 2 (Cont.)

The "Jordanian approaches" circuit - Day 2 (Cont.)

Casr Al-Azraq
The 23rd of January 2011

Although Casr Al- Azraq may have been built by the Romans at the end of the 3rd century, having then passed onto the hands of the Ummayads, it is said to have been completely rebuilt between 1236 and 1237 under the Ayyubid dinasty.

What seems to have made it become famous was the fact that  the legendary Lawrence of Arabia sojourned here in the Winter of 1917, charged by the English secret services to incite the Arabs to rebell against the Ottoman empire and according to historical records it was from this fortress that he organized the battle of Aqaba.

Not so impressive from the outside, the  massive basalt slab front door was worth noting, so were the ceilings and a small collection of plaques with inscriptions in Latin and Greek or bas-reliefs of plant and animal motives to be seen in the entrance vestibule serving as a small museum.  The little three aisle mosque  in the middle of the courtyard was  also interesting, particularly once we understood why it stood in such an oblique position so the orientation towards Mecca of the back could be respected.

View of the outside (Left) and inside (Right).

The entrance (Left). Detail of the slab front door and the Ayyubid inscription above the main entrance (Right).

View of the inside of one of the rooms (Left). Detail of the ceiling (Right).

Bas-reliefs with animal and human figures.

We made it back to the capital city fairly early, and although  most of the people in the group decided to "explore" Amman, Christian and I stayed at the hotel, which gave me a chance to check on the souvenirs in display in the hotel boutique, where I ended up buying an amazingly beautiful cross stich embroidered Bedouin kaftan and a rag doll in a traditional outfit.

Image of a house in Amman with an "Eiffel Tower" standing on it (picture taken from inside the bus on the way back to the Hotel) 

The evening could have been  particularly "special", once  a wedding ceremony dinner was being held at the hotel, but we just managed to overhear the traditional music being played in  the lobby as the newly wedded couple walked in.

We shall be heading towards Petra tomorrow with quite a few stops on the way, covering a total distance of 310 kilometres. Iconic as Petra is, we are all dying to visit it, but having read what Madaba, Mount Nebo and Kerak hold, I feel I can wait ... 

The "Jordanian approaches" circuit - Day 2

The "Jordanian approaches " circuit -  The morning of Day 2

The "Desert Castles"
Qasr al Harraneh- Qasr Amra
The 23rd of January 2011

These so called Desert Castles were residential complexes outside the urban areas, located in the stony Eastern Desert plains, one of the harshest and least populated part of Jordan, meant to be used by the Caliph and his entourage and an accessable place to meet with th bedouins.

We first headed towards Qasr al Harraneh, whose name is said to derive from the stony harra desert, in which it sits. Its rooms round the courtyard are divided into bayts (self contained units), each comprising a large central room, with smaller rooms opening off it (typically Umayyad). At the top of the stairs, there is a room lined with stone rosettes (to be seen in one of the photos below) and one  next door holding a few lines in painted Kufic script.

Different views of the Qasr Harraneh

I would lie if I were to say I was not impressed by it (though I had initally expected it to be somewhat different) ...  its shape, its state of preservation, some of the details and the surrounding atmosphere of almost "emptiness" were among some of  the aspects that impressed me the most.

We then visited the 707-715 AD Qasr Amra, presumably built as a place where the Umayyad Caliph al-Walid I used to find restoration and amusement. Its small looking size was clearly compensated by the profuse decoration of its walls and ceilings covered with frescoes (probably done by Syrian and Arabian artists), some of which are in a fairly bad state of preservation, (which is a pity really, as they carry a profound symbolism).

The Qasr Amra

I was really astounded by them, which according to an Historian are not only a "valuable testament to life at the court of the Umayyad caliphs", but also "very important from the perspective of the early history of Islam in Syria and Jordan" once "we can see that the Muslim prohibition to paint humans had not yet come into force". 

An image on the West Nave, which appears to be a bathing scene, with a woman emerging from a bath (probably a hammam) in what looks like a "bikini" (Left). A dancer entertaining the lord of the castle (Right).

Three nude women, one of them holding a child  and one pouring water (Left). A nude figure (Right).

A woman on a bed with figures by her  side - a pensive woman with a  winged angel (Left). A flautist accompanied by a dancer (Right).

Many of the images represented  on the East Nave were hunting scenes,  some of which were quite impressive, but in the last steamed room - the  Caldarium we had the chance to see the earliest  surviving representation of the Zodiac on a spherical  surface.

The next Castle we shall be visiting is the Roman built fort Qasr Azraq, chosen in 1917 as Lawrence of Arabia's  headquaters ... I honestly don't know what to expect ... I am speechless already as these two castles have already exceeded my expectations ..., though most people in the group haven't thought much of them ...

The "Jordanian approaches" circuit - Day one (cont.)

The "Jordanian approaches" circuit - The afternoon of day one (cont.)

The Citadel
The 22nd  of January 2011

The Citadel National Historic Site, perched on top of Jabal al-Qal'a (one of the city hills) was used as a settlement and a fortress during the Bronze Age (1800 BC).

Its view is overwhelming with the 162-166 AD Temple of Hercules and the Umayyad Mosque and Palace Dome remains, not to mention  what is left of the 5th and 6th Centuries AD  Byzantine Basilica.

The Audience Hall (Left). The Temple of Hercules (Right).

Another view of Hercules Temple

The Amman quarters downhill look claustrophobic, though there was a peculiar glowing light about them ... A slightly cold wind  started to blow, but it did not affect us for too long as we were heading to the Jordan Archeological Museum.

Amman  seen from the Citadel

Though small, the Museum houses very important artefacts from all the archeological sites in the country, amongst which were the Statues of Ain Ghazal made from plaster and represemting Human models, dating back to the early Neolithic period (8000 - 6000 BC) and which are presumably the earliest statues ever done, as well a terracotta anthropoid sarcophagus from Jebel el-Qusour, dating to the second Iron Age  (1000-539 BC) to be seen below on the left.

Jebel el-Qusour sarcophagus (Left). Ain Ghazal statues (Right).








Today has been a day to remember in terms of awakening many of my senses ... So far everything has been perfect ... and although I am not tired I'll be going to bed early, so as to be prepared for the "Desert Castles" trip ..., just South of the capital city.