Jordan Part III: Kerak Castle, Dead Sea, Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan, Madaba, Mt. Nebo

For the last leg of our trip, we traveled back north via a different route, stopping at Kerak Castle.

We then continued on our drive to stay the night at the Dead Sea, skirting the water and Israel on the other side.  We didn't get in the water and mud because of the cold temperature, but it was fun to see.

After exploring the Dead Sea for a while, we went farther north to Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan, the site were Jesus was baptized.  The signs said it was where "Christianity began," which I thought was an interesting take.  There are several churches built in the area, all from different Christian denominations, honoring the site, but we were only allowed to go inside a few.

The Jordan River has shifted in the last 2000 years, so the actual baptismal spot is no longer a part of the river itself, but it was still really cool to see where it would have been.  Also, people getting baptized on both the Jordan and Israel sides of the river was pretty crazy.

The baptismal site

The Jordan side looking at the Israel side

Then we headed to lunch in Madaba to see St. George's Church, famous for it's mosaic map floors.  The mosaics were nice, but the lunch was great!

Our last stop before going to the airport was to Mt. Nebo, the point where Moses was shown the Promised Land.  I knew the views would be nice, but I was impressed with just how lovely it was.

Too bad the sky wasn't just a little clearer

And then it was time to go to back home!  We traveled the entire length of the country and back, seeing things along the way, eating our fill of shawarma and falafel, and loving every minute.



After recovering for a day from our red-eye flight, we celebrated a late New Years with the kids, including our traditional dinner of pizza, spaghetti, and mashed potatoes.  Afterwords, we watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade so we could revisit some of the places we had just seen.  It really was an incredible trip!

Jordan Part II: Shobak Castle, Petra, Red Sea, Wadi Rum

Having explored the northern part of the country, it was now time to venture southward.  We tried to find things along the drive to break up the monotony, so we stopped at Shobak Castle.  Totally worth it.

And then it was on to Petra!  We stopped at Little Petra first and we were awestruck!  As soon as you walk into the little canyon, you see the carvings of steps and building facades in the rock walls.  It was a short walk to the end, and it made us even more excited to see Petra itself.

After being blown away by Little Petra, we went to Big Petra ready to be equally impressed.  However, it was late in the afternoon by this point and we were all pretty worn out.  Plus, I don't think we had fully realized just how far we would have to walk.  We made it to the Treasury before calling it a day.  

We started fresh again the next morning to see the rest of Petra.  Walking the mile to the Treasury went much faster, but we were a little worried about the kids' ability to make it (happily) to the end of Petra and back.  

We also really wanted to see the Monastery, which was even farther away and culminated in an 800+ step climb up a mountain.  So we were pretty easy to convince when a man offered his donkeys to ride up to the Monastery and back.  

Initially, it was just the girls, but by the time we got to the mountain, Brandon and Kiddo got on donkeys, as well, and we were handed off to two eleven-ish-year old boys to lead us up the side.  Brandon had a mule to himself and went first, CJ and I went second, and E and H shared a donkey, bringing up the rear.  The two boys were leading us (in the loosest sense of the word), but it seemed like their main jobs were to 1) keep the donkeys going, and 2) yell at other tourists to move out of the way because the donkeys would just run into whoever was in front of them.  

The ride was totally fine until we actually started going up the steps that had been carved into the face of mountain--and then it became terrifying.  Often there was a drop on one side of us and a bunch of tourists on the other, without much wiggle room in between.  Although Brandon and I were aware of the potential danger, and kept giving each other apprehensive looks, the kids were happily oblivious.  

Fun so far

Realizing what we've gotten ourselves into

(if you zoom in you can see my 'we might die' face)

We made it to the top!
This last turn of the trail was the only part
that had a wall to keep you from falling off.

After getting off the donkeys, we walked a little ways to get to the Monastery.  You turn a corner, and suddenly there it is!

We took a little break at the top, which was good because I had to mentally pump myself up to get back on the donkey: I knew if the steps were that steep going up, it could only be worse going down.  And I was so grateful the kids had had a good experience on the way up because otherwise I'm not sure if we could have convinced them to get back on.  As we began our descent, I was gripping the saddle horn so hard that by the end of the ride I had bruises on my fingers; CJ kept complaining that I was squishing her because I was holding on so tight.  Soon all the kids became nervous; CJ started whimpering, and eventually said she was going to close her eyes until I told her we were at the bottom again.

There was one point where Brandon's mule lost it's footing and had to catch itself.  Brandon thought, "Wow, that was close!"  But it was confirmed when a Bedouin passing by said, "You lucky man!" Tourists walking up the mountain must have seen my look of fear because there were several that commented on how awful the ride down must be.  I heard one person say, "If I'm going to fall to my death, I'd rather do it on my own feet than on a donkey's!"  H and E kept getting farther and farther behind and every time we turned a corner, I'd think, "I may never see them again."

I know it sounds like I'm being dramatic, but we legitimately thought a fall could kill us.  And the unsteady donkeys made it seem like that was a real possibility.  But in the end, we all made it down without any mishap and a new appreciation for life.

So was it worth it?  I'm glad we saw the Monastery and I don't know if all of us would have seen it otherwise.
Would we do it again?  Uh, maybe not.

See those smiles of relief?

We rode donkeys up and down a mountain and lived to tell about it!

The rest of the day we explored the parts of Petra that we passed on our way to the Monastery.

It was an amazing couple days at Petra, but it was time to keep going south.  And, although it wasn't in our original plans, we decided to drive the extra half hour to get lunch in Aqaba and check out the Red Sea.

We didn't have time to stay long, however, because we were due to meet our guide to the Bedouin camp where we would spending the night.  We drove out to the middle of the desert to our camp and then hiked up the nearest dune to go sand boarding.

Since we still had a little time before dark, we took a hike around the neighboring hills to enjoy the desert beauty.  You know how there are beach people and mountain people?  We might be desert people.  We loved it!

Dinner consisted of chicken and vegetables that were cooked in a pit under the sand (the video, of which, won't upload).  It was fun to watch them dig it up, but it was even better to eat!

We were a little unprepared for the cold of the desert night.  The kids went to bed shortly after dinner, snuggled under mink blankets and wearing socks and extra layers on top of their pajamas to try and keep warm.  Brandon and I stayed up a little while to admire the stars, said 'Happy New Years' at 9 pm, and called it a night.

The next morning, we went with our guide and hiked around a little more...

...and then explored a canyon with ancient carvings on its walls.

Our last stop at Wadi Rum was Lawrence's Spring (so named for Lawrence of Arabia, which was filmed here).  We opted not to hike to the spring, but instead let the girls have a camel ride.

After that we said goodbye to the desert and began our drive north again.