The King’s Highway to Petra

Today was a bus day and a churchy day. Much of it was on the King’s Highway, a winding road which follows an ancient (5,000 year) Middle East trade route. Our first stop was at Mount Nebo, the place where it was reported that Moses stopped to view the Holy Land that he was not allowed to see. We had foggy views of the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley from here. We could see the surrounding landscape — fairly bleak except for the two months of rain when it turns green. Hard to imagine people walking for years toward the River Jordan.

The Mound Nebo site also contains a center displaying preserved

mosaics from the 6th century.

We stopped in Madaba at a cooperative to see how mosaics are made and then had time in a non-profit cooperative showroom with arts and crafts from the area. I resisted buying a beautiful rug but it was hard.

Lunch was in Madaba — many salads and starters, followed by mansaf, a large platter of chicken on top of a layer of rice and flatbread. We also visited a 19th century Greek Orthodox Church which contains the earliest surviving map of the Holy Land.

We then had a three hour drive to Wadi Musa, the city right next to the entrance to Petra. This section of the drive was mostly on the Desert Highway which was 4-lane, straight, and fast. We are staying at the Petra Boutique Hotel which is new, small, and has incredible views of both the land below the entrance to Petra and of the modern city. Before dinner we had our PCR tests taken as required for entrance into Egypt. Salads and chicken with rice for dinner.