Road Trip Part 1 (Aqaba to Dead Sea ~ Jordan)

November 2019

Between saying farewell to Sue and David and heading off on our road trip we had another day in Aqaba (sort out laundry, arrange hire car, cold beer at Rovers Return Pub etc) and stumbled across one v odd dish in a local restaurant not far from where we are staying.

Sadly have been unable to track down a recipe for Thalat (stuffed and roasted sheep's spleen).

Our first stop in the road trip was Kerak Castle in the town of Kerak. Like most castles in the middle east it was built by the Crusaders in the 1100's. Not much of the castle is left standing above ground but there are some mosaics, a number of rooms and passageways underground that are in good nick and fun to explore. 

It was whilst in Kerak that we hit worst and best local. The worst was at a small restaurant outside the castle where we were stung for about $20 for a minimalist falafel sandwich and mediocre cup of tea - made worse by the fact that they menu was set up in such a way as to be deliberately confusing as to prices. Suffice to say we left him in no doubt as to our opinion. The best was a few hours later after we had located some accommodation (very strange but choice was extremely limited) and were wandering around checking out shops for supplies for a picnic lunch. The gentleman in question was Turkish and visiting a relation who owned the shop. Insisted we tried some Doogh (?) - whey from strained goats yoghurt, quite tangy and then gave a rundown on all of the things for sale and once we had made our choice offered to pay for them.

From Kerak we headed north to Mount Nebo and the City of Madaba. Mount Nebo being where where Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land. At the view point is the Brazen Serpent monument 

In the fourth century a church was built in this site and was then upgraded,  expanded ect... multiple times over the centuries. The current building is a modern chapel built over the restored pavements, beatiful mosaics, of the original church. 

If Madaba is known for anything it is mosaics. There a numerous places where centuries old mosaics are in display. The detail of them is amazing.

The biggy though has to be the 6th-century mosaic map of the Holy Land in the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George.

One mosaic that jumped out was the one below located on the St John the Baptist Church.

Found out that the location (Makawir) where Salome danced the dance of the Seven Veils and said beheading was requested and done is within a stones throw of Madaba so we headed out for a vist. Not surprisingly there is very little of the site to be seen but still fascinating.

From there it was a windy journey along a very well sealed and empty road to the coast of the Dead Sea - our next destination.  En-route we passed some quite impressive hot spring waterfalls. Though at about $30 a pop to go for a swim we decided to pass.