Road Trip Part 2 (Dead Sea to Azraq ~ Jordan)

November 2019

Couldn't come to Jordan and not go for a swim, and I use the term swim loosely, in the Dead Sea. Called dead because the salinity is about 33% and nothing lives in it (apart from tourists ).

What we didn't realise is how much things have changed in the last couple of decades. The Dead Sea is fed from the River Jordan and given that about 90% of the river is extracted for irrigation, drinking water (and the bulk of that, according to a local museum, by Israel) etc the level of the Dead Sea has been dropping.  In the picture below the first sign is where the waters edge was about 15 years ago.

The high salinity does give rise to some seriously encrusted rocks and I believe in the right conditions salt pillars - assume there is some connection to Lots wife here somewhere as his cave is not far from here.

Leaving the Dead Sea we had a choice of tracking down some 5,000 year old dolmens (standing stones/burial sites) or visiting the site on the Jordan River where Jesus was baptised. Sorry JC, Dolmens won.

The Dolmens were located in quite a rural area and in the way out spotted quite a few dovecotes that are still in operation.

Next stop was Jeresh. Knew a tiny bit about Jeresh before arriving but was not prepared for the size and scope of it. In terms of attraction we found it on par with Petra and Wadi Rum. The first thing you encounter is Hadrians Arch (was a lot bigger) and designed purely to impress visitors to the city. This is of course the same Hadrian as Hadrians Wall in England. In our next trip we plan to see some of Hadrians lesser known work - Hadrians Terrace, Hadrians  Porch and Hadrians Gazebo.

Past the arch and the hippodrome you hit the forum - a logical place for a lunch break. Odd to think that about 1,500 years ago there would have been somebody sitting in the same place eating the same lunch as us - bread, tomatoes and muttabl (yummy eggplant dip).

Other buildings include small forums, amphitheatres, nymphaeums (public water fountains) and so on.

From Jeresh we headed northish to Umm Qais. Umm Qais was the center of Greek culture in  this part the world and overlooks the Golan Heights to the north. The Golan Heights are a series of rather unprepossessing hills that have been an area of conflict and exchanged hands a few times. 

The ruins are quite expansive and there are some subterranean tombs that are fun to explore though I think anybody from Health and Safety seeing them would have a heart attack. 

As with pretty much most ruins in this area they were inhabited by the Nabataeans,  Greeks and Romans which of course means Amphitheatres. Within the ruins were two amphitheatres.  One that has been restored to a degree and one that is more typical of what happens to ruins - they are pillaged as they are a great source of building materials.

Given that we were this far north we decided to head up to as close as to the border with Israel as we could get - 100m or so. The border between Jordan and Israel/Egyptian the Jordan River and we were surprised at how lush then valley was. Mind you that's relative to the rest of Jordan which is pretty much and arid wasteland.

Whilst up by the river had a nice little road side picnic. Given the proximity to the border three heavily armed jeeps, complete with about five soldiers and mounted machine gun drove by. Our technique in this situation is to look harmless, smile and wave. So far we have always had big smiles and waves in return.

Like the Golan Heights the West Bank is something that those of our generation will be familiar with in terms of conflict.  Wasn't till we were hear that we twigged it's the West Bank of the Jordan River.

From the North of Jordan we started to head east along the Eastern Desert Highway. Our first stop was at Umm el Jimal aka Mother of Camels to the locals or the "Black Gem of the Desert" to archeologist.

The back gem title comes from the fact that the buildings were built primarily from Basalt.

The ruins date back to the first century and the construction techniques used are quite fascinating. The lintels over doorways are built so that the load from above is spread to the supporting columns and nor the lintel itself - thereby ensuring it won't break.

Floor beams made from solid Basalt were supported by a series of ledge supports built into the walls.

And where a tower was to be built above the corner of a building a row of interlocking blocks were laid around the corner so as to give the effect of a ring beam and prevent the corner from blowing out under pressure.

Given the arid nature of the countryside we have seen very little in the way of wildlife however in the ruins we did spot this little guy.  Later we found out it was an Eryx. Non-venemous and relatively uncommon.

Our last stop for the days was a small Roman Fort. Given the remoteness of it the gate was locked (not surprisingly given not many tourist make it out this way). However and enterprising local had pulled up a section of fence and showed me (Richard) around.  Sally had decided to stay in the car but as soon as I was out of sight the women of the house invited her in for tea.  A moderate amount of communication was possible as one of the ladies spoke good English.  Quite fascinating as they were both married to the same man and multiple children were present - two older girls by the first wife and a young boy by the second.

From here we headed down towards Azraq.