Jordan - Day 3

We checked out of our wonderful hotel Monday morning and spent much of the morning driving through Wadi Musa (valley of Moses). Jordan is riddled with olive trees making olive oil one of its largest exports. The carefully manicured vineyards as well as the scattered wild olive trees made for beautiful scenery.
We ended our drive just past the city of Madaba at Mt. Nebo. As related in the Old Testament, Mt. Nebo is where the Lord showed Moses the promised land and where he was subsequently translated. It was an incredible feeling to be where this great prophet stood thousands of years ago. Over the last hundred years they have unearthed various Roman pottery and many clay oil lamps as well as several intricate tile mosaics.
Continuing on the outskirts of Madaba there is a small factory where mosaics are still made. We were fortunate enough to visit this workshop. We entered a room where eight ladies were busily and meticulously placing tiny mosaic pieces on sketched outlines of various pictures. We were touched that several of them working had some sort of disability. We were amazed at their ability to cut such delicate mosaic pieces and glue them to create beautiful mosaic art ranging from The Tree of Life to flowers to scenes from the Garden of Eden. Beautiful creations.
From there we drove into the city of Madaba to visit St. George’s Church, a church built in the 19th century. The beautiful church houses many mosaics, the most famous being one constructed in the 6th century AD depicting the entire Holy Land from Lebanon to Egypt. It once contained more than two million tiles but only a portion have survived.
We rested our weary selves at a hotel in Amman. Having been around historical sites in the United States, England, and Italy, all of which have had great impact on the creation of civilizations or building of religions, it’s an amazing and humbling opportunity to visit places thousands of years older also of great significance. A blessed opportunity.