Day 18: Trip to Madaba, Mount Nebo, Dead Sea and Bethany-Beyond-Jordan (1)
...and that 'excursion' turned out to be just as bad!
So, I've said it, that saves me from doing another rant. Let's just focus on the fun thing of travelling: the actual travelling part!
Today we only had one travel companion, a Japanese guy. We were also travelling by luxury car, which was much more comfortable than yesterday's van.
Today's tour started in Madaba. We may not have been able to find a hotel in this place, it was nice to visit the town nonetheless.
Madaba is famed for its mosaics. The most famous of these can be found in the St George church, a 19th century Greek Orthodox church which has been built on the site of a Byzantine church. It was here in 1884 where people discovered the remains of a mosaic floor which pictured a highly detailed map of the Middle East. Part of this map has been saved and a section measuring 5 by 3 metres is now visible on the church floor. Obviously the discovery of the map on the floow has had some impact on the seating arrangements in the church, as no walking allowed on the mosaic.
The thing is stunning, especially when you consider it was created over 1500 years go. The saved section shows the largest part of Jordan, with the Dead Sea, Petra, Aqaba, Wadi Rum, but also Jerusalem and Jericho.
We also visited some Byzantine era ruins in Madaba, but these weren't really interesting.
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