Feb. 26th- Um Qais, Al Himma Hot Springs, and Ajloun Castle

 This was a long day. Our driver has been setting a slower pace to allow us to adapt to this time zone, but today we went full throttle.

Our first stop was Umm Qais, located in Jordan but the Syrian Golan Heights, the north Palestinian plains, and the Sea of Galilee are visible from the viewpoint.


(On the way there, Akram offered to drive us into Syria (which was only 10 kms away) to go shopping. We politely declined.)

Gardera, the ruins at Umm Qais, is different from most other archeological sites in that much of the rock is basalt rather than limestone or sandstone.





Gardera has been of importance to the Greeks, Romans, and then the early Christians because of its ideal location on the trade route between Syria and Palestine and its biblical significance, as this is where the miracle of Jesus casting out the Gardera swine is said to have occured.

Our next stop was at the village of Al Himma, which has about 27 hot springs. Akram has contacts, so he booked us in the private hot spring. The water was beautiful, as were the grounds. We also appreciated being the only people there.


                                inside the private building                water channel 

After we soaked for an hour or so, it was time to move on to our last stop of the day. Ajloun Castle was built in the 12th Century by Saladin, the Muslim sultan and military leader.





Finally, it was time to head back to the hotel. It took about an hour to reach Amman and then another to get to the hotel. Amman is a big, modern city with big, modern traffic jams.

We slept well!












Comments

  1. Lise J.March 3, 2023 at 2:15 AM

    Love reading your blog, Jean! We have been talking about visiting this area of the world, so it’s wonderful having a sneak peak through your travels :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. JeanMarch 6, 2023 at 6:20 PM

    It's an amazing place. Love the history, the scenery, and the people.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The magical lost city of Petra- One of the Seven New Wonders of the World

Image
We were looking forward to Petra as a highlight of our trip and were surprised to be even more impressed than we anticipated. From the entrance (where tour buses abound), it's just a bunch of rocks. Quite attractive rocks, but ones that give no hint to what is behind them. Our driver excorted us to the ticket booth and arranged for a certified local guide. Sakher recognized that we would have problems pronouncing his name, so he told us we could call him Rock, as that is what Sakher means. It was a good start. As we walked along the narrow 1.2 km pathway from the entrance into the lost city, Rock explained the known history of the city built and eventually abandoned by the Nabateans. It's believed to have been home to about 30,000 people. I asked Rock about the current number of inhabitants of the town around Petra- it's about 30,000.              Although it flourished for the first centuries BC to AD as a vital trading centre because of its idea...
Read more

More Wonder and a Minor Accomplishment

Image
 After much discussion with our guide and with Barry yesterday, I decided the give another hike a try. Our driver had told us it was a much more difficult hike than the one that had defeated me, but Rock said no, the path was renovated and not too scary. They both promised to hold my hand when/if my fear of heights came into play. So, off we went. We arrived at the Visitor Centre at the main entrance to Petra and requested that Rock would be our guide again. Luckily, he was available, although we had to wait about 20 minutes because he was not scheduled to work and was still at home in bed! When he arrived, we took a shuttle to Little Petra, the base of the Back Door to the Monastery Trail. There we had a choice to take another bumpy truck bed ride to cut off a couple of kilometers. It was a no brainer for me.  Soon we were on the 2.5 kilometer path to the Monastery. It was usually wide and had lots of berms along the sharpest drop offs, which gave me a lot of comfort.  T...
Read more