Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Our Last Day and Last Post


Amjad, our guide in Jordan
Mamdoh, our driver in Jordan

Amjad, our tour guide, and Mamdoh, our driver, were ready to greet us at 9:00 Tuesday morning. We left Amman, Jordan, well rested and ready for yet one more day of touring. The day included only two stops – Jerash and Ajlun.
Jerash is one of the ten cities built by the Romans that are known as the Decapolis. We had seen Beit She’an (or Beth Shean) earlier in our trip southeast of Nazareth, another of the ten. 


If Beit She’an is the best-preserved town in Israel, Jerash is considered one of the best preserved and most original of the Roman cities in the Middle East. This site contains all the elements anyone who has taken Latin 101 expects to see in a Roman city.
Jerash overview 








We enjoyed seeing a Hippodrome, where the horse races were held, a large Oval Plaza, a well-preserved Theater, a massive Cardo (Roman equivalent of a shopping mall, a Roman Forum, and a Temple to Aphrodite that has many similarities to Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. These ruins sit squarely in the center of the modern Jerash city. What a history lesson they wake up to every morning.



Need a boost?
In this picture you see some boys enjoying the grounds and doing the things boys do, such as trying to hoist each other into the crevices on the stage at the theater. These two were part of a school field trip group. As we encountered thet boys several times on the grounds, hey were not shy to say hi to us, each one smiling and wanting to be noticed. A few said, “I love you,” which must be one of the English sentences they know how to say. 




Cool Roman columns


Some of Jerash was destroyed by an earthquake, but our guide showed us how some of the columns were able to withstand the quake through a system of holes and notches in the column that still today give it the flexibility to move. Mark got a great shot looking up at five of these columns in the temple area.








Colorful presentation and good to eat.
From here we went to lunch at a lovely restaurant, with flowers and a huge fountain just outside our window. They were set up for huge crowds, but we were the only guests while we were there. In Israel, Palestinian areas, and Jordan, the salads have been plentiful and beautiful. We took a picture of the ones were had at our last tour meal. You can see there were about six choices in this course. The main course that followed was a barbecue of sorts, with chicken, lamb, and kafta (kind of a ground beef and ground lamb meatball kebob). This became another great example of the lovely hospitality and attentive service we experienced in Jordan.
Ajlun
The last stop for us was Ajlun, a market town that is dominated by the fortress of Qalat ar-Rabad, built in 1184-1185 partly to ward off incursions of Crusaders in that region. 
Green part of Jordan
We enjoyed the views from the hill where it sits as much as the ruins themselves. This area of Jordan is green, in contrast to the southern part where Petra is, which is stark desert. There is much agriculture here, which result in fruit and vegetable exports for Jordan to other countries in the Middle East that are all desert.










Leaving Ajlun - last stop of the tour.
This picture shows us posed at this, our last stop. From here we once more made our way through the Jordan/Israeli border crossing, this time at the Sheik Hussein crossing, north of the Allenby Bridge crossing we used on Sunday as we entered Jordan. This time all of our bags and suitcases were thoroughly searched by the Israelis. The mile distance from when we entered the Jordan side of the crossing until we were through the Israeli side took us about an hour and 15 minutes to accomplish. A taxi was waiting for us, taking us the last 75 miles or so to the Ben Gurion Airport. We arrived about 6:00 p.m. for a flight leaving at 11:40 p.m. The 11 hour and 30 minute flight went surprisingly quickly, with each of us able to sleep about 5 hours or so of that time. 
Sunrise over Manhattan from Newark airport
The sun chased us all night and finally caught up with us in Newark, New Jersey, about two hours after we landed. In the background of this, our last picture, you can see New York’s skyline.
We will be here until about 6 p.m. tonight. It had been our hope to store our carry-ons (four rather heavy ones) somewhere so that we might ride a train into NYC and even attend an Ash Wednesday service somewhere, but airport security means we keep our things with us all day long. So we are happy to be occupying our own little corner of Gate 85 until we can board for our last leg of this fantastic trip. We will arrive home about 9 p.m., ready for our own bed, we are sure.


This has been a very wonderful trip for us. Each person of our group was interesting, cooperative, unique in their contribution to the whole, and full of fun and adventure. Then these days of our extension added new memories for Mark and me both. We celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary next month and will now treasure these last two weeks as another of our great adventures. Thanks for following along with us.

1 comment:

  1. Welcome home...a comment I'm sure you heard from the US Immigration agent when you presented your passports as you re-entered the US.
    Each time Margaret and I have returned to the US from a foreign trip, those words are the most delightful to hear!
    And, thanks for such an informative blog. I don't know how you managed to fit it into what must have been a very busy schedule.

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