Mount Nebo, Madaba, and Amman

Wifi is spotty in our Amman hotel so this will be a short and picture-free post. We left Petra behind this morning, taking the Desert Highway out of the Wadi Musa and northward through the hills of Edom toward ancient Moab. A long drive, we stopped for shopping and personal import-export at a small place before boarding the bus again. We turned west toward the Crusader era city of Kerek, passing the ancient castle (unseen) and continuing on to Mount Nebo. From Nebo's heights Moses looked across to the Promised Land. Our vista was slightly hazy, but we could see the Judean hills in the distance, the Dead Sea, And the Cities of the Plains, including ancient Sodom (or so says this blogger). See the video to back up his assertion about Sodom. Back on the bus, a quick ride took us to Madaba" Here we viewed the oldest mosaic map in the world, a Byzantine era floor of a church that guided ancient pilgrims on their journeys across the Holy Land. A wow of a map in vivid detail with Ancient Jerusalem as the feature. The huge Ded Sea and the surrounding sites were all marked for the ancient and the modern tourist as well-- that is, if yu could read Greek! We voted on a lighter lunch and hit a home run with boxed shear as and fries and veggies for a bargain price. We ate as we journey to a Mosaic factory to watch the artists at work in the miniature pieces of stone. A short hour down the road we arrived in Amaan. Our hotel is under renovation and has the oddest room numbering system. Floor two is actually on the fourth floor. Floor three on floors one and two, and I haven't the foggiest notion where floor one goes.... Tomorrow: Amaan city tour (ancient Phialdelphia of the Decapolis) and the vast Roman city of Jerash. Then, a rest at the hotel and a 1045 pm departure to the airport for our flight at 2am for Frankfurt, DFW, and all points homeward. Our blog will be caught up as David is staying in Jordan to work on an archaeological project.