October 5, 2019 - Amman to Petra

We bring down our two larger suitcases and check them as the desk. We’re going to Petra for two nights and will return here, so it makes sense to only take what we need.  We go in to breakfast and soon Ginger and Juan join us.  The girls have discovered the omelet station!

Zero Mean Sea Level - and on our way to 1400 feet Below MSL!!

After breakfast we go back upstairs and gather everything for the Petra adventure.  Ammar is waiting for us outside and we load up quickly and are on our way.  Our first stop is the Dead Sea!  We will be more than 1,300 feet below mean sea level!  We left Amman at yuck o’clock in order to arrive here before the heat and the crowds and it worked!!  We are allowed to use the Holiday Inn’s facilities and have the beach and roped off area of the sea, basically to ourselves!!  What an experience!  I can float!!  I can never float!!  You can’t tell from looking at it that the salinity is so very high!  Ginger, the water baby, is in her element.

When we’ve all had enough of the novelty, we go back up the beach to the changing areas and shower off all the salt.  Or at least a lot of it!  And we run into our buddies from the airport!  So neat to have friends that you meet halfway around the world!

Once we’re all presentable again, we mount up and are off!  Our next stop is Mount Nebo, a memorial to Moses which is in the custody of the Franciscans. One of the monuments describes it as a Christian holy place, even though Moses was a Jew.  Hmmm.  Anyway, the church contains a world-famous mosaic and lots of others, too.  The floors and walls are covered with them!  There is also a building which traces the history of the building, which has been occupied by many different religions.

Critters in the road, whatever country we visit!

Olives - right there on the tree!

So many beautiful mosaics!

And stained glass

Now that we’ve seen these beautiful mosaics, we’re off to the Tree of Life…which is a training center for mosaic artists.  It was founded by Queen Noon to provide a profession for those who are physically prevented from working on their knees on floor mosaics.  Sixty percent of the cost of each piece goes to the artist, thirty percent goes to the foundation to continue their work, and the remaining ten percent is for the upkeep of the facility.

First there is a demonstration of the making of the mosaics.  The most surprising part to me is that they are built upside down.  That is, you can see the bottom of the piece as it is being created.  The tiles are shaped and glued down with just a water and flour glue.  Then the piece is placed over a box of wet cement and when it is dry, it is inverted, leaving the flat side showing.  It is a simple matter, then, to remove the glue with hot water!  The presenter tells us that during the week there are fifty-five artists working here!  Today there are only a few;  but they are making beautiful things!

This man seems to run the facility, and is their premier artist, as well.

Next we enter the showroom and the famed middle eastern charm is turned on full force!  “Don’t worry about price!  The boss will make you good deal!”  “Just let him make price - if you don’t like it, you don’t have to buy!” “Here, I give you good price on this piece and add this one in for free!”  The work is beautiful, of course, and Marilyn is today’s big winner on the spending front!  But none of us escape unscathed!  And we run into our airport friends again!! 

I had to beg Ammar to take me back to the van!  I thought I’d never escape the velvet glove dragging me to yet another must-have!  From here we have only a few more things we want to do.  The first is to stop at the Church of St. George to see all the beautiful mosaics!

Then it’s on to another fantastic lunch!  Ammar knows all the best places!  And since we’re paying for our own meals now, he makes sure they aren’t expensive!  This one is called the Petra Complex.  And since we don’t plan on having dinner, after such a large, late lunch, we stop at a little convenience store and Ginger finds some yoghurt and herbs potato chips that she later declared quite delicious!.

Even the restaurants have examples of the local claim to fame.

Isn't this the cutest display for Red Bull?  It asks if you need to re-fuel!

We drive up the side of a mountain to get s shot of Shawbak Castle and along the way stop for photos and to see the World’s Smallest Hotel!!

You can stay in these eco-bubbles.  The tops are transparent so you can see the zillions of stars!

Shawbak Castle

These are all Bedouin camps.

It’s nearing sunset and we race to Little Petra before dark.  There is some kind of wedding or party being set up, complete with lighting effects and music!  Since we have only read about Petra, we don’t know what to expect from Little Petra. It’s a pretty surprising place, with staircases and tombs and houses cut right into the rock!  We scurry in and out before anyone really notices!  

This is going to be some party!

Sunset behind Little Petra

And then it’s home and to bed in our new hotel, the Panoramic Hotel.  All the rooms are on one side of the hall, and they all have balconies and an awesome view!