We've been having more trouble with our diesel tank with one of them splitting down the seam at the top. Having just about repaired the first tank this was not a pleasant surprise. Whilst Jon was under the van inspecting the damage, a car pulled up with two men and a baby in. They asked Linda if they could look around and once comfortably settled inside asked her to make some tea for them!! They were very pleasant and used all our reserves of sugar in their tea! Later that evening as we were getting ready for bed they returned with their entire family (excepting the wives of course!) to show them the van. We think they wanted us to go to their house for a meal but we had just eaten and when we successfully managed to explain we were veggies (because of our religion) they quickly left us alone! It was very funny explaining we are veggies, we have this written down and explained in Arabic and we showed them this. "Why?" is always the first question but once you get past this they keep saying "no fish?" followed by "No meat?" and repeated many many times as if by this process they can make you normal!
During the night the Police tried to move us on, but we told them we couldn't move as we had just epoxyed our tanks and wanted to let it set overnight. After much "Not safe, you must go to hotel" followed by "No" they gave up and left us alone.
As we couldn't visit the park easily we headed off to the Dead Sea on a spectacular drive winding through the mountains until we arrived at Karak.
Karak is a crusader castle captured and improved by the Muslims in one of the crusades. The Christian sections of the ruin are conveniently built in a dark rough stone and the Muslim parts in a smoother white. It is set on top of a hill commanding great views over the plains toward the Dead Sea. Its main attraction to us was - its not Roman or Egyptian! We really enjoyed wandering around something different after having spent the last few weeks visiting numerous Roman and Egyptian sites. Much of the castle is underground - it has 7 floors most of which seem to be hollowed out of the rock. Of course the other attraction was the nightmare one way system and incredibly narrow streets we had to wind our way through to get there. We were followed to the site by a coach which had to stop and ask a car to move before he could get through a gap we had just sailed through with a clear centimeter on either side of us to spare!
The drive down from Karak to the Dead Sea is lovely as the mountains just stop with no foothills and you suddenly find yourself 400m below sea level. The cool air of the mountains is left behind for the stifling heat of the Dead Sea.
We stayed at the Amman Beach Resort car park where we got electricity and filled up with water, which is so salty we can't drink it! The resort is a posh pool club and beach next to the sea. Its £10 each to get into so we spent all day there, we're not sure how the locals can afford it but there were plenty of westerners and locals around.
The beach is sandy, presumably imported, and you walk into the sea from sand onto solidified salt, keep walking and suddenly just float off. It's almost like becoming an Angel as you seem to take off from the sea bed. It really is great fun and according to he guide books and tourist information you can't get sun burn here. Our 3rd degree burns will testify to that being untrue! 3 months we've been away and not got burned once. Read the guide books and check into the nearest burns clinic!
The Amman beach is handy for a number of sites so we set off the next day to Bethany on the Jordan, where Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist and also where Elijah was taken up to heaven in a flaming chariot! For such an important religious site it was deserted! We visited the spot where Jesus was baptized which is being renovated. The river Jordan, now more of a stream, no longer flows to the baptism spot but there is still water there. Steps lead down to the water from a ruined church, one of many dotting the entire site, and a small shelter next to the water is apparently where John the Baptist used to baptise people. We then visited the Jordan river and got to dunk our toes in it under the watchful gaze of Israeli soldiers on the other side of the stream, the mid point being the border with Palestine. One thing you notice about the site is the oppressive heat. It is at least 5C hotter than the Amman beach (presumably because of all the burning chariots) and it was with much relief that we headed to the hills to visit Mount Nebo, where Moses looked upon the promised land and died. The view from the top is fantastic and the grounds the memorial church is set in are pristine and full of butterflies!
From here we visited the church of SS Lot and Procopius en route having to drive half in the verge to avoid a hanging telephone cable that still happily bounced along the roof a little. The church was locked and Jon went off to find the custodian who was in the shower! When he was dressed he let us in to see a marvelous mosaic floor almost completely in tact with a large burn in the centre. The custodian explained that his family lived on this site as Bedhouin for many years and the tent was roughly where the church once stood. The mosaic was unknown to them and under about a foot of soil on which they had their fire. They accidentally came across the mosaic and were then made the custodians of it! A wonderful story.
Next stop was Madaba and the Mosaic map in the Church of st george one of the oldest maps of the Holy Land in existence. In the crypt we saw an icon who, according to the guide, had seen a miracle a few years ago. The crypt had filed with smoke and when it had cleared one of her hands had turned blue! The paint on the hand has been tested by laboratories and the substance cannot be found anywhere on earth! "You are in the land of miracles you know" he told us. 'And gullible people' we thought.
Our last stop on the days tour was at the Panoramic View point overlooking the Dead Sea and Palestine. We had a drink watching the sun set and then hurried down the pass before it got dark back to the Amman for the night.
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