Day 32: The King's Highway from Amman to Petra
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2008
1
32
Trip End
Ongoing
Wadi Musa, Wadi Musa, Jordan
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The journey to Petra was a long 4 hour drive along on the dual-carriage King's Highway. On the way we stopped at Mount Nebo, which where Moses is supposed to have first seen the promised land. He never made it and is believed to have been buried nearby.
After a brief stop at a mosaic workshop, where Cameron again showed his interest in all things manufacturing, we went to see a rather older mosaic at the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George in Madaba. The 5th century mosaic floor was discovered during renovations and reveals an intricate map of the 'Holy Places' including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho and The Dead Sea. Cameron revealed his high church leanings when he insisted on lighting a candle at the entrance.
Lunch at a 'motorway caf' introduced us to a traditional lamb and rice dish called Mensaf. This is often cooked on ceremonial occasions and theoretically involves placing the boiled lamb's head in the centre of the platter. Call us wimps if you like (are you out there Ro?) but we were grateful to be having the everyday version! Anyway, either we ate a bit too much or we were still recovering from the flight but for one reason or another we all slept for the rest of the journey to Petra.
On arriving at the Crowne Plaza we dumped the bags and headed straight for the lovely little pool that sits on a sun terrace looking out towards the mountains that screen the ancient city of Petra from view. As the sun was setting, Cameron announced that he was taking off his swimming jacket and started swimming on his own for the first time. Not a bad spot to pick for such a momentous rite of passage.
