Jordan’s Lowest Point on Earth

Here you will visit the oldest map of the Holy Land on the floor of Saint George’s Church. Madaba, or Medeba in antiquity, features many famous mosaics that exist in public and private buildings. After Madaba, a short drive will bring you to Mt. Nebo, the alleged burial site of Moses overlooking the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea. From this mountain top Mosaic had his first glimpse of the Holy Land, a land he was never allowed to enter. Here Franciscans have built a structure that protects a 4th and 6th Century Byzantine church.

Then stop for a while for lunch at Haret Jdoudna Restaurant is a very elegant restaurant in the centre of downtown Madaba with a beautiful courtyard garden where you can sit under big umbrellas. The restaurant is nestled in a small shopping area so you can even do a little handicrafts shopping while you wait for your food. Probably Jordan’ best traditional restaurant Large choice of cold and hot dishes, you are sure to find something you like but worth a try is the grilled chicken or labneh served with fresh herbs. Why not try a Hubbly Bubbly water pipe in Apple, Mint or Strawberry flavored tobacco. They also have those flavored water pipes to smoke if you feel like giving it a try. Head back to your hotel for a free late afternoon float in the salty waters of the Dead Sea as you enjoy the sun setting over the mountains of Israel.

The city features theatres, churches, temples (Zeus and Artemis), a Nymphaeum and colonnaded streets. After the visit back to Amman to start a city tour of Amman, the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom. Often referred to as the “White City” because of the white stone used to build houses, Amman offers a contrast between oriental and cosmopolitan. The tour will take you to the museums, the Citadel, the amphitheatre, the souks and the modern part of town. Back to your hotel at Dead Sea for overnight.

After passing some tombs which are located outside the city, the visitor passes through the SIQ, an immense crack in the Nubian sandstone. It is a winding, one-kilometer-long fissure between overhanging cliffs that seem to meet more than 300 feet overhead. Near the end of the passage, the SIQ, with great style, makes one last turn and out of the gloom in towering brightness appears Petra’s most impressive monument, el Khazneh – The Treasury. This is one of the most elegant remains of antiquity, carved out of the solid rock from the side of the mountain and is nearly 140 feet high and 90 feet wide.

Beyond el Khazneh the visitor is surrounded on both sides by hundreds of Petra’s carved and built structures, soaring temples, elaborate royal tombs, a carved Roman theater, large and small houses, burial chambers and much more. The Victorian traveler and poet, Dean Burgon, gave Petra a description which holds to this day – “Match me such a marvel save in Eastern clime, a rose-red city half as old as time.” Back to Dead Sea for overnight