on a more personal note: my flat and the view from my kitchen

Can you see my tent-dwelling neighbours?

The Library at King's Academy

including Jazzy and Janet, some of our smiling librarians, the research/conference room and the magazine area.

more about Madaba

This could also be called 'Mad about Madaba'. I love it. Have travelled more - not widely, but deeply, to discover that we are in the land of the Moabites. Off the beaten track on the road to Mt Nebo is an unprepossessing litle church loosely known as the Reuben church in the lands where Rueben, eldest of the sons of Jacob, established his tribe, one of the 12. Inside: guess what? Yes, more magic mosaics. To the other side of the hill, down a precipitous road, is the probable site of Moses' last dwelling, the Moses Spring. Grafittied and grubby, it looks more like the scene of nefarious goings-on, but there was, in fact, a family there filling plastic bottles from the sluggish spring. The man was wearing a dagger. Have been reading the Old Testament to try to establish some sort of chronology, but given that they all lived so long, it's a bit hard to work out who was where when.

Approaching Ramadan

Where's your camera when you need it?
The day before Ramadan, having lost ourselves in the old city of Amman, we entered into an immense market, street after street, selling menswear. It took us some time to realise that there were no women to be seen, and that the streets, footpath and road, were stacked with all manner of clothing. Mountains of shoes on tarpaulins or plastic sheeting teetered over the edges of the pavement, racks of shirts and pants filled the roadway, and vast trays of underwear filled all available crannies. Through this men thronged, choosing shoes from the scuffed and dusty piles, and sorting through the racks and trays. Buses pushed their way through, spewing black, noxious smoke. The day was very hot and without the customary breeze.
It was a strange and alien sensation to be there, feeling insignificant to the point of invisibility. I felt myself like a camera, recording images, but making no contact. Perhaps it was wrong to be there, indelicate or rude. I hope not. No-one made us feel that way; we were simply ignored utterly.
Later someone told us that the men were buying new clothes for Ramadan.
At last we found a way out, and greatly relieved, entered a carpet shop, dusty and narrow and filled with many treasures - not only carpets, but old, battered coffee pots whose dim sheen defied the dust, great grinding stones and other obscure items.
By contrast, on the same day we found the lovely, colourful Jara market.
Next time, photos! (I propbably wouldn't ahve taken any of the men's market anyway.)

Then on to Ajloun

Jerash is north of Amman, and to its north west is Ajloun. Here the country is hilly and quite thickly forested with coniferous trees. Atop the highest peak (at least it looks like it) is the spectacular Qalaat Ar-Rabadh, a 12th century castle built by Emir Izz Ad-Din Osama, a cousin of Saladin. You can see it perched up there from miles away, and from the castle, the views of the surrounding countryside stretch far and wide in all directions. Inside is a maze of corridors, small rooms from which you can glimpse any approaching enemy through the arrow slits, wells, niches and nooks and a small museum. From the top you can feel a marvellous cool breeze. Outside was a boy selling figs.
Along the approaching roads are numerous fruit and vegetable stands with their gorgeous displays of tomatoes and pomegranates.

more of Jerash

... including some visitors.

Finding still more history in Jerash

Jerash, or Garasa, was one of the 3 great Roman cities of the Near East. The Romans moved in in 84BC, and the city flourished under the Pax Romana and became very wealthy.
The ruins are so extensive and so fabulous, I think I'll post a couple of entries just so you can get a bit of an idea.

City scenes

When the bus takes us to Amman for shopping, we are delivered to lavish shopping malls in the more salubrious parts of the city. The malls are modern, expensive and excessive - like shopping malls everywhere. Just next door, however, you're likely to find something quite incongruous, such as this rubbishy but otherwise barren field with its grazing sheep and goats. The juxtaposition is quite bizarre.

More mosaics from Madaba

I think I'll let these pictures speak for themselves. Suffice it to say that the Archaeological Park is stunning. The thing is, that here are these unimaginable treasures, and there's hardly anyone looking at them. Look at these!
At the Church of the Apostles, the attendant was so happy to have a visitor that he encouraged me to walk across (WALK ACROSS!) this floor that dates from 578AD so I could get better pictures.

a camel train

(or at least one member of it) which of course I took to be authentic, until I was disabused of that romantic notion. They were, in fact, part of the cast of a television film about the life of the Bedouins.
Well, they were camels, and it was the desert!

and some things more secular

A day at the beach....

And now to the Holy Land

Imagine standing where Moses stood and seeing this. What a long way, he must have thought! Here's a view from Mt Nebo,(right) where, early morning, I was the only visitor. There's such a sense of ancientness that you can practically feel him(Moses) standing beside you.
Later I saw where he began - the bulrushes along the river that became the basket in which he was found by the king's daughter.

Later it was off the the Jordan, a now sad river, only a trickle of its former self that required a boat to cross. Still, the enthusiastic are still keen for immersion, as an evangelical American in our little group proved by plunging in after loud and somewhat garbled praying. His friend caught the happy moment on camera, as did an armed border security guard who hurried over, probably to make sure he didn't swim (or walk) right across, where some industrious Israelis were building a far grander platform.

My alarm clock ....

and also a couple of other pictures:

Talk about historical (2)

So much history! You really can't describe your response when you get to the archeological site at Amman (especially after you've walked there from the National Gallery of Fine Arts (yes, look that up on a map!) What a hilly city this is!It's staggering to think of all those lives lived on that site for 2,000 years - all those regimes, all those changes, all those feet treading the same path... You simply have to see it - and feel it. And the view of the city from there: breathtaking!

Talk about historical (1))

Here is Madaba - or a little, and very historical bit of it. If you like mosaics, then this is the place for you. On the floor of St Georges Church is an amazing mosaic map of the region, as it was known then. Madaba, it appears, was the centre of mosaic making in the early Christian days. The detail of the map is wonderful - all the little houses, especially, and the boat and the animals. What I should really include, though, is a picture of the Holy City Sweet Shop which appeared as a mirage offering a restorative icecream after having lost myself for several hours of gruelling, sun-stroke inducing, dusty, but nevertheless varied and infinitely interesting, walking. The trouble was that I was so exhausted when I came upon the Holy City that I forget to take a picture. Madaba is a large city!