Ron & Barbara Schill Family Blog: May 2014

A herd of sheep grazing but I didn't
see anything green for them to eat.

This is how the Jordanians construct buildings.

Shop in Madaba

The Greek Orthodox Basilia of Saint George in Madaba. The Map of Madaba Mosaic made in the 6th century is located in this church. The mosaic was discovered in 1896. It is made up of millions of pieces of colored stones, The map is famous because it is one of the oldest maps of Bible lands in the world.

Madaba is located 19 miles south-west of Amman. The town of Madaba was a Moabite city and here are a few places it is mentioned in the Bible. Numbers 21:30, Joshua 13:9 , I Chronicles 19:7 and Isaiah 15:2

Part of the Map of Madaba Mosaic on the floor of the church

Map of Madaba Mosaaic showing Jerusalem in the 6th century.

Part of the Map of Madaba Mosaic showing the Jordan River

Another view of the Greek Orthodox church of Saint George in Madaba

Squeezing a Pomegranate to make Juice

The pomegranate juice has a religious meaning that represents Christ's blood.

Sign showing many of the Jordanian Leaders

There are a lot of olive tree groves in this area of Jordan.

In 2005 this sculpture was erected by the Catholic church in celebration of the Pope's visit to Mount Nebo. The Latin inscription at the base means "One God and Father of all, who is above all."

This is a memorial to Moses situated on the top of Mount Nebo.

Mosaic in the old diaconicon baptistery of the basilica on Mount Nebo depicting pastoral and hunting scenes. The photo below shows a peacock which symbolizes eternity.

The view Moses saw from the top of Mount Nebo when the Lord showed him the Promised Land.
Moses was buried near Mount Nebo.

A sign showing the distances from Mount Nebo to other places.

I had an opportunity to learn about how to make a mosaic. I had to use tweezers to pick up a tiny piece of metal.

I dipped the tiny piece in glue.

I put the piece of metal along the ink drawing.

The design is drawn first and then the metal pieces are placed on the lines to make the outline before the background and objects are filled in with small pieces of colored glass.

A women who makes amazing mosaics.

This person working in the store made this beautiful peacock mosaic.

There are families living in these tents.

Since we stayed in this hotel an extra night because we couldn't fly out of Tel Aviv, dinner wasn't included so I was able to get some milk and we ate Weet-a-Bix cereal that we had brought from England.

We had to check out of our hotel room so we found a comfortable place in the lobby to wait three hours for our ride to the airport.

A Laughing Dove in Jerusalem

It got this name because of its rising and falling laughing cry.

While waiting at the Ben Gurian Airport in Tel Aviv to see if we were able to get on the US Airways' plane, I enjoyed watching the Jewish people coming off their plane and meeting their families. I took the photos with my little camera to be more discreet but some are blurry.

Because the US Airways' plane was all filled up at Te Aviv to North Carolina, we bought a ticket on Easy Jet to fly back to London. It was great to be with the Cambridge Schills again for a few days. We appreciated Ryan picking us up and taking us back to the airport.

One night for dinner we went to an English pub and I was able to enjoy wonderful grandchildren and fish and chips again.

Grandpa and Noah hanging out at the pub

Bella loves to wrestle with her grandpa.

Ron had the courage to ask this Orthodox Jew if he could take his picture while we were at the North Carolina airport. He was happy to pose for the photo.

We had a nice flight to North Carolina and then on to San Francisco. We had a wonderful trip spending Christmas with Ryan and his family in England and also having the opportunity to explore Israel and Jordan. I have enjoyed posting our trip photos on the family blog so you could get a glimpse of the many wonderful and exciting experiences we had on our tour through the Holy Land.

We want to thank Ryan for all the help he gave us throughout the time we were in Jordan and Isarel so we could have this learning, spiritual and amazing trip! We probably would have never gone to this area if it hadn't been for him. It was a very special experience!

Here are some photos that I took as we were traveling to Petra. Most were taken from the bus window to show the desert landscape of Jordan.

Jordanian Gas Station

Camels in the Field

A Small Herd of Goats

No vegetation for miles just sandy soil and small groups of houses dotting the landscape
Our guide told us that Jordan's land is 75% sand but I didn't see any sand just a lot of barren soil.

This area is starting to have small bushes growing in the barren land. This tractor was the only thing a could see for miles.

I think this makes an artistic scene with the towels hanging out to dry.

Lots of delicious fruit and vegetables in Jordan.

This is a popular men's attire in Jordan.

But some men do wear pants instead of the long, long shirt but they all have their red and white neck shawls (Kaffiyyeh) that are wrapped around their heads and held on by a black rope called an Igal.

The soil is plowed and ready to plant.

Jordan had a snow storm a few weeks before we traveled there and this is a strip that hadn't melted yet. It seemed strange to see snow in an area you associate with being very hot.

We left the flat land and started to drive up into a mountainous area and could see the Petra mountains in the background.

Jordanian Flag

PETRA

It was exciting to finally get the chance to see the city of Petra. This city is located 262 km south of Amman. Petra was established by the Arabian Nomads called Nabataeans around the 3rd century BC. Petra evolved into a commercial center. By the 1st century BC the Nabataeans had acquired control of the incense and spice trade throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Camel caravans passed through loaded with spices, incense and textiles from the Mediterranean and the Near East, Africa and India.

The Nabataeans carved temples, tombs and other buildings out of the sandstone cliffs to memorialize their kings and leaders.

The Nabataean created an amazing water system of waterways to provide Petra with enough water. Petra's aqueduct system is estimated to have carried about 12 million gallons of fresh spring water per day.

Petra was discovered by the Western world when a Swiss explorer, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, in 1812 saw Petra for the first time.

Ron decided to ride a horse drawn buggy through the Sig, the narrow gorge leading into the sandstone ancient city of Petra. The rest of our group walked and met Ron at the famous Treasury in Petra.

Off they go!

One of the 26 Djinn Blocks in and around Petra. It is thought that these monuments served as tombs and memorials to the dead. The block tombs may be symbols of the god Dushara, who in Nabataean times was represented as a block of stone.

The Obelisk Tomb that guards the entrance to the Siq, a gorge that leads to the city of Petra. The tomb is perched above the dark entrance to a big cave called Babel-Siq Trictinium, a dedicated hall where banquets were held in honor of the dead.

A House Cave

The entrance to the Siq meaning the "shaft"

It is exciting to finally be able to walk through this gorge and end up at the ancient city of Petra.

The rocks along the Siq and in Petra are shades of reds, browns, yellows and pinks because of being stained by iron oxide carried by water.

At the bottom of this photo shows the carved water channels that are on both sides of the Siq.

Amazing colored sand stones

Carved places a long the Siq to hold statues of gods

The rock walls of the Siq were so amazing that I took lots of photos. Here are a few of them.

The Nabatean Offering Place in the Siq

It is remarkable that the dead- looking tree grew planted in this rock and now it has new growth!

This rock formation looks like a fish but when you walk past it and look back at the same formation you see an elephant.

Elephant Formation

More places to place statues a long the Siq

A carving of a camel caravan in the Siq. It is hard to see but easy to make out the body of the person who was leading the camels.

This is how dad went through the Siq. I rode back on the buggy with him when we left Petra and boy was it a wild bumpy ride. The driver was making the horse go fast and by the time we finished the ride the poor horse was wet with sweat.

One of the dams that were built to hold the spring water.

When you walk around the final bend in the Siq, you get your first view of the most preserved and famous monument in Petra, Al-Khasneh Farum which means "Treasury of Pharaoh."

It is hard to believe the detailed carvings of the treasury that have been preserved for thousands of years.

You see a lot Bedouin children as you enter Petra. They come to barter with the tourists and are very persistent salesmen who don't accept "no" for an answer but give you better prices and try to convince you of the value of the silver bracelet or whatever they are selling. When we found Ron, he had bought a shawl (Kaffiyyeh) and made good friends with this Bedouin boy. He was waiting patiently for Ron's wife to come so I could buy a silver bracelet from him which I did after some bargaining.

Bedouin are nomadic Arabs who live by rearing sheep and camels. The word bedouin means "inhabitant of the desert."

Donkeys waiting for someone to ride them.

There are a lot of tombs carved into the rock in Petra. These openings are not all tombs but some are houses.

Uneishu Tomb

Street of Facades- over 40 tombs in this area

Bedouin waiting to sell rides to tourists.

The Theatre Ruins

When the theatre was carved it could seat between 7,000 and 8,500 people in 40 rows cut from the rock. It had great acoustics with the high cliffs for a back drop.

The City of Petra extends to the high country that I didn't have time or energy to explore. It would take many days to see all this ancient city.

Ron asked me if I wanted a camel ride but I declined but now wished I had had the experience of getting on this very tall animal. It was entertaining to watch the camels fold their legs especially their back lets to get into a position with their bellies on the ground so tourists could get on their backs.

You can go into these tombs but there is just a big room with a blackened ceiling. For many years the Bedoiums lived in these rooms and built fires to cook and keep warm.

There are some shops by the visitor's center about a mile before you enter the Sig. Indiana Jones was made famous here when part of the film, The Last Crusade, was filmed in Petra. They almost got the spelling of his name correct.