Boxing Day
26 December 2012
We woke up this morning with instructions to check out of
the Petra hotel by 9:00 AM. There was
some minor episode with bar charges being posted to the wrong rooms, and
without going into detail I’ll simply say it is both amusing and disappointing
to see how petty some people can be over a few dollars. We’ve all spent a fair amount per person in
airfare and tour fees, so, to worry about the price of a couple of drinks seems
silly to me. In any case, it was
straightened out, but became a running joke among a few of us.
Shobak Fortress, a castle built by the Crusaders, was our
first stop of the day. Unfortunately,
this fell back into the “no big deal” category, as it was nothing special, and
nowhere near as well reconstructed as so many of th European castles I have
toured.
Next was an unexpected event when our bus broke down,
requiring a delay while we waited for and were transferred to an alternate,
losing a couple of hours in the process.
In spite of the bus problem, we reached Mount Nebo, the
point from which God allowed Moses to view the Promised Land, only to tell him
he would never set foot on it.
Unfortunately, haze made if impossible for us to see the cities of
Bethlehem and Jerusalem, but that really did not distract from the majesty of
the moment.
The final two stops of the day consisted of a visit to St
George’s in Madaba, a Greek Orthodox church which houses a famous mosaic floor
map of the Holy Land, followed by a tour of a mosaic factory (can we say tour
guide commissions?).
We arrive at the Marriott hotel in Amman shortly after 8:00
PM, with a very quick dinner then off to bed, in anticipation or the border
crossing into Israel tomorrow!!
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