The last leg of my trip to Jordan was to visit the Dead Sea. On our drive to the area we stopped in Madaba and Mount Nebo.

Madaba was our first stop.

Madaba is famous for its mosaics. Or, rather, the Madaba mosaics are famous.

This small town in Jordan, nineteen miles southwest of Amman and on the Kings Highway houses one of the oldest maps of the Holdy Land, built out of two million pieces and embedded in the floor of the Sait George Greek Orthodox Church.

All I could think of when looking at this map is how physically fit these folks were. The distances were very long and besides a donkey they did an awful lot of walking. It was totally impressive!

Then our next stop was Mt. Nebo. Mt. Nebo was said to be the area where Moses got to see The Promised Land and was believed to be buried. It was a soul searching moment for me especially after having visited the church with the ancient map and thinking about all that walking. It just gave me a widened perspective on Moses walking the desert for 40 years. Wow. Wow. Wow. Talk about persistence.

Then we checked into Movenpick Dead Sea Resort, a fabulous resort right on the Dead Sea. As with Wadi Rum and Petra, the resort was an experience. My room had a view of the Dead Sea and the property is so large that you have to call for a cart to take you from place to place. Yes, you can walk, but they do give you that choice dependent on time.

So here are some photos of this incredible resort.

View from my terrace of the Dead Sea.

And at night…

While staying at this resort, we also visited the ancient city of Jerash which pays tribute to the history of Roman influence in this part of the Middle East. We also visited the River Jordan where my girlfriend and her husband baptized their 2 year sold. I was fighting off the flies which were really bad. What really fascinated me was the short distance between the Israeli side of the river and the Jordanian side at the place of baptism. Interesting. See the flags.

This was an amazing trip. I truly enjoyed it and learned so much. Was it an easy trip. No. Especially because war broke out between Israel and Hamas/Gaza two days after we arrived but… all in all it was for me the trip of a lifetime since I don’t see myself returning and so my memories and this blog will have to serve me. Praying for Israel.