On 26 April 2010, Jordan Air took off with 22 participants mainly from the Swiss congregations of Aesch, Uitikon and Birmensdorf for the Ecumenical Jordan Trip to Amman. After landing, we were met at the airport by our Jordanian tour guide and taken by "our" bus to the Hotel Geneva. The night was short because the muezzin with all his loudspeakers called us to prayer at 4 o'clock. We were not late for the breakfast buffet for that. From the hotel we went on several interesting excursions to explore Jordan and its biblical sites. Our theological guides Petra, Theo and Martin always had the appropriate Bible passages ready and all at once the Old Testament became more understandable in an impressive and vivid way.
Our first excursion took us to Mount Nebo. Right next to the car park, we noticed a large round stone.
View from Mount Nebo of the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea and Israel. From here, Moses saw the Promised Land before he died.
The large round stone, Abu Badd, served as the fortified gate of a Byzantine monastery.
We then visited the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George in Madaba, Jordan. The church is famous for its Madaba mosaic map, the oldest known geographical floor mosaic of the Holy Land. It dates back to the 6th century and was discovered at the end of the 19th century by Christian masons during the reconstruction of the church.
Madaba also has Roman roads (photo of the paving stones) and the King Hussein Mosque.
The next day was devoted to the desert castles.
The desert castle "Quseir Amra"
We admired Byzantine mosaics, visited desert castles and Roman buildings, listening intently to the words of our guide.
We spent a whole day in the huge ancient Roman city of Gerasa: it impressed us very much.
Gerasa
The next morning, we explored the capital city of Amman and visited the Citadel and the Jordan Museum.
On the way to our next base at the Dead Sea, we visited the baptismal site of Jesus at the Jordan River. Like Mount Nebo, the baptismal site only came alive for us through the appropriate Bible text.
It was at this very spot, east of the Jordan River opposite Jericho, that John the Baptist met Jesus and baptised him.
Soon we were lying in the water of the Dead Sea, or rather on the water. Of course we also wanted to smear ourselves with the healing mud and so the lively travelling party looked very funny - all black, from top to bottom in the mud pack.
The shared evening on the hotel terrace with a view of the setting sun over the Dead Sea was fantastic. We sat on the terrace until late into the warm night, listened to the sounds of the music group and were able to shake a leg.
Evening atmosphere at the Dead Sea
The next morning, we visited Herod's castle (Marchaeus Fortress). Here, at the original location, our Petra danced the dance of the seven veils, and suddenly there lay the head of John the Baptist or was it our Martin?
In the afternoon, we visited the ancient archaeological site of Umm ar-Rasas.
Then came another highlight of the Jordan trip: Petra. We had planned two days there and enjoyed every minute in the gorges and mountains of Petra. The walk through the increasingly narrow rock gorge to the so-called Treasury will remain unforgettable. Especially the overwhelming moment when, still in the dark gorge, the contours of the Treasury glistening in the sun appeared before us. Of course, I had already seen pictures of it and also the film Indiana Jones, but in real life it is incomparably more impressive. In Petra, we were also able to indulge our passion for riding horses and camels, which added a special charm to the kilometre-long hikes in the gorges.
View of Petra from our hotel
Royal tombs
A hike on a partly steep mountain path with over 800 steps through the Wadi Kharareeb led us to the Nabataean rock temple ad-Deir, where we gathered for a group picture. The name ad-Deir, meaning "monastery" in German, goes back to the fact that monks settled there in the Middle Ages.
A shady spot in the red rock
A chain one euro - but I don't want a chain
On the way to Akkaba to the Red Sea, we visited the Wadi Rum desert, where we explored the colourful desert valley. First, Theo read to us from the Old Testament about how the Israelites travelled through the desert.
Then we set off ourselves - but with off-road cars.
Wadi Rum
Very contrasting to the desert was our stay at the sea. Some of us took a chartered boat to the coral reefs where, equipped with diving goggles, snorkels and fins, we were able to observe the bizarre underwater world with its many colourful fish at close quarters.
Coral reefs
The Jordan trip came to an end in an insanely short time. We drove back to Amman with our bus, where we stayed again in the Hotel Geneva. Once again we enjoyed the Jordanian evening buffet with oriental delicacies. And once again the muezzin woke us up at 4 am. Just in time this time, because we had to be at the airport quite early. A little tired from the long flight, but filled with impressions of Jordan, we arrived in Kloten, where we bid each other a warm farewell.
