Day 17 - Madaba

Madaba is 30 km southwest of Amman. It is most famous for its six-century mosaic map of the Middle East.

On the morning of Day 17, the first place we went was the St. George's Church where the map was housed. The current Greek Orthodox church replaced the previous Byzantine church. The map was made from two million pieces of colored stone, depicting hills and valleys, villages and towns in Palestine and the Nile Delta. The map was right in the center of the small church. Some of the columns were built in the middle of the map. Only fragments of the map were left of what used to be 16 meter long and 6 meter wide display. However we could still see the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and etc.

The guide of another tour group was pointing his stick to Jerusalem in the map.

The river on the left is the River Jordan. Where River Jordan flows into is the Dead Sea. There are two fish in the river, one swimming out of the Dead Sea, the other facing the wrong direction swimming into the Dead Sea.

After visiting the map, we looked for the Mosaic School but unfortunately it closed on Saturdays. We spent the rest of the morning shopping around St. George Church, where mosaic and carpet stores abounded. Since Madaba was the last and only place for shopping, I went all out forgoing all my previous restrictions on weight and size of purchases. That was why I ended up with a 44 pound Kelty and 20 pounds to carry onto the plane. Julee and I each bought a rug. I got some ceremics and mosaics too.

Anyone who visits Jordan would have to buy some Dead Sea products. Alex, Julee and I went to a store whose owner was friendly and chatty. The lady told us she had six children and she was 45. We could not believe it since she had such youthful clear skin. The Dead Sea products must have worked!!! We were so "inspired", we each bought a bunch of stuff. Before we left the store, she picked up a pen, invited herself to Julee's cast and signed her name in Arabic.

The best shawarma place in town. On Day 17 I had lunch here and then dinner with the group. Everyone loved the grilled shawarma with pickle inside. I still dream of it till today.