Adventures in Madaba and Wadi Mujib

Yesterday we (Yo, Mo, Miss A, J and B) ventured to Madaba and its environs in our rented car. It was a great day and we saw some very interesting sites. The Wadi Mujib is a gorge in Jordan which enters the Dead Sea at 410 meters below sea level. The Mujib Reserve of Wadi Mujib is the lowest nature reserve in the world, located in the mountainous landscape to the east of the Dead Sea, approximately 90km south of Amman.

We did not go all the way to the nature reserve, but we did see the very impressive Mujib Dam. The Wadi Mujib is the biblical Arnon River, which acted as the dividing line between the Moabites and the Amorites.

We also spent some time in Madaba, which is famous for its Byzantine and Umayyad mosaics.

The most famous of the Mosaics is the Madaba Mosaic Map, which is an index map of the region, dating from the sixth century CE. The Madaba Map is preserved in the floor of the Greek Orthodox Basilica of George. The over two million pieces of colored stone depict hills and valleys, villages and towns in Palestine and the Nile Delta. The mosaic contains the earliest representation of Byzantine Jerusalem

The map provides important details as to its 6th century landmarks, with the cardo (the central street colonnaded street and the church of the Holy Sepulchre. This map is one key in developing scholarly knowledge about the physical layout of Jerusalem after its destruction and rebuilding in 70CE.

After a great late lunch/early dinner at Haret Jdoudna, we travelled back to Amman and all decided that because we had a car we should go through the Starbucks drive through in Abdoun.

Our travelling companion J, a Starbucks barrista in another life, explained away the variability in coffee drinks as the difference between the preparer loving coffee and someone just doing their job. "Good coffee comes from the heart".

We had great coffee from our Jordanian barristas, who clearly made the coffee with love (and willingly put up with our photo taking). A fun day and hopefully a good birthday for Miss A.

Run to the Lowest Point on Earth!

Yo and Miss A completed a 10K this morning with great style. They left bright and early (Yo left the house at 4:45am) and started the run about 7:50am. Their cheering section (Mo, W, J, L, and T) left Amman a few hours later and drove down to the Dead Sea to see them cross the finish line.

As with most things in the Middle East, nothing started on time, which was good for the fans as we were stuck in traffic and rerouted at least three times and ended up going the long way through Madaba. As we drove along the highway we looked for our running pals and finally spotted Miss A, who was way out in front. We rushed on to park the car and see them cross the finish line.

First Miss A (who was among or the first woman to finish the 10K)


And then Yo


The two runners


The Fans


And after the race it was decided that we would treat the runners to the all-you-can-eat buffet at the very posh Movenpick Dead Sea Spa.

Tonight we are off to our favourite happy hour haunt - Nai and then to Fakhr ed-Din, a very tasty Lebanese restaurant. More pictures to follow...

Spring in the Middle East

As my (Mo) my time winds down here in Amman the days are flying by. I have been conducting some last minute interviews and attempting to photocopy half of the ACOR library. Yo has been preparing for the Dead Sea 10K fun run that he and Miss A are running tomorrow. Don't worry, I will take a lot of pictures of the intrepid duo and post them. It's Miss A's birthday on Saturday so we have an event-filled weekend planned.

In the mean time I leave you with some images of spring flowers from Syria and Jordan. I post these especially for Mrs Goodwrench, because I know she checks the blog regularly and I know how much she likes flowers. Happy Spring Mrs Goodwrench!

Back to Syria

After visiting the Krac and Maloula we made our way back to Damascus. We spent our last day in the city shopping. This is the rug shop:



We bought a rug (and I know there are many of you thinking, a rug, why do they need a rug, they don't even have a place to live), some table cloths and some interesting art. A bought an inlaid chest and B bought some pottery. We all bought scarves. Traffic in Damascus:

The next morning after some stomach upset, which we can only attribute to figs on a string, we headed back to Amman. The end of our Syrian adventure...

There are a lot of old cars in Damascus and here is Yo with just one example.

Happy Easter!!

Day Out at Petra

Yesterday I (Mo) went to Petra to conduct some field research.

I was fortunate enough to catch a lift with C the Assistant Director at ACOR. We drove into Petra the back way (so I did not walk down the Siq as most tourists do) down through Beidha and then into the Park.

It was one of the first sunny and warm days we have had in a while, so there were a lot of tourists in the Park. Good for me as I was there to interview people about their visit, ask if they were offered real archaeological artifacts (illegal) to buy, and ask them what they ended up buying as a memento of their trip.


I also talked to a lot of the trinket sales people, the donkey drivers, and the guys with tea shops. It was a fascinating day. People were very friendly and happily answered many of my questions.
Currently there is campaign to nominate the new seven wonders of the world and Petra is among the nominees. I had many conversations yesterday about Petra and its nomination ("Why is the Sydney Opera House one of the nominees - that is just wrong" one tourist from Jordan stated. This is one of the signs reminding people to vote. If you want to vote or you want to see the other sites nominated check out: www.new7wonders.com/

Krac and Maloula

After our visit to Apamea we took a zig-zag mountain road to the Crusader castle Krac de Chevaliers. After a hearty lunch of mezzes and roasted chicken (which is apparently a specialty in the Krac region), we went to explore the castle.

Kac has been describe as "the epitome of the dream castle of childhood fantasies of jousts, armour and pennants" (Paul Theroux). It is definitely one of the best preserved castles we have visited in this area of the world. The fort is in the only significant break in the mountain range that stretches between Turkey and Lebanon.

The first fort was recorded in 1031, but it was the 12th century Crusaders who expanded Krac into the form that exists today. The Crusaders held the castle until 1271. We loved the Krac and had a great evening at the St. Francis hotel with some very LARGE whiskies and some candied fruit...

The next morning on our way back to Damascus we stopped off in Maloula. Maloula is an interesting little village, with houses set into the side of a cliff face.

There are some Muslims living here, but the population is predominantly Greek Catholic. Until very recently the main language of the village was a variation of Aramaic, the language thought to be spoken by Jesus. We visited a couple of sites and a gorge.

The Convent of St. Tecla (a pupil of St. Paul and one of the first Christian martyrs) and the Monastery of St. Sergius (where the remains of a Byzantine church remain). We also visited a mini-Siq (gorge) with 100s of other visitors.

Water, water everywhere

Sabkhat al Jabbul

Before we headed off to Apamea and Krac de Chevaliers, we made a pit stop at the protected nature reserve of Sabkhat al Jabbul. B is a cultural anthropologist studying the marsh areas of Iraq. Sabkhat al Jabbul was used in the training of Iraqi environmentalists, so B guided Khaled our driver to the site so we could have a look.

Part of the reserve is a seasonal saline lake, which covers an area of about 60 square miles. It is probably one of the most important wetland sites for bird biodiversity in the Middle East, with more than 10,000 flamingos stopping off during the winter, and it has a unique salt-tolerant flora. We didn't see any flamingos, but we did taste the water and it was very salty. The area exhibits some alarming signs of the 'tragedy of the commons syndrome' (see the Lorax) as the local communities have started to encroach on the water resources and many industries were visible around the lake, which made us wonder about management agreements and emission controls.

Next Stop: Apamea and Qala'at Mudiq

The Lonely Planet guide book states: "If it weren't for the unsurpassed magnificence of Palmyra, Apamea would be considered one of the highlights of Syria." We all thought it was fascinating and in an amazing setting, overlooking the Al-Ghab plain.

The site was established in the 3rd century BCE as an important trading post and one of the four important Seleucid towns. Its golden era was during the 2nd century CE after much of the city was rebuilt after an earthquake. During its peak it was home to almost 500,000 people and Cleopatra and Mark Antony visited. The city was sacked during the Byzantine and Persian periods and was later seized by the Muslims.

Under the Mamelukes a citadel (Qala'at Mudiq) was built and the site became a popular stopoff point for pilgrims on their way to Mecca. One of the things that I (Mo) find intriguing about the Middle East is the way in which people document their trips to Mecca. In Palestine you often see images of boats, planes and car alongside the Kaaba (a large black cubical building thought to have been built by Abraham). This is a doorway in Aleppo indicating that someone has made the pilgrimage to Mecca.

My (Mo) research

As many of you know, we never take 'real' vacations, often combining work with play. When we visit archaeological sites I am always on the lookout for looting, tourist behaviours, and the types of archaeological souvenirs (artifacts) on sale. As we approached Apamea, our driver Khaled warned us that we would be offered archaeological artifacts to buy. He reminded us that it is illegal to buy artifacts and take them out of Syria. I read the same warning about Apamea in our guide books.

Sure enough, not five minutes into our visit to Apamea we were approached by some guys arriving on motorbikes. They had the ubiquitous coins, roman glass and some very poor imitation cylinder seals (of a type, which would not be found at a Roman site).

The artifact sellers (who knows if they were the looters) appeared almost from nowhere and we wondered how they knew we were there. As we walked down the cardo (the central north-south street in any Roman town) we looked over to a grassy knoll where we realized that all of the "sales people" were hanging out waiting for their unsuspecting prey. They all seemed quite unconcerned when we told them we were archaeologists and what they were doing was haram (forbidden). All fodder for future articles and/or the book.

We then continued on our way to the famous Crusader castle of Krac de Chevaliers (or the Krac as it referred to in the guide books).

The Real Attraction

While in Aleppo we made some forays to sites in the vicinity - Saint Simeon and the Aleppo Citadel. At both places we felt like we were the attraction rather than the site. Saint Simeon (392 - 459 CE) is the site where Simeon perched himself on a 18m pillar and gave daily sermons about resisting sin and temptation. He refused to talk to women and had himself outfitted with a chain and collar so he would not fall off the pillar at night.

Here is Yo with what is left of the pillar.

While in Syria for 8 days we met only one other North American (a young student in Aleppo), so people from the US and Canada are a novelty and everyone wanted to talk to us.

This was especially true of A and B, both of whom speak Arabic.

Here A is with a school group. When asked about how she felt about "dying babies in Iraq", she told the students all about special interest groups and the US political system. Mystified, many of the girls turned to us to ask more mundane questions like: "Do you love your husband? Did you love him when you married him?" and the loaded "Did you 'know' (meaning meet or hang out with) him before you got married?"

At the Citadel the shabab (young men) were out in full force and they were very interested in our travelling companions.

This is the view of the Citadel from our hotel. The Citadel dominates the city, it served as a power base for the Muslims during the Crusades during the 12th century. Much of what you see today was probably rebuilt during the later Mameluke period (1250-1517).

After a full day of sightseeing and shopping in the Aleppo Souq (marketplace), Yo and I wandered around another part of the city, stumbling upon the copper pot making area and the rubber tire fixing alley.

The four of us then ventured into another area of Aleppo, Al-Jdeida, for dinner at Beit as-Sissi (beit means house and the restaurant is an old Ottoman house). The food is great Levantine fare (mezzes - hummus, baba ganou, olives, kebab), but the big draw here is the underground bar in the former cellars of the house. It is a cave-like grotto (and smells musty like a cave) with various faces of goblins and ghosts carved into the walls.

Here we are reading the guidebooks and deciding our next plan of action.

Sushi and Martinis at Nai

Nai

On Tuesday and Saturday evenings Nai, the below street level bar at the Howard Johnson's in Shemeisani in Amman, serves all you can eat sushi. They also have half price drinks from 6:00pm -9:00pm every evening, which for a crowd of archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, and political types is a big draw.

We generally visit Nai once a month and every time we make a reservation for 7:00pm and every time we arrive the doorman says "You do know that the sushi doesn't start until 9:00pm?"? We assure him that we do know and that we are there for the half price drinks. We are usually the only people in the bar as most Ammani's don't arrive until after 9:00pm. This is not a culture of "after work drinks". Nai would be a huge hit in DC.

We had a good evening at Nai where we imbibed a wide variety of drinks (electric blue long island iced tea, apple martinis, cosmopolitans, peppar vodka martinis, margaritas, mojitos and regular old beer). A lots of sushi was also consumed.