Saturday 29 March

Blogger on my phone has died, so now I will do it on the laptop.  This means that I can put photos in the middle of the story, but I may not be able to post as often. 

We were on our way by 8:30. Our first stop was Madaba, to see an ancient map of the Middle East set in mosaics on the floor of a Greek Orthodox church.

 
There were lots of good little shops along the way and I just had to buy ' nativity 4 '. We called in briefly at a mosaic making place which also sold lots of other expensive stuff that we didn't want. Then we drove to Mt Nebo. This is where Moses was shown the Promised Land before he died. It was very hazy, but we could see Jericho and the Dead Sea.

Wattle on Mt Nebo




We reached the border crossing at about 12:30 and left Jordan soon after. But then we sat in a queue of cars and buses which inched past numerous Israeli check points and across the Jordan creek until we finally got to the place where we could unload ourselves and the bags, which didn't even have to go through the x-ray machine.  Time spent 2hrs 45 mins.
 This put us out for the rest of the afternoon. We called in briefly at Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were found, and then even more briefly at En Gedi where David hid in the caves from King Saul. We went for a quick walk up a trail and saw some hyraxes.

Then we got to the hotel at 17:30. When we reached our room house keeping were still making it up, so we sat and waited, and David went down for coffee.  They finally gave us another room,  but our luggage didn't come until 18:55. So much for getting the washing done early. We were hanging the washing out later when a helicopter landed just across the road and transferred a patient to a waiting ambulance.  Must be a hospital nearby.