Madaba has a long history. Under the rule of Nabateans, Persians, Moabites, Romans, Byzantines, Ummayads and Ottomans. It was in general decline until 1880 when 90 Arab Christian families from Karak resettled the area and refound it's ancient Christian roots.
These Palestinian Christian family photos were taken in 1905.
I love them.Their faces tell lots of stories.
I started my day in the church of St.George. Here is the most famous mosaic of the city A map of the Holy Lands from 542 AD. it was AMAZING and was in great nick. (One of the bonuses of lying undiscovered for nearly 1500 years.)
The ancient floor map. The carpet is rolled over it for services on Sundays.
I was the only person there.
Judea
The city of Jerusalem
Banks of the river Jordan
The Nile Delta.
I loved it. It was exuberant and fun art and seemed almost modern and fresh. When I came out into the grounds of the Church I couldn't resist taking this photo. Maybe there is a job here for me!
I then wandered around the city. It was small and easy to navigate and the people in the Information Centre were really helpful. I loved the 3 museums and got chatting to the guide there. His English was really good. He told me that his brother was a taxi driver and that he would drive me to Amman the next day for a good price. I agreed because the prices back on the wall in the Hotel were pretty steep. More about that in my next blog post!
I wandered around and around and I think I saw every unearthed Mosaic the city had to offer.
The oldest mosaic from King Herod's bath house in 1st Century BC
I then went to the Church of St. John the Baptist and learnt about the history of the city. It was a great place and the caretaker came over to talk to me. He took me on a tour and I ended up in the catacombs which go back to the Old Testament Biblical times.
He demonstrated that the old Moabite well, which is 3000 years old, still works today. This well is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible when the Israelites were fighting the Moabites.
He showed me a reconstruction of Ruth's tent which was supposedly on this site. Again I think she is in the Bible and has a book/chapter named after her.
He then showed me where the tower was and left me to climb up for the great view over the city. I was feeling in good form. I was having a great birthday and seeing interesting things but unfortunately the tower was almost the end of me. It was such a cramped spiral staircase with metal steps you could see down. I was all alone and almost fainted right under the bell. It was really scary and I couldn't finish the last 20 steps to reach the high window. I was stuck...I couldn't go up or down. I was there stuck for about 10 minutes shaking and trying not to fall backwards. Then I had to deep breath, close my eyes, crouch down and slowly lower myself backwards back down the steps just feeling with my feet. Yes, it would have been a sad and pitiful sight...but I forget until it happens that I suffer from such bad vertigo and agoraphobic ! It was the worst few moments of my entire holiday.
After that I was able to go for a well deserved drink. It was great that alcohol was on sale in Madaba and then back to the hotel. I chatted to Muhammed the receptionist. He let me upload photos off my camera on his computer and gave me cake and orange juice from a wedding party that was taking part in the function room next door. He was probably one of the loveliest guys I met on my trip. When I tried to tip him the next morning he just gave me the money back saying
'Don't be so insulting, I enjoyed talking to you'
At the end of the day I wandered back to the same wonderful restaurant from the previous day and had more of their wonderful food.
All in all my birthday was a success but to be honest I don't think I want to spend my birthday away from all my friends and family again. I missed them!!
