Runners. The Galilee Marathon was confoundingly scheduled on a Friday. So much for that. Now then...
Brace yourselves. Pictures are coming.
Due to heavy snows in Jordan, we had to scrap our plans to head to Jerash. Instead, we ventured to Bet She'an, an old Roman ruin. It's huuuuuuge.
The miniature model provided an idea of what the area used to look like:
Walking through this place is a spectacular experience. It's epic. A little imagination puts you back in Roman times...the steaming bathhouse...the bustling streets...the gleaming limestone...the throngs of shoppers and the clatter of horse-drawn wagons...the roar of the audience in the grand theater...
Go on. Picture it. I'll wait.
the gigantic bathhouse
still the bathhouse
secret symbol used by Christians
on the floor outside each hot/cold room
pool in the bathhouse
they kept a fire going outside this arch...
...and piped it under this building to heat the floor
diagrams of a bathhouse
the pedestrian walk of the main street
the decapitated head of a column
unbelievable tiling on the pedestrian walk
the floor of one of the fancy shops - Rodeo Drive fancy
ruins of a beautiful way
arches that collapsed perfectly during an earthquake
those black stones on the left are the theater
who doesn't want to try the public latrine?
welcome to the Roman theater
it looks better than yours
all the little people
from the stage
Amazin amazin amazin.
We had falafel for lunch (again, but it was really good, so it's okay) and then drove to the Israeli/Jordanian border. After a tedious process - getting on and off the bus, walking here, waiting there, showing our passports to 17 different people - we found ourselves with a brand new Uri and Yig-al (our bus driver and I hope I'm spelling that right). We've switched tour guides for our journey through Jordan. And it would be a long, long drive to Amman, the capital city where we're staying. Also, it's weird being in a kingdom. Giant portraits of the king, past and present, hang on the wall in the border office.
And we found the snow.
By the time we arrived at the hotel, we felt we'd stepped back in time. More specifically, like a month back in time.
We felt so welcome. An elegant dinner spread and a luscious dessert table didn't hurt, either. We're getting together now to debrief with our resident scholars. Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventures in Jordan...
I LOVE the photos. wow. (and the descriptions). nice!
ReplyDeleteThat looks incredible! Thanks for your entertaining posts! :-)
ReplyDelete-daughter of team member :)
WALL HANGINGS
ReplyDeleteA fellow pilgrim pointed out the bloody cow head hanging
next to a slab of meat
at the little butcher shop on the way to Amman.
In the next shop over,
shivering men broke spiky branches
to start a fire on this overcast, snowy afternoon.
My heart was still pondering Beit Shan
where the headless bodies of Saul and Jonathan had been hung on the city wall;
the same city probably visited
one-thousand years later by
the Gerasene demoniac
after he was "clothed and in his right mind."
Mark says:
"So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed."
This is the man sent before
in another direction by his demon legion -
chains snapped,
naked and bleeding,
voices raging in his head -
into the tombs and their cold embrace.
Death and life are still on display in these towns,
in graveyards, on walls, outside shops.
After all, people have to eat,
soldiers have to die,
and right-minded people
have to tell how they got that way.