Day 4 started off like most days. We had breakfast downstairs then we left around 7 or 7:30am. I can’t really remember. Today we were going to see Madaba, Mt Nebo, and Shawback Castle.
We drove a couple of hours towards Madaba. Once we got there we had a short tour then we went into the church which had one big tile mosaic on the ground that was pretty damaged and more decorative mosaics that were hung around the church. We only spent about 30 minutes here then we were back in the van and on our way to Mt Nebo.
Luckily Mt Nebo was only 15-2o minutes away which was nice. Some fun facts we learned while there was that this was the final resting ground of Moses although his burial place is not specified. Also the day was pretty clear so we were able to see Jericho which is part of the promised land. You can read the wikipedia here.
Pat and I got some pretty good pics, but only after we hopped a gate we probably weren’t supposed to go over. I blame the chinese tour group that was hogging the good vantage point 🙂 We stayed there a good hour or so then started off towards Shawbak Castle.
About 1.5 hours into our journey we stopped at a place called Petra Resthouse where I had a traditional dish called mansaf. It is described as”a traditional Levantine Arab dish made of lamb cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt and served with rice or bulgur”. If you like you can read about it here. Our tour guide had suggested I get it and while I can’t say I loved it it was good. Take a look.
We drove another 1.5 – 2 hours before we arrived at Shawbak Castle. No real facts were given to us…or that I can remember so this is what I found.
The castle was built in 1115 by Baldwin I of Jerusalem during his expedition to the area where he captured Aqaba on the Red Sea in 1116. Originally called ‘Krak de Montreal’ or ‘Mons Regalis’, it was named in honour of the king’s own contribution to its construction (Mont Royal).
You can read more about it here if you’re interested
After we toured the castle we went to our hotel which was in Petra. I don’t recall how much time it took us to get there. Maybe 40 minutes or so. It wasn’t too long. It was nice because this place had a balcony where we could see the city and it also had a pool. I immediately changed and went for a short dip in the pool but had to get out shortly afterwards because there were way too many dead flies in the pool…We went up to the balcony to check out the view and it was very nice.
I checked on the Petra at night tour as it was Wednesday and we were told it was best to see it this night. After traveling all day and getting beat down by the sun I was not keen on seeing Petra…at least that night. I told the receptionist and they were totally ok with us seeing the site the next evening. I grabbed some dinner and turned in early anxiously awaiting the next day at Petra!!