Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Jordan

This has been a very long couple of days. Since Wednesday morning we haven't had a proper sleep, and we're still waiting to reach our accommodation for tonight. After spending the day in the Jordan, we finally managed to pass the border into Israel where we'll spend the next few days.

I learned four things about the Jordan today:
* It's hot
* The landscape looks very middle-eastern (except for the parts that look very Australian).
* The Jordan Valley is the lowest point on earth, at 400m below sea level.
* Apparently crocodiles are not a problem in the Jordan River - even though it looks like North Queensland.

We had a great tour guide (who unfortunately had to leave us at the Israel border). He took us around on a coach (actually 2 coaches for the while group) and explained the significance of all the places. We prayed Mass at the site of Jesus' baptism, and visited a number of nearby archeological sites. Some of these places have only been rediscovered in the past 10 to 15 years, due to military conflict in the area.

Here's a few photos from today.




2 comments:

  1. Rebecca's comment :) :) :)
    Great to hear you have arrived and were blessed with Mass by the Jordon. wow. Did you get a photo of the aussie gum trees that are there ? It's nice and cool here !
    Enjoy Galilee
    God bless
    The Crew
    p.s EHEE ( from Nancy )(?)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the stories and the pics - some of the housing looks much like we saw in Saudi Arabia.

    ReplyDelete

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