Today was an unexpected but welcome day off. So, we decided to visit the one site in Jordan that Susan has not yet visited...Pella.
We stopped in Umm Qais first, because David hadn't been there and because its got a beautiful view of Lebanon, Israel and Syria. Long of strategic importance, due to its position atop a large hill, Umm Qais grew exponentially when it was made one of the Roman "Decapolis", a series of border towns designed to prevent encroachment on Roman territory. Unfortunately, that beautiful view was marred by the recurrent distant booming of shelling. I pray for the people of Syria, that they can find an end to the bloodshed.
From Umm Qais, we drove around and down the mountains, into the Jordan River Valley and south to Pella. Pella, another of the Decapolis cities, was first mentioned in Egyptian records nearly 2,000 years B.C. We arrived at 5:30 or so and were, at first, totally underwhelmed. The tell was largely unexcavated, aside from a sprawling, deep, Canaanite Temple and multiple pairs of discarded tennis shoes. Luckily for us, we turned a corner and discovered another few Roman-era temples and a theatre.
On our way home, we decided to take the scenic route over the mountain. Unfortunately, Sherry didn't like that idea so much, registering his displeasure with a "transmission over temp" message and severe moaning every time we accelerated or decelerated. Which happened quite frequently as we were going up and down switchbacks. Fortunately, our forced stop to regulate the transmission temperature allowed us to take some pretty amazing pictures of the sunset over the valley. And also fortunately, my mechanic does house calls for his best customers.
We stopped in Umm Qais first, because David hadn't been there and because its got a beautiful view of Lebanon, Israel and Syria. Long of strategic importance, due to its position atop a large hill, Umm Qais grew exponentially when it was made one of the Roman "Decapolis", a series of border towns designed to prevent encroachment on Roman territory. Unfortunately, that beautiful view was marred by the recurrent distant booming of shelling. I pray for the people of Syria, that they can find an end to the bloodshed.
adventuring
and messing around
From Umm Qais, we drove around and down the mountains, into the Jordan River Valley and south to Pella. Pella, another of the Decapolis cities, was first mentioned in Egyptian records nearly 2,000 years B.C. We arrived at 5:30 or so and were, at first, totally underwhelmed. The tell was largely unexcavated, aside from a sprawling, deep, Canaanite Temple and multiple pairs of discarded tennis shoes. Luckily for us, we turned a corner and discovered another few Roman-era temples and a theatre.
a find from another century
into Canaan they go
On our way home, we decided to take the scenic route over the mountain. Unfortunately, Sherry didn't like that idea so much, registering his displeasure with a "transmission over temp" message and severe moaning every time we accelerated or decelerated. Which happened quite frequently as we were going up and down switchbacks. Fortunately, our forced stop to regulate the transmission temperature allowed us to take some pretty amazing pictures of the sunset over the valley. And also fortunately, my mechanic does house calls for his best customers.
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