Walk to Jerusalem Spring 2021 Week 7 March 15-21 We Had Another Great Week This Week. We Had 43 Participants and Walked 1391 M
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Walk to Jerusalem Spring 2021 Week 7 March 15-21 We had another great week this week. We had 43 participants and walked 1391 miles! The map below shows our progress through the end of week seven (purple line). We reached Petra last week but didn’t have the time to do any exploration, so we began sightseeing in this ancient place. Petra is a historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. Petra lies around Jabal Al-Madbah in a basin surrounded by mountains which form the eastern flank of the Arabah valley that runs from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. The area around Petra has been inhabited from as early as 7000 BC. However, archaeological work has only discovered evidence of human presence dating back to the second century BC. The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who invested in Petra's proximity to the trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub. The trading business gained the Nabataeans considerable revenue and Petra became the focus of their wealth. The Nabataeans were accustomed to living in the barren deserts, unlike their enemies, and were able to repel attacks by taking advantage of the area's mountainous terrain. They were particularly skillful in harvesting rainwater, agriculture and stone carving. Petra flourished in the 1st century AD, when its famous Al- Khazneh structure, pictured above, – believed to be the mausoleum of Nabataean king Aretas IV – was constructed, and its population peaked at an estimated 20,000 inhabitants. Notes: RED dot is location of Mt. Nebo Purple dot is Petra Black dot is site of Karak Castle Although the Nabataean kingdom became a client state of the Roman Empire in the first century BC, it was only in 106 AD that it lost its independence. Petra fell to the Romans, who annexed Nabataea and renamed it as Arabia Petraea. Petra's importance declined as sea trade routes emerged, and after an earthquake in 363 destroyed many structures. In the Byzantine era several Christian churches were built, but the city continued to decline, and by the early Islamic era it was abandoned except for a handful of nomads. Access to the city is through a quarter mile gorge called the Siq (right), which leads directly to the Khazneh (left). Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system, Petra is also called the "Rose City" because of the color of the stone from which it is carved. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985. UNESCO has described Petra as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage". In 2007, Al-Khazneh was voted one of the New7Wonders of the World. Petra is a symbol of Jordan, as well as Jordan's most-visited tourist attraction. Visitor numbers reached a record-breaking 1.1 million tourists in 2019, marking the first time that the figure rose above the 1 million mark. The Jordanian government has authorized excavations in front of the treasury to make use of the site's emptiness. Ad Deir, also spelled ad-Dayr and el-Deir, is a monumental building carved out of rock in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra. The Deir (below left) was probably carved out of the rock in the mid-first century CE. Arguably one of the most iconic monuments in the Petra Archaeological Park, the Monastery is located high in the hills northwest of the Petra city center. It is the second most visited monument in Petra, after the Khazneh or "Treasury". The huge facade, the inner chamber, and the other structures next to it or in the wider area around the Deir probably originally served a complex religious purpose and was possibly repurposed as a church in the Byzantine period. Next, we headed to the Dead Sea area to visit Al- Maghtas, which means "baptism" or "immersion" in Arabic. It is an archaeological World Heritage site in Jordan on the east bank of the Jordan River, officially known as Baptism Site "Bethany Beyond the Jordan" (Al-Maghtas). It is the original location of ministry of John the Baptist and the site of Jesus’ baptism. The site has been venerated as such since at least the Byzantine period. We next headed north to Tafilah. This town of just 30,000 people sits between Amman and Petra, and as such many people visiting Jordan pass by Tafilah but never stop. Very few even notice Tafilah on a map, never mind see what the town has to offer. An olive growing region, these ancient trees are rooted throughout and around the town and sprawled between them are fig trees and grape vines. It’s green and lush, and the people are friendly and welcoming. However, while this part of Jordan is pretty, it’s not the only thing it has on offer. We made a visit there to the hot springs. There aren’t just one or two hot springs here, but dozens in and around Tafilah. Set in the out-of-this-world Jordanian desert landscape, taking a dip in one is a once in a lifetime experience! The hot springs have created several small waterfalls, and it’s in the areas at the bottom of these waterfalls – where natural swimming pools have been created – that people congregate. The hot springs in Tafliah have been used since ancient times for the purpose of health treatment, and their use as healing water dates to the time of the Romans. In the 21st century people still flock here to bathe in the mineral waters. In particular. the hot springs in the area are said to have unique therapeutic properties that can help in the treatment of infertility, arteriosclerosis, anemia, rheumatism, and other chronic diseases. But be careful, they can be around 122 degrees Fahrenheit! (most of our household water heaters are set to 120 degrees Fahrenheit for comparison). A picture of one of the springs is left. After all our walking on this trip, the hot springs were very soothing! Next, we went to the village of Dana (pictured below) which sits on the edge – and it really is the edge – of Wadi Dana, a HUGE valley and nature reserve. Not only is the valley beautiful, unspoiled, and packed with incredible hikes and wildlife, Dana is centuries old and is barely changed from what it looked like 500 years ago. The winding roads have tightly packed houses flanking the sides of them, and at the edge of the village we looked down on the valley floor below as it stretched in front of us for miles. We stayed the night here and the sky was clear with a tapestry of stars. The next morning, we headed north of Tafilah to explore some local castles. Dana Village Sela’ Castle, pictured below, is one of them, a crumbling but atmospheric castle built into the dusty desert landscape. We took the stone steps up towards Sela’ and saw no one else there. While this castle is not grand like Karak which will be our next stop, it has few visitors so we could wander without interrupting other visitors. A second castle, the castle fortress of Hassa, was impressive and important architectural building that is also virtually unknown to most tourists. However, the beauty of both castles is not just in their design, the fact they remain standing, or their age. It’s in the fact we could visit them, walk inside them, and experience this incredible piece of Jordanian history and be one of very few people to do so. That was special. Jordan is full of centuries-old desert castles like this one below! What intrigues me about this castle is that it seemed to be an isolated building with nothing else around it but maybe the remnants of other buildings have disappeared over time. Then we continued traveling north until we reached Karak Castle built by the Crusaders, and later expanded under the Muslim Ayyubids and Mamluks. Karak Castle located in al-Karak, Jordan is one of the largest crusader castles in the Levant area in the Middle East. Construction of the castle began in the 1140s. The Crusaders called it Crac des Moabites or "Karak in Moab", as it is referred to in history books. Palace area, left. While it is referred to as a crusader castle, the original castle was around since antiquity, when the castle was a prominent Arab place, and main settlement; several Nabataean reliefs and sculptures have survived since that period. The city became a regional center in Roman Arabia under the name Characmoba, and a diocesan town during the Byzantine period. It is featured as a walled city on the Madaba mosaic map. Pictured right is the enormous north wall protecting the castle. Because of its position east of the Dead Sea, Karak Castle was able to control Bedouin herders as well as the trade routes from Damascus to Egypt and Mecca. Philip of Milly, added towers and protected the north and south sides with two deep rock-cut ditches (the southern ditch also serving as a cistern). The most notable Crusader architectural feature surviving is the north wall, into which are built immense arched halls on two levels. These were used for living quarters and stables, but also served as a fighting gallery overlooking the castle approach and for shelter against missiles from siege engines. Continuing our pilgrimage, we headed to Mt. Nebo, pictured below. Mount Nebo is an elevated ridge of the Abarim in Jordan, approximately 710 meters above sea level. It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the place where Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land.