Thursday, April 30, 2015

Day 5 - 30th April - From the Muezzin's call to the Dead Sea


The central mosque in Petra is in the block next to our hotel and the minaret is at the same level as our bedroom window. At 04.20 the amplified voice of the muezzin calls the  faithful to prayer and rudely awakes the (presumably) unfaithful. I understand that this simply a wake-up call. At 04.30, just as the unfaithful has snuggled back under the covers and slipped back to sleep, the muezzin lets rip again with the prayers to which he had earlier woken the faithful. I have asked, and been told, that the prayers start with "Allah Akbar" or "God is great". I guess that one has to be one of the faithful to understand the prayer, because in this muezzin's case his P.A. system sounded like it was on its last legs and the sound was horribly distorted. The prayers continued for about five minutes and then ...... silence. Part of me felt that even the faithful rolled over at that point and managed to get back to sleep again. BTW - I found myself praying through the Trinity while the muezzin was doing his thing and found peace.

We the hotel and drove north to Madaba to see the most amazing mosaics created in the 8th century - really beautiful.


From Madaba to Mount Nebo which was the vantage point to which God took Moses for a sneak preview of the Promised Land. I was a tad disappointed as the heat haze meant that we could hardly see the Jordan River, even less see Jerico, Jerusalem and beyond. 


Then down to the Jordan to the Allenby Bridge and the border crossing back into Israel. What a mission!!!!!! Eventually we emerged from the post to find our bus, driver and guide waiting for us and ready to drive us south down the western side of the Dead Sea to our hotel at Ein Boket.

Stunning hotel, superb room and excellent meal tonight. Now ready to hit the hay so to speak before tomorrow's trip to Masada and Qumran.

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