Ruined again?

Crossing the border from Israel to Jordan was mostly pretty painless. Wait for the bus from Tiberias to Beit She’an (yes that’s where we went yesterday); look for a taxi at Beit She’an and when you can’t see one go into a take-away food shop, say you need a taxi to go to the border crossing and a man born in Tunisia says he will drive you in his private car (for the cost that the Lonely Planet guide suggested); pay the departure tax at the Israeli side; wait 1/2 hour for a 5 minute shuttle bus ride across the border; pay the visa fee on the Jordanian side; walk through the most relaxed border security I’ve ever seen; ring the car hire company and find out where to meet the car;  wait for half an hour because you're early; drive away in your rental car (upgraded from a Nissan Micra to a compact SUV but with almost no fuel).

The whole process took 4 hours for what could have been a 45 minute drive. The only stresses? Almost leaving our passports on the seat at the Israeli side bus stop. And on the Jordanian side, discovering that you can’t get money out from your bank account there, and that converting all our Israeli shekels and Australian dollars into Dinars still left us 23 dinars short for two visas. Would we be left in no man’s land? Eventually we worked out that since we were only staying 3 more nights in Jordan, our visa would only be 10 Dinars each ($20), not 40 Dinars each. We breathed a sigh of relief and kept moving.

Having spent all of our remaining dinars at the first petrol station we came across, we drove up some hair pin turns to Ajloun Castle. This castle was built by the Muslims conquerors in the 13^th century to ensure those pesky Crusaders didn’t come back. I have to admit that we are harder to impress when it comes to castles than when we started, but this castle was remarkably well preserved, and had experienced an upgrade for the tourists recently. But sadly no tunnels.

We did appreciate the ‘pour-burning-oil-on-your-enemies-head’ hole above the gate (sorry no photo).

Next stop Jerash. Having read that you really needed to hire a guide to make the most of this Roman ruins site, and not wanting to have our visit ruined through lack of funds, we needed to find an ATM. The Romans invented many things, but for this we needed google maps to find us one amongst the crazy traffic of the main street of town. This may well have been more stressful than the ‘I-haven’t-got-enough-Dinars-for-the-visas' episode. As I sat in traffic Isaac leapt out of the car and leapt back in with the cash and we headed for the ruins.

The ruins were extraordinary – covering a huge area. Here are some highlights:

 

Hadrian's arch - built for the Emperor's visit

the forum - absolutely massive

the cardo (main street)

the shopping mall - with octagonal water feature in the centre

the (rather large) water fountain

We particularly appreciated the man holes to the under-street sewer system about every 5 metres, so that a slim slave could be sent down to clear any obstructions. 

And our guide told us to stand on this central spot of the floor of the theatre and say ‘Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears’ – thank to the acoustics, you really could hear the sound coming back at you; take one step to the side and the effect was gone. 

Less fitting but certainly more curious was the ‘retirred soldier turned busker' playing ‘Ode to Joy’ on a bagpipe brought to Jordan during the British mandate in the first half of the 20^th century.

But once again perhaps even more delightful than the monuments was getting to know our guide Musharraf.

His family has lived in Jerash for generations, except for his 1 year stint at Cambridge university in 1979 to learn English. There he met his English wife (whose father warned her that when she went back to Jordan she might find her new husband already had a wife; he didn’t say either way, but I presume he didn’t). So far they have been married 37 years and have 6 children. His father worked as a guide on this site, and before that, his grandfather worked as part of the archaeological dig on this site from 1921. His knowledge and passion for the wonders of this site was delightful.

Back to the car for the drive to Amman. The phone was out of charge somehow, and so we were without google maps (or any other map) for a while, but Navigator Isaac led the way. Thankfully the phone came back online.

What’s traffic like in Amman – chaotic! And apparently today was better than usual because some people had a public holiday. Line markings have been drawn on the road, but have long since faded because no one pays any attention to them. Eventually I decided it was best to ignore them, and simply choose a car to drive behind. No one lets anyone in, and no one cooperates when lanes need to merge. Crossing a three-laned round-about is difficult under any conditions but it’s especially difficult here. That’s why there are police on hand continuously to help cars to extract themselves during gridlock, and to fill out forms when the accidents inevitably happen.

Finally we were relieved to arrive at the Forrests house and received a very warm welcome. We debriefed about the traffic and middle eastern eccentricities, shared stories about the places we have each visited, enjoyed a delicious homemade meal and found out more about their life and ministry here in Amman. And the good news is, they have cereal for breakfast and real milk!      

Ruins, rest and relaxation

Our final day in Israel, and we finally found a supermarket - with aisles and prices and checkouts! We could just feel ourselves relax!

More importantly we had one destination on our agenda – the Roman ruins at Beit She‘an. At the junction of two fertile valleys and on trade routes, the town has been inhabited since 5000 BC. It also has the highest recorded temperature in Asia – 53.9 degrees! And yes it was hot today!

Does it have any connection with the bible?

King Saul and his sons died in battle against the Philistines, and they ‘fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.’ 1 Samuel 31:10

Later King David took the city and it became an Israelite strong hold.

But the main reason we went there was for the massive Roman ruins left from when most of the town was destroyed by an earthquake in the 8^th century. 

The highlights:

1. An amphitheatre to fit 7000 spectators. It looks huge, but only the lower tier of seating has survived – there were two more tiers!

The exits between each tier were called ‘vomiteria’, from which we get the word vomit. 

At the front was the stage with a 21m high ornate stone backdrop (mostly now destroyed) and backstage area. 

 And sometimes the plot of the show would become so complicated that the only solution was for a god to be dropped in from backstage, and for this there was a special ‘god crane.’ 

Why was there a need for such an huge entertainment complex? Because having slaves meant the citizens had plenty of free time, and the amphitheatre was busy 140 days each year.

2. When the citizens weren’t enjoying a show, they were working up and then washing off a sweat at one of the two huge public bathhouses – one on each side of the main street. 

There were three pools – hot, warm and cold, with the slaves stoking the fire which provided the heat wafting between the underfloor supports. 

3. And even better than the ones in the Knights’ hall at Akko – the toilets. With supports strutting out from the wall to sit on, running water underneath you and soft leaves provided for afterwards, the Romans had everything covered. Except perhaps privacy – there was space for at least 30 people in this room at a time! How would you ever be able to read your book?

4. Finally – the massive hill at the end of the street known as the ‘tell’. This is where civilisations before the Romans were built at Beit She ‘an. In fact 20 civilisations built on top of one another! We trudged up the hill and enjoyed the views of the town, and then saw the Egyptian Governor's house from 1200 BC. 

But trumping everything we have seen in this mega tour of ancient history - remains from a village 4000 years before Jesus! 

And highlight no. 5 - experiencing and talking about it all with Isaac. 

 

Hot and having had our hunger for Roman ruins thoroughly satisfied - at least for today - we had a bite to eat and headed for some well earned R’n'R.

Isaac had found the ideal spot, known as Gan Hashlosha, a swimming hole in a national park just 15 minutes away. As soon as we arrived, we saw the delightful colour of the water and the sheer size of the natural pool. 

Getting into our swimmers, I reminded Isaac that this wasn’t the Dead Sea, and he would need to actually do something to avoid drowning. The pool was very deep and very long, but we enjoyed slowly swimming to the end, only to discover that the water flowed over a waterfall into another pool, about twice the size. Standing on the ledge built under the waterfall was the strongest shower I’ve ever had – twice as powerful as the Dead Sea beach shower.

Eventually swimming to the end of this pool, we discovered that the waters flow into yet another pool (this time more like a stream) through a complicated series of waterfalls which seemed to have been a mill in a former life. 

The whole experience was absolutely delightful, and very refreshing after so many tours and ruins. And did I mention the colourful fish swimming around us? Beautiful to look at, although I wasn’t keen on my feet being nibbled. Isaac was braver and had about 20 on his foot at one stage.

And so our time in Israel comes to an end. A land of such great significance for God's workings in history. And a country of such great contrasts. Modern buildings and conveniences beside ancient ruins. People living amongst and over millennia of history every day. People from different cultures and religions and lands being themselves and living alongside one another every day. And a land of such great contrasts – waterfalls flowing into a Dead Sea, and rocky desert hills not far from fertile farming valleys. And from north to south you could drive where we have been in the last 10 days in just 3 hours!

Looking forward to some more Roman ruins tomorrow on the way to staying with our friends the Forrests in Amman.