Last night Alison had the opportunity to cook and we had rice, (real rice for a change) with Berber omelet and boil in a bag sardines. This morning at breakfast we had soft boiled eggs in so many weeks, I can’t remember when we had them last.

With tummy full, our first stop was to be the Citadel. It took us 2 hours to find the road up to it and from time to time we could see the Umayyad palace while circling the hill it is located on. It was getting frustrating and when I was just about to give up the sign Jabal Khalagh struck me as the right signage. Entrance to the archeological site was only 2 Dinars which was more palatable but it was nothing like Jarash. The temple of Hercules, today also known as the Great Temple of Amman had only 3 pillars standing and even the Temple of Apollo in Side was more impressive. The Umayyad palace complex was something new to us and we thought it was a pity that the domed structure which was rebuilt had all the evidence of new wood.

It was well past 1300hrs before we were ready to leave for Madabah and Mt. Nebo and looking for direction this time was easier as there were police at every intersection. When we got to Madabah it was another story as we headed for the visitor’s centre, as it appeared as though the centre was being hidden. One sign pointed in the direction of a one way street against the flow of traffic but found it we did and was given the direction to Mt. Nebo, nine kms away.

Mt Nebo’s fame was derived from the biblical event that occurred upon it as describe in the Book of Deuteronomy 34: the death of Prophet Moses who climbed this holy mountain at the end of his life to see the Promised Land. He was buried in a valley in Moab but to this day no one knows of his actual burial place. Mt Nebo serves only as a memorial and I thought that I was conned again.

We made some enquiries regarding the baptism site and were told by a guide that it was 24kms further on near the Dead Sea but one needed at least 3 hours a sit is located in no man’s land and transportation would be provided at USD10 per person. We could do the visit tomorrow if we started early enough from Amman.

The way back to Amman was somewhat different to when we came but it joined Zahran Street and we found the KFC we noticed earlier. We stopped to eat fortunately as it took us another one and half hours to find our hotel. Although the room was cold it was quite a relief to get back .