Exploring Jordan and Egypt

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Tuesday, 22 February 2022 - First day of the combined Jordan and Egypt adventure spent in northern Jordan visiting ancient Roman ruins at Pella including cathedral remains and columns, hiking among ruins, and then continuing to Umm Qais for local lunch and views of the Golan Heights before returning to Amman.

We hired a private guide for 6 of us to spend the day prior to the tour taking in some sights in the north of Jordan. Since we all arrived late in the evening we started mid-morning at 10:00 AM. Our van headed north to Pella. The oldest artifact dates to 6,000 BC.

egypt2022 — The ruins you can see are much later - mostly after 60 BC. The town of Pella had expanded to cover several hills and the present town.

egypt2022 — This structure is high up on the hills near the entry to the park. It is probably a temple.

egypt2022 — There have been a few churches found - this one is large enough to be a cathedral from about 400 AD. By this time there was a bishop in Pella.

egypt2022 — Random column which is partially renovated - there are a lot of pieces of building lying around.

Pella was renamed when Alexander the Great came through here. Pella was Alexander's hometown in Macadonia.

egypt2022 — These ruins are left on the ground - maybe they go together?

egypt2022 — The columns from the cathedral - viewed from inside looking out.

egypt2022 — Corinthian capital on a lone column

egypt2022 — Virginia Ann posing by one of the cathedral columns.

In what is known as the "flight to Pella", sometime before the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, tradition holds that a Christian sect made their way to Pella and settled in the city which became a Christian hub during the early days of Christianity.

egypt2022 — The cathedral looking from the altar

egypt2022 — Cal posing in the cathedral - we were very excited to see our first ruins.

We asked our van driver's name which was, Tawil, and if that meant anything. It means tall one - the driver was indeed very tall. From this point forward members of our little team of 6 would refer to Cal as "Tawil".

egypt2022 — From the cathedral we hiked up a small hill to the ruins of the Roman city.

egypt2022 — There are a good number of ruins exposed in the town, however, the guide said that they estimated another several square miles of ruins have not been uncovered.

egypt2022 — The cathedral from the hill where the town ruins were.

egypt2022 — We were just a few weeks early for the wildflower season - which is supposed to be beautiful. There were a few flowers but not many. Here the ruins of the cathedral are the backdrop.

egypt2022 — From Pella we continued north to the town of Umm Qais. There we ate outside at the Umm Qais Roadhouse by the Romero Group. It was great and had a great view of the Golan Heights in Israel.

egypt2022 — Near the city of Umm Qais are the ruins of Gadara. Gadara was founded around 250 BC by Alexander the Great's Greek military as a military colony. The name comes from the Greek for fortification.

egypt2022 — There are two church ruins near each other. These are columns from the larger church.

egypt2022 — The larger church columns with the Golan Heights in the background. We only explored a small part of the ruins.

egypt2022 — The smaller church had columns made of black basalt and a white marble stone near where the altar would have been.

Built in the 6th century it was destroyed in the 8th century by an earthquake.

egypt2022 — The remains of the church floor. The larger church had a mosaic floor which was removed and placed in the nearby museum.

egypt2022 — Looking from the altar to the entrance of the small church. It was getting late in the day and the sun was peeking from behind some clouds.

egypt2022 — The theater is also made of black basalt. Built in 193-235 AD it is very well-preserved.

The theater could hold about 3,000 spectators.

egypt2022 — One of the entrances to the theater on the gallery level.

egypt2022 — On the gallery level there are a few rows with cut seats for the best patrons.

egypt2022 — The western terrace with the ruins of both churches.

egypt2022 — Olive trees were everywhere - olives and olive oil are an export product from Jordan.

egypt2022 — There is a museum located next to the ruins with a good collection of artifacts from the site. There are many mosaics saved from the church and other buildings.

egypt2022 — A carving on a building of a man

egypt2022 — The capital of a column on display - here we bent over the capital and the camera sees a figure in the column we cannot see from above.

egypt2022 — In the museum courtyard are these stones - anywhere else they would be significant here among the ruins of Gadara they are just a few more stones.

egypt2022 — Mosaic from the larger church floor.

egypt2022 — Cal roaming the Gadara ruins

egypt2022 — As we were leaving there was a shepard with his sheep on the hills of Gadara. Nice colors in the setting sun.

We drove back to our hotel in Amman. The hotel was very nice - the best on our trip - the St Regis.

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