Off again - Jordan

Just back from Morroco.  Well, after 5 nights in Vienna I am off again. The first three days in Vienna were at a technical meeting then my contract expired; so on April 1 I was unemployed and spent the day in the Wachau with my old mate Alan Hughes (the current Supervising Scientist). Then Good Friday I set off on a holiday to Jordan with a group put together by the bar steward from work.
We flew fromVienna directly  to Amman with Royal Jordanian - good flight and OK people. Organization at Amman was a bit chaotic but the visas all arrived in the end and we eventually found ourselves on a bus to the Dana Palace hotel - I would not choose to stay here again and cannot recommend it (no beer, poor service over-avaricious waiters)  - but it will do for the moment as we are off after 2 days.

Day 1 we saw the sites and sights of Amman and the area to the north  - mostly roman ruins at the Citadel and the Philadelphia ampitheatre. There are several such ampitheatres in Amman and the surroundling area and they are in pretty good  condition. 

Ampitheatre

The Citadel site, Amman

The Ampitheatre and Amman from the Citadel

 We also went to Jesrah and Ajloun  and saw the old castle from the crusader times - sadly it was a Saturday so all of Amman's school children seemed to be there too which made it very crowded and detracted from the experience.

Coffee seller at Ajloun Castle

Ajloun Castle

Day 2 (today) we have been to see the site of Jesus's baptism and stood within a couple of metres of Israel. Probably the closest I shall ever get to that country.
The journey took us to sea level.....................

...........and then beyond to eventually the lowest land on the surface of the planet. The sea level is minus 422 metres or so - you can see I was up on the road when I took this picture........

 ........the water level decreases by up to a metre a year we were told, with a significant effect on the area.

 Sadly the River Jordan is reduced to a trickle of thick, polluted, muddy water barely 4 metres wide and probably only a metre deep.  This is due to the over extraction upstream for irrigation by both Israel (mostly) and Jordan. The site of Jesus's baptism has an orthodox and a "baptism place" and the Israelis have built a rival baptism facility immediately opposite. There were no tourists to be seen on the opposite bank. On the Jordan side there are several different christain churches of various denominations being built and a convention centre!

Russel Edge on the bank  of the River Jordan at the baptism site.

We then went on to the Dead Sea - a  truly amazing feeling to be so bouyant, even trying to stand after floating was difficult.  Several people were trying out the black mud 20 minute beauty treatment.....

Melanie, Abdullah ( tour organiser) Jim and ? in the mud!

We had lunch before the mandatory stop at the tourist shop with the whole range of Dead Sea  "chemical and beauty" products. And then back to Amman. Tomorrow we set off to see the location of Moses's burial ( well the general area at least) and then end up in Petra.