Madaba

On Saturday we visited a town close to Amman called Madaba. I have been to Madaba twice before, but never for very long so I thought it would be nice to go again and take Ryan. Madaba is famous for its mosaics, which are found literally everywhere all over town. In fact, there are layers and layers of mosaics under the city which obviously can't be uncovered because they'd have to dig the whole city up! Madaba has even established a mosaic school, which is dedicated to preserving these ancient mosaics, as well as keeping the art and techniques alive.

These mosaics depict cities around Jordan.

Ryan's Greek education came in handy several times.

Below is the most famous mosaic in Madaba. It is a map depicting the Holy Land.  In the center you can see the Old City of Jerusalem.  At top you can see part of the Dead Sea.  The map is quite detailed and accurate, and we had fun trying to translate some of the Greek words - we found Jericho and Bethlehem.

We went to a few other sites, including the Madaba Archeological Museum - where we did not see another living soul (not even a guard or ticket-taker).

It was nice to get out of Amman for the day, but I think we're going to wait to take any more day trips until after Ramadan, because it was impossible to find food! We'll find some things around the city that we can explore on the weekends.