Madaba City

Madaba is an ancient town of the Jordanian Plateau, which was resettled by Christian Arab tribes from the Karak region in 1880 A.D. It is now inhabited by Christians and Muslims alike. A great deal of antiquity has been found here, much of which can now to be seen in the Museum and in Archaeological Parks. The stunning 6th century Byzantine mosaic map, which is located in the contemporary Greek Orthodox church of St. George and shows Jerusalem and other holy sites, features around two million pieces of colored stone!

Madaba (Mount Nebo)

Ten minutes to the west of Madaba is the most revered site in Jordan: Mount Nebo, with the memorial of Moses at the presumed site of the prophet's death and burial place. According to the final chapter of Deuteronomy, Mount Nebo is where the Hebrew prophet Moses was given a view of the Promised Land that God was giving to the Hebrews. "And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. (Deuteronomy 34:1). According to Jewish and Christian tradition, Moses was buried on this mountain by God himself, and his final resting place is unknown. Scholars continue to dispute whether the mountain currently known as Nebo is the same as the mountain referred to in the Torah.

Islamic belief holds that Musa (Moses) was buried not on the mountain but a few kilometres to the west, somewhere beyond the River Jordan. On the highest point of the mountain, Syagha, the remains of a church and monastery have been uncovered. The church, discovered in 1933, was constructed in the second half of the 4th century to commemorate the place of Moses' death. The church design follows a typical basilica pattern. It was enlarged in the late fifth century A.D. and rebuilt in A.D. 597. The church is first mentioned in an account of a pilgrimage made by a lady Aetheria in A.D.

Six tombs have been found hollowed from the natural rock beneath the mosaic-covered floor of the church. In the present presbytery you can see remnants of mosaic floors from different periods. The earliest of these is a panel with a braided cross presently placed on the east end of the south wall.

HammamatZarqaMa'in Hot Springs

Luxuriate in the hot thermal springs at Hammamat Zarqa Ma'in and Al-Himma and take time out to visit some of the historic architecture of the area. Close by are two sites linked by tradition to Herod the Great. One is the palace at Makawer (machaerus), where Salome traditionally danced, and where John the Baptist was beheaded. King Herod was said to have bathed in its medicinal waters of the springs and people have come here for thermal treatments or simply to enjoy a hot soak, since the days of Rome.