Today started at 5:30 with an abrupt wake up call and a full hearty breakfast. We departed from the hotel promptly at 7 and made our 2000 ft descent from Amman to Pella.
Pella was amazing. I was officially the first to fall as we walked down the mountain to the site. But Ben was the first one to punch through a wall. Pella was the smallest site we visited of the day but was full of many cool things. Pella as well as the other sites we visited today were part of the decopolis, which is a list of ten Roman cities throughout Palestine.
Um Qais or Gedara was pretty cool. This site was more completely excavated and has roads and full buildings up. Here we were able to climb into old tombs and down the canals the water came up into the baths. There were columns lining the streets and a great deal of baths.
Jeresh or Gerasa was the most grandiose of them all! The most excavated of the three sites, it is only 11% excavated. The modern city sits on a large p art of the ancient city. At this site were many greek temples to Zeus and his daughter as well as many 5th century ADchurches. One of the greatest sites for me was the Agora which was the common place for commerce, political discussion, and gathering. Along with the Agora was the streets they had rebuilt. It is hard for me to fathom how these cities functioned and lived. I would just like to see what a week in the shoes of a citizen of Geresa was like.
We got back to the hotel and ate. We are all pretty beat. I think i'm going to go to bed and it's only 7 pm.
Tomorrow we see:
-Jordan Archeological Museum
-The Temple of Herculese
-Wadi Kharra Baptism Site ( Where Jesus was baptised)
-Madaba
and then we spend the night at a hotel overlooking Petra!
that's all for tonight! we shall see when the next time is!
grace and peace,
_joel
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