Day 7 - View of the Promised Land

   In Madaba we stopped to view the earliest original map of the Holy City.

This political, religious and geographic Mosaic map is on the floor of the Greek Orthodox Church. What an amazing work of art!!

 

Stopping by at a Mosaic Workshop showed us the work involved.

It was amazing watching these young men making huge Mosaics – tedious, time consuming work, but the end results are fascinating. This young man’s project can take up to 3 months.

After continuing on to Mt. Nebo we went to the spot where Moses viewed the Promised Land – what a spectacular view across the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea.

 

Brazen Serpent Statue

There is a memorial for Moses close by, as this is believed to be the site of his tomb. While on the top of Mt. Nebo, we gathered together as a group, Ragnar leading us in prayer, thanking God for the way He teaches us the lessons He has for us. May we always want to follow Him in obedience.

 

Back on the bus once again on the way to the Israeli border, our Jordian guide was passing out ‘Backlawa’ – pistachio cookies as a good bye gift. He had welcomed us with fig cookies. Yummy! Then on we go into the Promised Land – into Israel – into the Land of the Bible. Although crossing the border once again took quite some time for all 25 of us, everything went smoothly and soon we met our Israeli guide and were on an Israeli bus, passing by Jericho on our way to the Mediterranean Sea, to spend the night in Tel Aviv – Israel’s largest and most modern city.



Before checking into our Hotel for the night, we had a walking tour of Old Town Jaffa, which is believed to be the oldest port city in the world.

 

While exploring the narrow passages of Old Jaffa I was trying to picture where Tabitha (Dorcas) was when Peter raised her from the dead (Acts 9:36-42), or which house belonged to Simon the Tanner.

Ragnar and I enjoyed our 1st evening in Israel by strolling along the famous Tel Aviv sidewalk, back to Jaffa and sipping a cup of coffee by the Mediterranean Sea.