Mount Nebo, Kerak and Little Petra

The gang ventured on our great journey to the southern part of Jordan. First stop was to Mount Nebo about 35km south of Amman, just west of the city of Madaba. It's 710m above sea level and is known for being the place where Moses looked over the promised land before his death.

Adjacent to all the fancy views was the Memorial Church of Moses. A modern shell on the leftovers of the mosaic wrapped ancient church, which we managed to enjoy just as the first tour buses started to arrive.

A few hundred meters down the road we dropped into the interestingly named (according to Google Maps), Mosaic house art & Mosaics. This was touted as being a community project that hosts the works of local handicapped men and women with the opportunity to buy their crafts, mosaics and other souvenirs. I managed to pre-empty a lot of my fridge magnet purchases here. As she was helping me with my fussy magnet shopping list, the shop girl asked me if I was from the UK. When I told her I was, she spontaneously gave me her best rendition of "culd oi ave a bo'tle of woota please'. It was magnificent.

After this we drove down the hill into central Madaba, first stopping at St George's Greek Orthodox Church. Unlike every other church, this one was unique in that it had a 6th Century massive floor mosaic showing a map of the Middle East. I took photos of the floor and then followed the group into a nearby purpose made information demountable, explaining exactly what we had just seen.

Nearby and still walking distance away was the St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church. Another church but this one had an underground section as well as a magnificent bell towers with views of the area.

Our next stop was in the ancient city of Karak for a visit to the 12th century crusader AlKarak Castle. Mot the best castle I've been to and certainly unguided it would be difficult to enjoy, but its was atop a mountain which made for more stunning views.

We continued south towards our final destination, Wadi Musa. Wadi Musa (Wadi meaning valley) was going to be home of our base of operations for our trip to Petra the next day, but for now, Little Petra would do.

We parked up in the Little Petra Car Park and were whisked into Siq al-Barid canyon, whilst serpentining to avoid the aggressive postcard selling child gangs. First stop was the Triclinium, which was absolutely packed with tourists. We were warned that tomorrows day in Petra would see 6000 visitors joining us.

We kept going into the canyon, and popped out at the end of the path next to a coffee shop (relatively speaking).

The benefit of the time it took us to do all that walking was that by the time we'd walked back past the Triclinium, the place was almost empty.

On the way out we walked past the structure I don't know the name of, and waited at the bus.

Accommodation in Wadi Rum was at the Seven Wonders Hotel, where we had dinner and then had an early night ready for our trip to big Petra!