Jerash and Ajloun

Road trip, Jordan style:
Our first stop was at Jerash, a.k.a., the 'Pompeii of the East'.  Jerash is considered to be one of the best preserved and most complete Roman cities in the world. It was a member of the Decapolis group of cities: one of the ten biggest Roman cities. 

The site itself is quite expansive, so our students and I got a workout!  Add into the equation the 96 degree heat.  And the drive to Jerash is quite beautiful, as it lies in a green and fertile valley in the hills of Gilead.  After 90 minutes of walking/hiking around the site, we had lunch and then off to Ajloun.

Ajloun Castle rests on a high peak about 20 minutes drive west of Jerash.  Visible from all directions, the castle was originally built in 1184 by a cousin of the great Arab leader Saladin and was used as a base in his successful campaign to drive the Crusaders from Jordan.

Here we are atop the castle, both groups - "Group One" (NU Dialogue students) and "Group Two" (Project GO students from NU and across the US).


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You can't get there (Serbia) from here (Kosovo) - go to Montenegro!

Image
“You can’t cross this boundary from here [the Kosovo “border”/Administrative boundary]. You’ll have to go to Montenegro and then enter Serbia from there.” Thus sayeth the Serbian policeman at the boundary/border, yesterday (Thursday) around 3:30 pm. The reason? We had a stamp on our passports that read “Republic of Kosovo”, which Serbia does not recognize as independent nation-state (nor do a small number of nation-states of the international community – Russia, Spain, Greece, and 6 other members of the EU). “Kosovo is Serbia.” What he was proposing was for us to “re-enter” Kosovo (1/4 th of a mile back from where we came); return to the town of Mitroveca (where we just left 90 minutes ago); cut over to the West, and enter Montenegro (another 90 minutes-2 hours); then drive to the Montenegro-Serbia border (another hour); then drive until we catch up with the road we could have been on – only one hour from the point on the map where we were standing that ver...
Read more

Student blogs - check them out!!

Image
on the right side of this blog, run your cursor over the second box down from the right - you should see "Student Blogs Balkans 2012".  As students send me their URL (addresses) for their blogs, I will add them here.  the students have unique insights into much of the same thing I discuss - but then again, so much more!  Check them out when you can. While I'm "here", I'll post just two more pictures from July 9.  First, a picture of our meeting with Ambassador Rod Moore, former US Ambassador to Montenegro, career foreign service officer, and now works as the 2nd in command at the OHR - the Office of the High Representative.  OHR is essentially the "authority of last resort" in Bosnia.  We met with Ambassador Moore just after we witnessed the ceremony honoring the 520 souls who were to be buried today in Srebrenica.  Here is one more picture, below, that shows the flowers that were placed on the 3 semi-trucks, carrying the 520 coffins that were...
Read more