Near Madaba: Mount Nebo and Zarqa Ma’in

No wonder Moses’s last request to God was for a view from Mount Nebo. On a clear day you can see across the Jordan Valley to the glistening Dead Sea and beyond to Jericho. The Bible says “no man knows the place of his burial to this day” (Deuteronomy 34:6), but Moses’s grave is rumored to be in a secret cave somewhere along the Ain Musa. There are only a few tombs on Nebo itself, but on the higher Mount Siyagha stands an enigmatic serpentine cross next to the Memorial of Moses. The memorial houses the baptismal fonts and well-preserved “Mosaic” mosaics of a Byzantine church dedicated to Moses. It also contains restored mosaic panels unearthed by an Italian archeological team and Franciscan monks, whose mountaintop excavations have uncovered monasteries dating back to the 3rd century AD. The buildings close at 6pm, but walk beyond them for an evening view of the Dead Sea.

Hitchers find traffic too light for convenient travel from Madaba to the mountain-top. Take a taxi round-trip, including about a half-hour to look around (price negotiable). Just beyond Feisalieh, a small town near Mount Nebo, a marked turn-off leads to Khirbet al-Mukheiyat. If you’ve yet to deem mosaics prosaic, you may want to make the one-hour detour (round-trip) to see secular scenes of fishing, hunting, and wine-making that decorate another finely preserved Byzantine church floor. Cigarettes are the preferred baksheesh for the Bedouin gatekeeper who lives next to the mosaic on the hill at the end of the paved road. (Open as late as the gatekeeper is willing, usually dusk.)

Herod the Great, Governor of Judea in 40 BC, frequented the hot mineral springs at Zarqa Ma’in to relieve his great rheumatism. As he lay dying, he was carried here from his fortress at nearby Mukawer—where Salome danced and John the Baptist lost his head (Matthew 14:1-12). The road from Madaba tumbles southeast from a high escarpment to the Zarqa Ma’in River, into which spring water cascades from the low cliffs. From the road you can see the hills of the West Bank rising across the Dead Sea. (JD3.3OO, with lunch JD5.5OO) allows you to enter the new Ma’in Spa Village, located at the end of the road in the center of a ring of mountains and hills. Get your swaddlings and Fungo therapy here. In addition, both men and women can swim in Hammam az-Zarqa, the hot indoor pool sunk in the cliff face, or bathe under the voluptuous torrents of hot waterfalls. Reach Zarqa Ma’in by bus from Madaba (95fils). The JETT Bus Company in Amman offers 8am-6pm daytrips to the springs for JD8 round-trip, including lunch.