Umm Qais and Ajloun
Monday, June 20th, 2005Yesterday we took a field trip to Umm Qais and Ajloun. Umm Qais is situation in the extreme North-West of Jordan and has amazing views. First, there are roman ruins there (which are the same as others throughout the world). But more interesting, Umm Qais has a view of the Sea of Galilee, now part of Israel, where Jesus walked on water. Here’s a picture with the Sea in the background.
The next picture is slightly to the right and features the hills of the Golan Heights. For those not familiar with the area, the Golan Heights is the hotly contested area that belonged to Syria until Israel occupied it in the 1967 War. The area now is mainly used for farms and military excersized, although it does not have any settlements like those in the West Bank or Gaza. From what I understood, the Golan Heights is bascially a bargaining chip that Israel uses to make sure Syria does not invade. It seems likely that this territory will be returned to Syria some time in the future, as it is not officially annexed and thus more easy to return.
The next picture is the tree-spoted hills of Jordan on the right and (uncontested) Syria past the hills in the back left.
After that we had lunch in Jerash and then went to the castle in Ajloun. This castle was built by Saladin’s nephew to defend the area from the invading Crucaders. It has an amazingly deep moat which apparently was rarely filled with water because of the general lack of water in the area.
Katelyn