The Dead Sea

Dead Sea Shoreline (note the salt encrusted rocks)

Beautiful Sunset Overlooking the Dead Sea and Palestine Beyond

We drove through and toured the Hashemite capital of Amman. It is a sprawling city, located in rolling hills that boasts Roman ruins amongst modern buildings built of pale yellowish limestone blocks similar to those you see in the Midwest's old military forts. The city is noticeably clean and we found our way around without difficulty. We stopped to do our tourist shopping and luckily found a store that had everything from the Holy Land and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. They really caught me off guard when the clerk proudly showed me the formally encased blown-glass bottles containing water from the River Jordan to be used for baptisms. Then he showed off the Bibles and Korans made with mother of pearl covers displayed together. We bought the necessities and then headed southwest out of Amman to the Dead Sea.

We turned onto the road which follow the curves of the Dead Sea’s coastline and went through numerous checkpoints manned by Jordanian soldiers while we viewed the scenery. We received a few quizzical looks but they were most accommodating. I am used to the checkpoint business from living in the Middle East so seeing soldiers on the East Bank are more reassuring than unnerving by far.

We watched a picture-perfect sunset, ate our boxed lunches on the shores of the historic sea, and immensely enjoyed our good fortune in just being there.