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Madaba, Highway Sites & Petra

Kings Highway

Tony Clemens
2005-09-01 19:04:21

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Jordan is a very small country and has three main north-south highways. It takes about 5.5 hours to travel from the north to the south. The fastest road south is the Desert Highway which travels through the Eastern Desert, fast but dull. There is also the Dead Sea highway which travels along the shores of the Dead Sea but the best highway to travel, if you have the time, is the Kings Highway which travels through the countryside and its many towns.

This highway has only been paved since the 1960's but it has existed since prehistoric times, supposedly Moses was refused permission to travel on this road. There is a lack of public transportation along this road but many hotels can make arrangements to hire a driver and car to take you where ever you want to go or you can get a tourist taxi that makes stops along the way between Amman and Petra. We meant several people who rented a car to travel this road.

Madaba

Madaba is the first stop from Amman if your taking the tourist taxi. Many people also use it as a base to explore the area instead of Amman since it is only about 30 km from Amman. Madaba is a small easy going market town and in a country full of friendly people the friendliest live in Madaba. The town is also famous for its Byzantine mosaics, there are dozens. The most famous is probably the map of the Holy Lands located in the St. George Church.

Although Madaba was mentioned in the Old Testament and was probably in existence around 850BC most of the town today dates from 1879 when Christians settled in the area after leaving Karak. The construction of St. George Church in 1884 uncovered the mosaic of the Holy Land map. Scholars and archaeologists soon uncovered many mosaics under churches and homes all over town. Near St. George Church is a large area called the Archaeological Park which is the remains of several homes, a palace and church and contains ...