Baptism site/ Dead Sea

Today was the day of visiting the place where Jesus was baptised.

None of us have any religious inclinations whatsoever but it would be strange not to visit somewhere so important to millions of people all over the world.

The site is at a place called Bethany and taking part in a guided tour is compulsory – no jumping in and doing your own baptism here. Interestingly, at the baptism site itself there is a significant military presence because a family from Ethiopia who were on the tour, jumped into the River Jordan and swam across to Israel, seeking refugee status. I imagined them having a long, arduous swim to the other side and being rescued, near drowned, by kind people having a midday stroll along the river bank . In fact, it would have taken them about 2 minutes to swim across as the river is so narrow at the baptism point.

Some religious sites can give you a definite feeling of being somewhere special , ie Buddha’s birthplace for me felt incredibly peaceful, but nothing here I’m afraid. I was disappointed not to visit Elijah’s Hill though. What a dude he was. Apparently he was sent up to heaven in a whirlwind, while riding in a flaming chariot pulled by horses of fire. Imagine being the person who witnessed that.

The baptism site itself was great, mainly because we could watch Israelis being baptised. It seemed a very joyful occasion and we couldn’t believe that Israel was so close.

When the tour was over, we had a spot of lunch at home then it was off to the Dead Sea Spa to experience swimming in the Dead Sea.

I’ve wanted to do this since I was a little girl.

We chose to buy a day pass at this hotel because it has a reasonable beach where access to the sea is easy and there are showers to wash the salt off when you finish your swim.

It was excellent fun and Nik and I decided to extend the experience by slathering ourselves in Dead Sea mud. I can’t say my skin looks any different but it does feel a bit smoother.

After trying out the water slide at one of the hotel pools, we relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine.

We returned to Beer and Burgers for our last meal at the Dead Sea and came home absolutely stuffed full of food. We’d had a few nibbles before we left the house, then the restaurant gave us a free starter of potato nachos which was huge, then we had fajitas. Steve and Nik managed to plough all the way through theirs but Jan and I were less successful with Jan intending to donate her leftovers to the pack of dogs that lurk around our accommodation.

Tomorrow we head off to Dana biosphere reserve where we hope to do some hiking, with a stop off at Karak Castle.