Karak Castle and Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan

This is our last day in Jordan. So we say goodbye to our spectacular view of Aaron’s Tomb and the Petra Valley. But wait, I have to use the pot one last time before the long drive. What started as a simple quest to meet a biological need ended in a grand archeological find! Fortunately, I’m taking my camera into bathrooms so in the next photo you will see authentic evidence indicating the existence of Spongebob Squarepants!

We drove to Karak Castle (“Care-ROCK”) which absolutely dominates the landscape.

Karak Castle was built by the Crusaders in the 1100s, so it has some look of European fortresses.

A number of walls are in rather shabby shape but they still testify to the powerful complex this was.

From the castle the views alone would be reason to enlist.

After the Crusaders were driven from Jordan and the Muslims occupied the fort, some passionate soul left this message that states that “Allah is great!”

Apparently the slushy vendor thinks "Tornado potatoes are pretty good, too!"

The Jordanian flag flaps felicitously as we leave the castle and head south to Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan, the most likely spot for the baptism of Jesus. However, the trip is not to happen without excitement.

A sand storm sends sand sailing across the road obscuring the vehicles ahead.

A few times visibility sank to zero. In the murky, choking sand cloud we looked across the highway to the oncoming traffic lanes. A ghostly, colorless scene flashes past our eyes; a multi-car, multi-bus pile up.

And immediately the murderous cloud blows on by to cause mischief elsewhere.

A plethora of chuches and mosques (mostly new ones under construction) alert us that we are approaching the site where Jesus was almost certainly baptized.

And suddenly there we are on the banks of the mighty Jordan. I’m not the only one surprised by it’s small size. Today irrigation takes so much from the Jordan as it struggles down the Great Rift Valley that requests for more water must be denied. Otherwise, there would be no water flowing on to the Dead Sea. Which, by the way, is also greatly reduced in size today.

Here’s a great irony. Faced with the presence of the actual river of baptism and the obvious method of Jesus’ baptism, the Catholics are inspired to construct their own baptismal font so that believers can be sprinkled here where the Master was dipped.