Abraham Trail; from Pella to Umm Qais

Before breakfast, I visited the excavation sites again. Broken columns, corinthian capitals decorated with leaves and cut out rocks were covering the dusty ground.  There were broken pieces of Roman pottery scattered all over the place. Tiny holes in the floor were evidence of metal detectors whose job is to search for Roman coins.

View from one of three Byzantine churches (former Roman temples) to Pella and the Jordan Valley.

Already at 8am the heat was unbearable. We decided to take a taxi to our next destination and had to stop at many checkpoints due to how close we were to Israel. Our Palestinian driver (now a Jordanian citizen) told us about his yearning to return to his homeland. He still has the key to his grandmother’s house were he grew up!

View from Umm Qais, the former Roman Decapolis city of Gardara, to lake of Tiberias (was called sea of Galilee) and the Golan Heights (Syria) to the right.

The ruins of Gardara still show the life of the city’s past.

West theater built from black basalt and seating 3000 people.

Decumanus Maximus, the main road in Gardara. The paved road once led to the Mediterranean coast.

We also visited some underground sites in Gardara, like the crypt underneath a Byzantine church (see photo) and the aqueduct, which was part of a sophisticated water system of a 170 km long tunnel connecting many Roman cities. A powerful earthquake in the 8th century destroyed many cities and part of this tunnel.

In the Romero restaurant, a former Ottoman school on the site, we had a great lunch with a fantastic view.

From the restaurant the view was spectacular!