This was one of those days when we simply packed in as much as possible.

Jaafar picked us up at 8.30am for a full morning of sightseeing ending with a late lunch at the Dead Sea.

On the way we saw …

The Greek Orthodox Church of St George at Madaba with its 6th century mosaic floor. Two million pieces of stone make up a Byzantine map of the region. The rest of the church is decorated with more modern mosaics. Madaba is known as The Mosaic City with hundreds of mosaics from the 5th century onwards found around the town.

So next stop was a mosaic workshop and school where Jaafar arranged a guided tour. We learned that the mosaics are made upside down with the tiles being stuck to paper with flour and water before being embedded in cement and the paper washed away.

More mosaic floors at our next stop, Mount Nebo, believed to be the burial site of Moses. A 4th century church is still being excavated and a visitor centre is being constructed around it. Apparently on a clear day you can see all the way to the Dead Sea. Unfortunately it was quite windy and so lots of dust in air.

Our tour of the Holy Land continued with a visit to the River Jordan and the site where Jesus was baptised by John. This is the site but the river no longer flows here. It was diverted by one of earthquakes to hit this region.

Not sure what I was expecting for the River Jordan but I think it was something more than this slow moving stream. You can see the Israeli flag flying on the West Bank. I spoke to our guide about it who explained that it was not Israel but Israeli occupied Palestine.

There are modern churches and mosques close to the baptismal site. Jordan is a real mix of Christian and Muslim people and traditions. There are state holidays for Christmas and Easter and well as Ramadan and Eid. The bedside cabinet in our hotel had a bible and a koran side by side as well as a sign showing which way to Mecca.

By now we were getting hungry and so headed for lunch at one of the many resorts on the Dead Sea. A great lunch and then Jaafar led the way with a natural mud beauty treatment. We had to follow of course.

Then at last it was time to get the de rigueur photo and really the only reason that I wanted to visit the Dead Sea in the first place.