The day after our mountain hike in Petra we left for Madaba with a couple of stops in between. The bus trip was just what we needed as we were all exhausted from the day before. I literally couldn't keep my eyes open on the bus. Abraham our tour guide would show us points of interest on the way and I would fall right back to sleep. We have had an incredible trip but it has been whirlwind and a bit exhausting. I can't imagine trying to do this when I am 65.
The big adventure of the day was swimming in the Dead Sea, which is 9 times more salty than the regular ocean water and is the lowest place on earth. It is 465 metres below sea level.
The drive there was quite something because Petra is up in the mountains so coming down to the Dead Sea was like riding on the longest roller coaster in the world with switch backs and hills that seem to go on forever.
Along the way we stopped at the crusaders castle called Kerak Castle. The interesting thing about Kerak castle is it was built as a Christian castle in a predominately Muslim country. It is built far up on the hill and they protected upwards of 16,000 Christians inside at any given time. The king at the time would insist that everyone inside were Christians so to further his intent he gave muslims a choice between converting or being push off the wall of the castle to a most certain and horrible death. To protect the castle they would throw burning oil onto anyone trying to scale the wall.
The castle itself is in outstanding condition considering it was built in 1142 AD.
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