During our trip to Jordan we were able to see the Jordan River and the site where Jesus is believed to have been baptized.
Because the river has changed its course somewhat over the last 2000 years, the location believed to be where Jesus was baptized is actually now on dry ground. The structures in the above photo above were built to protect ruins of churches built on the site.
We also went to a nearby modern-day church where we were able to see the river up close.
The river is on the border between Jordan and Israel. The steps on the other side are in Israel.
We also visited a church in Madaba where we were able to see the Madaba Mosaic Map.
The Map of Madaba is a mosaic map in the floor of a church that depicts the Holy Land and dates from the 6th century AD. Much of the map has been damaged, but large sections are still intact. You can see the walled city of Jerusalem in the photo below.
The level of detail is really amazing.
The above photo depicts the Jordan River flowing into the Dead Sea. You can see one fish swimming toward the Dead Sea and one swimming back because the Dead Sea is too salty.
During the iconoclasm, parts of the map were destroyed. You can see an example of this in the next photo.
It depicts a lion chasing a gazelle, but the lion has been demolished. I was surprised to see that rather than just obliterating the image, the individual tiles were removed and replaced with random different colored tiles and that the entire image was not destroyed.
It was definitely interesting and made me really pay attention to how much history there is in this region.