Biblical lands

Yesterday, another trip out with our driver Khamis, this time up north to the hills above Jerash, to visit Ajloun Castle, then down through pretty countryside with goats eating the chaffe of this season's wheat, before plunging down into the heat of the Jordan Valley.
Here we stopped at Pella and Umm Qais (formerly Gadarene), both cities of the Decapolis of Roman Times, before rushing back to Amman to catch our travel agent (see post on Yemen).
Umm Qais is the place where Jesus cast the devil out of a madman and gave them to a herd of pigs who then prompltly charged off the end of a cliff. As much as I admire Jesus, principally for the Sermon on the Mount, I have never been too taken by his miracles, most of which had been performed by others before and after him. I would respect a man for what he says and does, not for a magic box of tricks or miracle-making - but that is by-the-by. One certainly didn't feel His presence as one had in Bethany the day before.
Umm Qais is interesting because from the commnading heights one can see Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Syria and even Lebanon. So many countries in such a small place. Mountains, fertile river valleys, lakes, deserts, plains and so on.

TO BE CONTINUED