Arrive Amman

Met airside at Queen Alia and transferred privately to your hotel. Welcome dinner and a first evening with your guide.

Jerash and Umm Qais

Two cities of the Decapolis in a day — the region where the healed man went and told what had been done for him. Gerasa first, with its theatres, temples and colonnaded street. Then Gadara, where Jesus healed the man among the tombs and the herd ran down into the lake, its terrace looking north across the Sea of Galilee.

Mark 5:20 · Matthew 8:28–34

Anjara, Tell Mar Elias, Pella and the Jabbok

Our Lady of the Mountain at Anjara, where tradition holds that Jesus and his disciples rested. Tell Mar Elias, the hill associated with Elijah's birth in Gilead, its sixth-century church floors still in place. Then Pella, where the church of Jerusalem took refuge before the siege — and the Jabbok, where Jacob wrestled until daybreak and was renamed.

1 Kings 17:1 · Genesis 32:22–31

Mass may be arranged · subject to confirmation

Madaba, Mount Nebo, Kerak and on to Petra

The mosaic map at St George's, then up to Nebo where Moses saw the land he would not enter. South along the King's Highway to the Crusader castle at Kerak, and into Petra for the night.

Deuteronomy 34:1–4

Petra, a full day

Through the Siq to the Treasury, the Royal Tombs and the Roman road. A working trading city in the years the gospels describe, and the edge of Edom. Aaron's tomb stands on the mountain above.

Numbers 20:22–29

Lot's Cave, the Dead Sea and back to Amman

Deir 'Ain Abata, the cave where Lot sheltered after fleeing Sodom, with its Byzantine church built above it and the plain of the cities spread out below. Then time at the Dead Sea before returning north.

Genesis 19:30

The Baptism Site, Machaerus and Umm ar-Rasas

The morning at Bethany Beyond the Jordan — the Byzantine church remains, the baptismal pools, the river itself. Renewal of baptismal vows can be arranged in advance. Then Machaerus, where John the Baptist was held, and Umm ar-Rasas with its Byzantine mosaics and the stylite tower standing alone in the field.

John 1:28 · Matthew 3:13–17 · Mark 6:21–29

Mass may be arranged · subject to confirmation

Departure

Breakfast and free time to suit your flight, then a private transfer to Queen Alia.