Mount Nebo and Madaba

According to the Bible, Mount Nebo is where Moses looked out over the Promised Land before he died. A modern memorial church shelters fine Byzantine floor mosaics, and on a clear day the view stretches across the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea towards Jericho and Jerusalem.

A short drive away, the town of Madaba is known as the City of Mosaics. On the floor of the Greek Orthodox Church of St George, a 6th-century mosaic map of the Holy Land shows Jerusalem in remarkable detail. Madaba’s workshops still make mosaics by hand, and you can watch the artisans at work.

The two make an easy half-day stop on the drive from Amman to the Dead Sea, or south along the King’s Highway towards Petra. Dress modestly for the churches.