Travels WithJohn and Janice

Travel blog

Every trip we've shared since 2011—filter by where we went, when we traveled, or what we explored.

Showing 2 of 236 posts

John and Janice in front of a temple at JerashJordan
6 min read2022

Dateline November 1, 2022, Jordan and the Roman Ruins of Jerash

The Middle East had been on our list for years, and Janice finally built the trip. Flying first and business class out of Los Angeles by way of London and Cairo into Amman, we met our guide Hasan and spent our first day at Jerash, one of the best-preserved Roman cities anywhere, often called the Pompeii of the East. Then a Jordanian feast in Amman and a night on the shore of the Dead Sea, with the lights of Israel across the water.

#Jordan#Jerash#Gerasa
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The fortress of MasadaIsrael
4 min read2016

Dateline June 18, 2016, Masada and the Dead Sea

On our second day in Israel a new guide drove us two and a half hours south into the desert, to Herod's mountaintop fortress at Masada, where 960 Jewish zealots made their last stand against Rome. From there we floated in the Dead Sea, muddy and crowded and unforgettable, then drove up to Jerusalem to spend the night inside the Old City. That evening we stumbled into a Palestinian Christian restaurant for a wonderful lamb shank, and learned at the front desk that we had gone to the wrong place, our first lesson in how finely the divisions are drawn here.

#Masada#Dead Sea#Herod
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