Serpentine Cross	Mosaics at church museum
Viewing the Promised Land
Japanese praying on Mount Nebo
Handicapped artisans making mosaics

Gazing At The Promised Land
From The Heights of Mt Nebo

Photos by Tim Boxer

OR the second time in recent memory a Pope ascended to Mount Nebo in Jordan to gaze at the land which God promised Moses and the Jewish people. Moses got a glimpse of the same sight but was not allowed to cross over into the Promised Land; he died and was buried in Moab, now part of Jordan (Deuteronomy 34:1).

At the foot of the hill is a pillar commemorating the visit of the late Pope John Paul II in 2000. The inscription proclaims "God Is Love."

Following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI made a pilgrimage to Mount Nebo on May 11 and reflected on a land dear to the world’s three major faiths.

I too journeyed there on a recent autumn morning. Facing west toward Jericho and Jerusalem, I had a panoramic view of the Dead Sea to the south and Moab in the foreground. Amman lay beyond view to the north. Behind me on a promontory stood a bronze Serpentine Cross sculpture, symbolic of Moses’ brazen snake combined with the cross of Jesus’ crucifixion.

The area is maintained by the Franciscans. The Al-Mukhayyat, a Byzantine monastery from the 6th century, happened to be closed. A small museum held mosaics from the Diakonikon, 530 BCE, which was a chamber of the Eastern Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches that stored the vestments, books and other articles used in the Divine Services.

Soldiers on a machinegun-mounted jeep guarded the entrance to Mount Nebo. Down the road you’ll encounter the Travel Art & Mosaic Store where 32 handicapped artisans create mosaics and other handicrafts for sale. I’m told it takes 45 days to make one mosaic. www.visitjordan.com

Baptism At Bethany
The Pontiff pilgrimage took him to Bethany Across the Jordan. It’s a half-hour drive from Mount Nebo and 45 minutes from Amman. This is the spot, identified in 1996, where John the Baptist lived and baptized Jesus, and where the first apostles met, laying the foundations of the Christian faith. In 2000 John Paul II was the first to pope to pay a visit here, where he conducted a massive open air mass.

Youngsters mass at Parliament’s door

Citizens demonstrate against economic woes

Tectonic plates meet in Pingvellir

Bathing in the Blue Lagoon

Tim at Gullfoss Waterfall

Strokkur hot springs erupting

People Power Competes With
Geothermal Power in Iceland

Photos by Tim Boxer

AST November I found myself in Reykjavik where I got swept up in a wave of 6,000 angry citizens outside Iceland’s parliament protesting the country’s economic meltdown and calling for the prime minister to resign.

What was amazing was the peaceful intent of the crowd. It felt like a picnic, only the eggs and vegetables they brought were not consumed but smashed against the building. The doors were padlocked and the prime minister was nowhere to be seen.

What was also amazing was that the few gendarmes on hand were sympathetic and polite. One officer spotted a piece of litter, bent down to scoop it up and dropped it in a trash can. (However, I read that previous protests had turned rowdy, with police intervention.)

What a country! You can’t help but love them. So polite and cordial. This is the world’s most northern capital, just below the Arctic Circle, yet I found the residents warm-hearted and friendly. The weather helps—the Gulf Stream keeps the climate mild.

Of course, the street protests succeeded. In February President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson asked the former social affairs minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, 66, to take over the reigns of government. A national election in April confirmed her as Iceland’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly gay head of government.

Now that the demonstrations have subsided, there are other options besides demonstrations to occupy your leisure time. Reykjavik is renowned for its weekend nightlife, but it doesn’t heat up till after midnight. For your overnight pub crawl (runtur, in native speak) you have a choice of 50 bars and clubs and 100 restaurants in the downtown area.

As you’re on vacation and don’t have to head to the office, take your intoxicated bod to the sulfurous Blue Lagoon, Iceland’s most popular attraction set in a lava field in the Reykjanes peninsula (www.bluelagoon.com). Lava fields cover about 11 percent of Iceland, and there are hundreds of volcanoes. Of the 15 active volcanoes there is an eruption every five years of spectacular fireworks.

At the Blue Lagoon enjoy the healing power of the blue-green water and rejuvenate with fantastic spa treatments and massages.

It might be the middle of a chilly winter but people float in the lagoon’s geothermal subterranean seawater where the temperature ranges from 37-39 C (98 to 102 F). I walked around the spectacular surroundings and gazed at the thick mist over the water. There is a restaurant, bistro, and a boutique that offers excellent skin care products consisting of geothermal active ingredients such as algae, silica and minerals.

The Pingvellir national park is where the Vikings first convened world’s oldest parliament (Alpingi) outdoors in 930 CE. Iceland became a state within the kingdom of Denmark in 1918 and an independent republic in 1944.

The tectonic plates of North America and Europe are splitting apart in Pingvellir. Thought you should know that you can straddle two continents here. The tectonic plates are one of the five wonders of Iceland, the others being glaciers that cover 10 percent of the island, and the geothermal wonders of steaming geysers, cascading waterfalls and belching volcanoes.

GETTING THERE icelandair.com STAYING THERE Radisson SAS 1919 1919.rekjavik.radissonsas.com TOURING THERE goiceland.org grayline.is EATING THERE Einar Ben Favored by diplomats einarben.is MORE INFORMATION icelandtouristboard.com New York 212.885.9700

Nearby you will marvel at the boiling mud craters and incredible spouting hot springs around Geysir and Strokkur. Geysir seldom erupts, but Strokkur shoots up a column of water and steam every few minutes that amazed me. Nearby is the awesome Gullfoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe.