Pinch Me Places: Mt. Nebo

One of the "pinch me" travel experiences I've enjoyed in my life is my visit (with the lovely Robin and numerous friends) to Mount Nebo, from which Moses viewed the Promised Land before his death :


Clearly visible were the Dead Sea, the Jordan, Jericho, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem.

According to Scripture, Moses was buried in a valley somewhere near the mount (Deuteronomy 34:5-6), where this sculpture combining the staff of Moses and the serpent in the wilderness stands:


Though access to the area is no longer permitted, there are remains of four successive churches on the site, which I photographed from a distance:


The excavation of these churches have yielded some of the most magnificent mosaics ever discovered, of which this is just a small detail:


It was for me a "pinch me place." I stood on the mount where Moses stood! I saw the Land from his vantage point! I read from Deuteronomy on the site where the events it describes actually took place! Pinch me. I still can't quite believe it.