Umm Qays Travel Guide

 MalenaN Says:  On the acropolis of Gadara was an Ottoman stone village built during the 19th century. The houses were inhabited until 1986 when the villagers got money from the Ministry of Tourism for leaving their homes, as the site was going to be cleared and excavated. Well, the village... 

 MalenaN Says:  Looking to the north from the Western Theatre the black and white columns at the Basilica Terrace is a nice sight. The octagonal interior of the church has black columns and the atrium white columns. The church is from the Byzantine era and was built in the 6th century. 

 MalenaN Says:  The theatre was constructed in the 2nd century AD and was built in black basalt, a hard volcanic rock. Once the 24 rows could seat about 3000 visitors. The theatre is facing the west and maybe spectators were once sitting here seeing a play with the sunset as a beautiful... 

 MiguelMV Says:  All the area is full of ruins of different buildings of several times, as well as sepulchres and tombs. Some areas are not for public transit, because excavations are still going on, but you can walk along most of the interesting places. 

 MiguelMV Says:  Umm Qays has a small but very nice open air museum, with several sculptures found in the excavations, as well as some sepultures, tombs and headstones, placed in a typical otoman house. 

 MiguelMV Says:  Territories of dispute between Israel and Syria, the Golam Heights start just a few hundred metres in front of Umm Qays, right after the Yarmuk's valley. You can easily see the first of the mountains, and if the day is clear, you can see most of it. 

 MiguelMV Says:  Lake Tiberias is Israeli territory. Is nice to have a view from up the mountains down to the Lake and to the israeli border. 

 MiguelMV Says:  Even longer that the Cardo Maximus, or at least what you can tell of what is preserved. It follows the line of the mountain, and the views of Golan Heights and Lake Tiberias are great. Many columns and rests of other monuments (such as Nimpheum) are still visible. 

 MiguelMV Says:  A long and in some parts well preserved Cardo Maximo. You can still see the spaces where shops were placed, in the basements of the theatre. 

 MiguelMV Says:  It has the best of all the situations in Gadara (Umm Qays) with views to Lake Tiberias and the Golan Heights. There still remain many columns up of what used to be the Basilica. 

 MiguelMV Says:  There are two theatres at Umm Qays. The first one (the west theatre) is rather well preserved. Rather small, built with dark volcanic stone.