From Israel to Boston

A 2:00 am start…the shower leaked water all over the apartment floor and John took a bad fall on the steps. Not a great start to our day. We made it through car rental and check in with no major problems. And, we got upgraded to Business Class for the first leg-what a lifesaver. We got to Amsterdam and found the same security procedures as El Al. Since the Lockerbie incident, they evidently adopted the El Al model for all US carriers.
Home at last……

Underground Jerusalem

An early drive to the airport to see Steph off. We took the afternoon “Underground City” tour of the Old City. It was truly fascinating.

Kate’s made fast friends with a Palestinian jeweler and got a first hand education about the situation in Israel.

Akko – Caesaerea - Jerusalem

Breakfast buffet at the hotel next door- $10 and no fried eggs.
We walked to the subterranean Crusader fort-, which was mostly the foundation of the original Crusader fortress. Even the acoustiguide didn’t help much to make a story of the site.
So, it was on to Nazareth-, which must translate to “traffic jam” in Hebrew. The city was completely jammed with traffic and by the time we made it to the Church of the Annunciation (where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her she was pregnant with the son of God), it was closed.

Photo courtesy of Flickr
On to Caesaerea, an old Roman city which has been almost completely pillaged. The Roman amphitheater has been converted to a concert hall for rock concerts and the rest of the site was mostly rocks.
Back to Jerusalem for a quiet evening. (Even the ATM’s don’t work on the Sabbath!).

Sea of Galilee to Akko

Time to head north for a bit of the New Testament sites. We headed north towards Tiberius and found that we’d arrived on their “Labor Day” (the last weekend before school starts) and it seemed that all of Israel was at the Sea of Galilee. All the hotels were booked and the town was jammed. We got out of Tiberius quickly and checked out a guesthouse at the Kibbutz near Tagbha. What an experience- screaming kids, blaring music and available rooms- for $156 a night. We quickly left and decided that sightseeing was the only thing in our future around Galilee.

Tabgha is the site of the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish as well as the site of the Sermon on the Mount. The church on the mount was quite beautiful

(although the sign at the entrance was a bit strange: “No food or drinks, no shorts, no guns”.

Capernaum was the site of a number of miracles of Jesus and was the home of Jesus’ first converts (Peter and Andrew). The ruins of a church mark what was believed to have been St Peter’s house where Jesus stayed. The sites required quite a bit of imagination and faith.

We headed off to Akko to try to find a place to spend the night. We found a run down Russian hotel on Purple Beach for $75 (some rooms with working toilets, some with working A/C..) Dinner however was lovely….at Galileo restaurant (owned by Israelis, run by Palestinians) and located right on the old city walls with the Mediterranean lapping at the walls of the restaurant.

Jericho and an Israeli Army Ceremony

On the way to Jericho. We made a stop at Nebi Musa, revered by Muslims as the tomb of Moses. Since we were told in Jordan that Moses died at Mount Nebo, we weren’t quite sure if this was really his tomb. Seems to be a fairly common problem in the Holy Land

We stopped at Hisham’s Palace, built by an Umayyad caliph in the 7th Century. There wasn’t much left- except for a beautiful mosaic.

Then we headed off for downtown Jericho and took the cable car to the top of the Mount and Monastery of Temptation. The mountain was the site of Jesus’ fast of 40 days and 40 nights and his temptation by the devil. Today, there is a Greek Orthodox monastery clinging to the cliff built around the cave where Jesus and the devil met. The walk up the hill (once again in the mid-day heat) was staggering and the ride in the stuffed cable car down the hill even worse!

We were invited by Amir and his family to the Wailing Wall for the swearing in ceremony for one of the branches of the Israeli army. What a site. Troops lined up in front of the Wailing Wall surrounded by their extended families. The ceremony began, only to take a break to allow the troops to go out to see their families. During the ceremony, the newly inducted troops get their machine gun and a Bible! The military is so much a part of the Israeli life. On Saturdays, the families all head out to the field with picnics to spend the day with their sons or daughters by their camps. Not doing military service can preclude you from getting jobs.

After about an hour and a half, it was more than we could take and we made our excuses and headed off to get a burger and a beer (kosher burger- no cheese).

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Morning in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is going through major construction- getting ready for the Millenium when they expect 6 million tourists to come to the city where Jesus was born. We found a great guide to show us the major sites. It was embarrassing to have a Moslem guide who knew more about our Bible than any of us.

The is supposedly built over the cave where it’s believed that Jesus was born.

The original church was commissioned by the wife of Emperor Constantine in the 4th Century and today is run by various Christian groups (Armenian, Greek Orthodox). The classic comment of the day was when Steph said to the guide, “I thought Jesus was born in a hotel”. He kindly reminded her that “there was no room in the inn”. The site of the manger and the site of his birth are down the stairs and filled with very serious Christians, singing, crying and kissing the sites.

From there, we headed to the Milk Grotto Chapel. Tradition has it that on their way to Egypt, the Holy Family took refuge at this Franciscan chapel. While Mary was breast-feeding, some of her milk dripped to the floor and turned the rock of the cavern to chalky white. Even today, women come here to pray in the belief that the white stone helps their lactation.

Then it was off in the car to Shepherd’s Fields. Here, the Shepherd reportedly saw the Star of Bethlehem while watching their flocks. In the two chapels, there were dueling groups singing Christmas carols (one of them Japanese). This, of course, was the site claimed by the Catholics to be the spot. Further down the road, the Greek Orthodox have their own Shepherds’ Field.

Another Temple of Herod and another walk in the mid day heat up a mountain.

The site was most interesting for the view of the scenes around Bethlehem. The guide showed us the recent site of a Palestinian village cleared by the Israelis to set up yet another settlement. They simply come and clear off the houses and move the people, set up barbed wire fencing and temporary trailers before starting to build the new settlement. These settlements are taking over on every hilltop for miles. The Palestinians can’t drive on specific Israeli roads. The 5-km distance between Bethlehem and Jerusalem takes the Palestinians 30 km on back roads.

Masada – Dead Sea

We did an early am start to get to Masada before the heat of the day. Even a 9:00 start wasn’t enough to avoid the heat. By the time we got to the cable car to the top, the temperature was already 120 degrees. It was amazing to see people actually walking up the mountain via the Snake Path in that kind of heat.


Masada – a free standing, sheer sided plateau above the Dead Sea, was fortified sometime between 103 and 76 BC before passing to Herod the Great in 43 BC. He built huge barracks, arsenals and storehouses as well as huge palaces complete with swimming pools. Herod died without needing to use the fortress. According to Jewish tradition, the Jews rose up against the Romans in 66 BC. A group called the Zealots took over Masada and it became a sanctuary for fleeing Jews. The Romans then set up 15,000 men in 8 camps around the base of the mountain and began building an earthen ramp up to the fortress walls. Inside the walls were 967 Jews. When the Romans completed the ramp, they began their siege. At this point, the Zealots set fire to their homes and all their possessions to prevent them from falling into Roman hands. Then, 10 men were chosen by lots and given the task of killing all of the others. The last man then killed them before he killed himself. The mass suicide marked the end of Jewish presence in Palestine.

The site itself was eerie. To stand at the top and look over to see the Romans’ base camps and imagine watching and waiting as the Romans built the ramp was a strange feeling.


Sweating and hot, we continued back north to the Dead Sea. What a sight! Steph and Kate changed and went in to float in the Dead Sea. The beach was filled with Russian Jews singing songs and dancing and people floating in the water (according to Steph, a bit slimy, very warm and not very refreshing).

From there, we headed to Hebron and went through the Jewish settlement to Abraham’s tomb. It was quite a learning experience for Kate and Steph.



Photo courtesy of Flickr

Orientation to Jerusalem

2 Excedrin PM’s and I couldn’t even get up in the morning. John took Steph and Kate for their AM orientation tour.

We met them for lunch and then headed to the Dome of the Rock. What an amazing Islamic site. The guide was a bit verbose and required a bit of controlling. The Dome was built to enclose the rock upon which Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son and the place where the Prophet Mohammed launched himself into heaven (on his horse).

Dinner at Spaghettini’s.

Back in Jerusalem -Awaiting the swooping family!

A few days to recoup- wash clothes, relax and get ready for the swooping family to arrive in the next few days.

On Saturday, Steph arrived safe and sound (even had her first leg of the flight in first class). We got her checked into the hotel and headed off for a Jerusalem sunset and dinner.

On Sunday, we went to the top of the Mount of Olives to give Steph an overview of Jerusalem and the Old City then did a brief drive around the various neighborhoods and finally a walk from Zion Gate to Damascus Gate to experience the Jewish Quarter to Moslem Quarter change in feel.

We had to race to the airport to meet Kate. There must have been 10 flights arriving at the same time and the airport was sheer pandemonium. We finally found her in the crowds and drove into Jaffa for a sunset dinner at Aladdin Restaurant.

Israel Part 2 - Route

Syria to Cyprus to Israel

Another 3:00 am start to catch a flight to Cyprus. We landed to a mass of humanity- European tourists on cheap package tours flocking to the “guaranteed sun”. All of the rental car places were completely booked- or simply wouldn’t rent for just one day. We found a small local company with a Volkswagen “open air” (translated- no A/C) for $100/day. We had no choice, so we headed off from Larnaca to the western part of the island.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

We drove into the mountains for a drive through the “lace making” town of Lefkara. What a sleepy place- it didn’t feel like there was any life in the town at all. So, we headed further west to what the tourist woman described as a living museum, Pafos. It was a blue-collar beach resort designed for Euro package tourists. Extremely hot and very boring, we found the only A/C restaurant on the seafront and had lunch. With 5 hours to go before we had to be at the airport, we couldn’t stand any more time in Pafos.
Photo courtesy of Flickr
So, we headed towards Nicosia to get a sense of the divided city. The town is literally divided down the middle by a “blue line” between Greek/Christian and Turkish/Muslim. The town was also completely quiet- no people on the streets, no activity at all. The A/C Holiday Inn was a haven for an hour. The reception desk explained that the entire town vacations in August, so things were very slow.

Happy to have seen Cyprus and determined never to return, we headed to the airport to face another El Al 45-minute interrogation. Feeling abused and angry, we headed onto the El Al flight to Tel Aviv, a 50-minute agonizing flight. First, we were subjected to the El Al “video magazine” which was played at volume and consisted primarily of advertisements oriented to the 18-year-olds. After that travesty ended, the crew put on 18-year-olds music at full blast while the idiot kids on the flight sang along. It was by far the worst flight we’ve ever been on.
A car and a drive back to “home”, our apartment away from home.

Our last day in Damascus

Shopping on the agenda for our last day in Damascus. John’s keen shopping antenna found an al-Hassad plate hanging in a store window. We tracked down the owner of the locked shop and he opened the store for us. The plate, from Turkey, was a special order by the owner and had a huge break badly repaired on the top. He wouldn’t budge from $30- even with the break- but we just had to have it.

We took at taxi to the embassy section of town for dinner (restaurant circle) and then raced to the Old City to catch the last minute of the Arab storyteller at the local café.

Early to bed….a very early start in the morning.

Bosra

We headed south toward the Jordanian border crossing the Hauran plain to Bosra. The Roman amphitheater, made of basalt, is one of the most intact in the Roman world (with a rip-off entry fee of $8.00).

The town of Bosra itself was even more interesting as it was built in and among the ruins of the Roman city. Most of the houses have been made from stones of the ancient city. But, too many tourists have created the 8-year-old annoying touts that pester you throughout the town.

From Bosra, we drove to the town of Shabha on the ridge of the Jebel Arab range. Again, the city was built around the ruins of an old Roman town. Originally, Philip the Arab, the only Arab Roman emperor (AD 244-249), founded the town. Now, it’s home to the Druze, a rather obscure and strange branch of S’hia Islam.

Our last drive through the crazed Damascus traffic and it was time to return the car- no scratches, no dents- a miracle given the unique driving style of the Syrians.
Stopped for drinks at the Sheraton pub and dinner at their Italian restaurant.

Palmyra to Damascus

The guide told us in the morning that there’s a hotel in Tartus that calls itself the hospital for the “Traditional Palmyra Restaurant”. (After last nights meal and it's aftereffects, it was obvious why) It was a rough start for John.

We started at 6:45 to walk the ruins of Palmyra before the heat of the day set in. Your choice is simple- you can either get up very early in the morning and have wind and sand blowing in your eyes or wait until 10:00 am and have sweltering heat and sweat. Palmyra had a traditional Roman city plan with a huge temple to Baal at one end. Quite spectacular- particularly with it’s desert setting

The drive back to Damascus was unending- 230 km of desert. We arrived to find the Orient Palace booked, so it was a scramble to find another hotel, grab a quick lunch and meet our guide by 2:00. The National Museum was well done- they had the first Jewish synagogue from Duro Europos- but after an hour we were pretty beat.
Nap time before dinner at our favorite restaurant, Casablanca.

Krak de Chevaliers to Palmyra

Fried eggs on pita bread for breakfast- a McPita- before heading off to Krak de Chevaliers, one of the most beautiful Crusader Castles in the world. Its’ scale was phenomenal.

It was first built in 1031 and manned by Kurds. It was taken over by the Knights of St John who rebuilt and enlarged it before falling to the Muslims in 1271. It could accommodate 4000 soldiers.

The change of scenery from Tartus on the sea to Krak de Chevaliers in a beautiful valley to the Syrian desert. The desert was filled with military on maneuvers.

We got into Palmyra at 4:00, got our hotel (a steal at $25, with A/C), our guide and headed for the funerary tombs. The first, Tower of Elanbel (AD 106) was a tower tomb built by rich merchants of Palmyra to house their entire family. The tombs are actually built into wall niches, like drawers, extending up for two stories. Each tomb had a relief of the dead on the front. The Tomb of the Three Brothers was an underground tomb filled with frescoes and beautifully carved limestone sarcophagi. A quick tour of the museum and it was time to call a halt to the touring part of our day.




Sunset over the ruins and a bottle of wine at the Hotel Villa Palmyra and dinner at the LP recommended “Traditional Palmyra Restaurant:”. Mensaf, a traditional Bedouin dish of rice, chicken and peanuts. Later that night, John paid for the mensaf meal.

The Dead Cities - Tartur

A morning of exploring the “Dead Cities” of Syria. These cities were once prosperous centers of olive oil production in Byzantine times.

Bara, founded in 4th C AD reached it’s peak of prosperity in the next two centuries, fell into rapid decline in the 8th C and was completely abandoned by the 10th C. Today, not much remains but a few churches and ruins of the city. Surrounded by olive trees even today, it was distressing to hear the sounds of the locals quarrying the site for limestone.

On to Serjilla, a truly amazing dead city. You got the real sense of a city (now inhabited by a Bedouin family and their flock of sheep and goats). The site had huge villas, olive press production- and looked to be highly civilized with a lifestyle of luxury.

Finally, we wandered through the back roads to Qualaat Saladine (Saone). The road was a curvy, winding path to a very imposing castle (named after Saladin to commemorate his capture of the castle). Penetrating the castle seems almost impossible. To support the drawbridge over the channel, the Byzantines cut into the mountain leaving a huge needle of stone.

Once again, time to hit the road before sundown. We headed to the coast to Tartus, a kind of seedy local tourist spot on the Mediterranean. Remembering our sleepless nights at the local Turkish tourist spots, we got a quiet hotel off the main street and spent some time talking to their very vocal owner. One of 5 brothers (obviously multi-millionaires)- they own hotels, construction and transportation companies. A Christian, educated in the States, he had some very strong opinions about just about everything (most of the opinions spot on). Dinner in the hotel- one of the only places in town with A/C.