Tag Archives: Jerusalem

Into the Negev

Heading South into the Negev

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The idea was that we would drive down to Eilat, the hedonistic playground for Israelis searching for even more sun, on the glorious Red Sea.  In between, we would stop and take in the spectacular scenery that featured heavily in my guidebook.  Of course, what we had not planned for was our driver who was a smart 70 year old man with 5 years of military history and had seen it all.  He had that clipped Israeli accent and his English was not brilliant.  Worst of all, he liked to drive fast – like 100 mph fast.  Getting the guide to stop at a vineyard here or a rock formation there was like bargaining in the bazaar.  In the end, I had to pretend that I was car sick to get him to stop at important historical sites.  He wanted to speed down to Eilat and dump us at the border crossing. I wanted to stop serendipitously because the scenery was so incredibly spectacular.  It would be a difficult day but the reward was that we got to see Avdat and the Makhtesh Ramon.

Today was about the Nabataeans and frankincense and myrrh in Avdat.  This was the desert where the incense traders moved their stuff from Yemen to Petra and across to the Mediterranean ports.  I have some frankincense in my spice jar at home and everything that sits inside of that spice jar reminds me of the scents of Arab lands like Morocco, Egypt, and all of these magical places I have been to.  So trying to imagine being on a camel 1,000 years ago, bringing the riches at that time for onward sale to the Europeans, was an amazing thought.  This is the land of David Ben-Gurion’s desert home; Ben-Gurion being the founding father of Israel.  It is a land of vineyards on carefully irrigated land.  It is a lunar landscape of “grand canyons” that reminded me instantly of the western part of the USA.  And I had to negotiate with the driver who clearly had seen it all before.

The Makhtesh Ramon reserve is the largest protected area in Israel.  It is vast with multicolored sandstone and volcanic rocks and is 300 meters deep, eight kilometers wide, and 40 kilometers long.  The visitor’s center was one of those strange places often encountered in Israel where the service was less than optimal again.  The information booth was staffed by pretty uninterested people and the lunch place had arguably the worst service we had encountered so far.  No one seemed to care and they just seemed tired of dealing with tourists.  The funny thing was that there were not that many of us!  No matter, we grabbed more hummus, took some fresh juice, and watched some crazy guys cliff diving.

It was difficult to leave but the driver could not wait to pack us into his fancy Mercedes and get us into the drop-off point by the border.  He spoke rarely except to point out the date palms which were prolific, the milk farm trucks which amazed me, and when we said that we were heading to Jordan, he looked back at us and said, “…Why?”  He will be back in Tel Aviv in less than two hours.  I think that he felt sorry for us.

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The Coastal Road

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The funny thing about Israel is that the roads are so darn good; Massachusetts Turnpike should take note.  The exit north of Tel Aviv was very smooth and we passed a whole bunch of mega factories and Silicon Valley-type high-tech places on the coastal road, close to very upmarket residential beach areas.

Today we had elected to drive as far north as we could get to check out a town called Akko.  In between we would pass the principal port of Israel, Haifa, which had been written up in my Lonely Planet book as a “very picturesque city with spectacular views from the top of Mount Carmel.”  The views were pretty nice and there is obviously history in the hills.  The Bahai Gardens are world famous and stunning.  But, at least on first reflection, it seemed like a good place to move on from.  Anyhow, our principal destination was Akko which is very close to the Lebanese border.

Akko is a town that Marco Polo passed through and it was mentioned in sacred Egyptian texts and in Greek mythology.  From a history buffs point of view, Akko has it all – Alexander the Great, the Egyptians, the Romans, and the Arabs who conquered Akko in 638 AD until the nasty Crusaders came by and seized the city in 1100 AD.  It was the principal port of access contested by Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, and Philip II of France.

Today, Akko is a very mixed city – 70% of the residents are Jews and 30% are Arabs – but the population of the old city with its winding souks is about 95% Arab.  Akko has a seawall, ramparts you can walk on top of, and a dry moat.  We dove into the towering Knights’ Hall built 800 years ago and a tunnel just big enough for one person that leads out into the bazaar.  You can also take the Templar Tunnel which is around 350 meters long.  Suffice to say, this place is a treasure trove of history and worth a visit, if not an entire day.

We headed down to Caesarea to look at the amphitheater and the aqueduct and walk the sandy beaches.  In less than an hour, we would be back in Tel Aviv.  Everything in Israel is close by.  Every piece of history and every conflict is no more than an hour and a half away.  For better or worse, for richer or poorer.

 

 

Juant in the Desert

Jaunt in the Desert

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The excursion spiel was that we would ride four-wheel trucks in convoy, in a jaunt in the desert.  It frankly sounded like the caravan of gondolas that you see when you walk across the bridges of Venice and look down as 100 tourists are being serenaded by disinterested gondolieri.  In other words, I had my gondolieri radar on high alert.  We put on our helmets, submitted our driver’s licenses dutifully, piled into a whole bunch of trucks, and off we went.  After all, we were in the West Bank and there was nobody around except for us.  It was amazing.  Not a tour I had thought.

We took pictures and of course there was, out of nowhere, a Bedouin and his son with two camels.  That took us on a short journey and back.  There were some caves, a lookout point across the hills to Jerusalem and on the other side to Jericho.  For some reason, we lost the light and ended up driving back in the darkness, passing a couple of Bedouin villages and feeling a little vulnerable I must confess.  A couple of the cars broke down but were easily repaired.  At some point, we had to bail out of the desert and get onto the super highway to cut short the trip because we had run out of time and daylight.  Imagine a trail of vehicles doing 20 mph on a 70 mph modern highway.  It was a funny end to a phenomenal day.  We concluded with a campfire and a typical dinner with what looked like roasted lamb but could have been goat and had been cooked in a clay oven.  That, and the usual lashings of hummus, and I must say, it was a perfect day.

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Dead Sea Pietro Place

The Dead Sea

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The Dead Sea is something that you just have to go to once in your life.  The surface is 428 meters below sea level – the lowest point on the face of the Earth.  It’s part of the Great Rift Valley and is fed by the Jordan River to the north.  Its salt content, because of the lack of outflow, is about 34% or 10 times more than the normal salty ocean that we swim in.  Essentially, it is two lakes held together by a thin thread in the middle.  There are “health resorts” on the Jordanian and Israeli side which promote all sorts of minerals that are supposed to make you young again.  Yeah, right.

There is actually nothing quite like going into this hyper-salty lake/sea.  It is very difficult to stand up and for the most part it is pretty uncomfortable to hang around for more than about 15 minutes.  If you shave the night before, you are in for a rough time, and if you have a cut, think pain.  There is no way out in this bathtub.  It will attack you wherever it sees a weakness and if you make the mistake of putting your eyes in the water, you will suffer temporary blindness.  Yep – it was a lot of fun.  Probably the greatest single moment was that moment when you get to stand under the fresh water shower and remove the salty deposits.  That will keep your hair looking strange for several days no matter what.

As for reading the newspaper, it is easy to do.  Swimming is impossible, floating is fun, and more importantly, if there is anybody in your party that cannot swim, they will overcome their fear of water and swim.  This has to be the place where Jesus walked on water.

There were Russian groups here that were all staying at the hotels by the beach.  You had to be a hardcore salt water person for that.  For me, been there, done that, great stories, funny photos, but I couldn’t wait to get to the shower.

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Masada Pietro Place

Masada

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The funny thing about Masada is that the introduction video is really bad.  It is part 60’s Hollywood and part dreadful narration with such a bad accent that you feel like someone from Disney should come by and help them out.  But having said that, the place is breathtaking.

The story is a compelling part of our religious folklore.  Nasty Romans conquering Jerusalem, 1,000 Jews stuck on a plateau, a desperate last stand, and then death by the self-inflicted sword rather than the rotten Romans.  How was the news of this incredibly heroic sacrifice passed on?  It seems that there were a couple of people who were not quite buying into the whole sacrifice thing.  You can certainly count me as being one of those guys!

Masada sits around 500 meters above the surface of the Dead Sea with stunning views across the desert landscape.  The actual spot where the Romans made their successful approach is easily identifiable.  What is also interesting is that if you are strolling through the Roman Forum in Rome, there are three clear arches that stand out.  The smallest of the three is the Arch of Titus, whose design inspired the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and represents the victories of the Romans over the so-called rebels of Judea.

If you are fit and it is not too hot, you can take the serpentine foot path to the top of Masada, which takes about one hour.  If you fancy a luxury journey to the top then take the cable car.  It is three minutes, holds 65 people, and spares you the onslaught of the mid-day sun.  The visitor’s center is very good and there is free drinking water available in the fountains around so you can fill your bottles up too.

Masada is also a beautifully layered maze of Roman architecture built by King Herod.  He built a palace here complete with Roman baths.  This place is truly one of the most extraordinary places to visit.  It is sort of like Table Mountain in Cape Town with an iconic story and Roman architecture to boot!

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Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Pietro Place

Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

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Next day was a free day; a Sunday.  We got a limo and a guide and a bunch of us headed to Jerusalem.  That morning there were several news stories about some problems in the Old City and so we had some trepidation.  Yet in the interest of massive curiosity and fear of the CNN factor getting the better of us, we pushed ahead. We are in the travel business after all.  This is what we do.  It made the day even more exciting than it already promised to be!

Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a short journey of about 70 km or about 43 miles.  En route, we stopped to look at the settlements and take in the wall that separates Israel from the Palestinian territories.  A fascinating, albeit slightly strange, experience.  We drove up to Mount Olive for a view across the city.  The Dome of the Rock, the ancient Al-Aqsa Mosque, all sitting there in the distance.

Eventually we headed towards the inner city, lost the car, and walked the old town, the Souk (old market), and the Arab quarter.  We followed the Stations of the Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus was allegedly crucified and where his body was laid to rest before wrapped in a shroud.  That shroud can now be found in Turin.

We stopped at the western wall and I touched it.  It was quite a magical feeling.  The guide, who actually was very good, managed to cover about 5,000 years in an hour and gave us the essential lowdown. There was just this sense that we were at this ancient vortex of civilization.  Arabs, Christians and Jews all played out in this incredible holy city.  It was sort of like Sunday school coming back to me as a field trip.  This holy place was loaded with stories and relics from the very beginning of civilization to the torturous modern history that still plays out in the streets every day.

Actually as a city, Jerusalem was lovely.  There were picturesque narrow winding streets, reminding me of a Turkish bazaar, nice people, and an intermingling of the old and the trendy.  Great food if you can adjust to hummus served all day long and pomegranate vendors squeezing fresh juice on every street corner.  Jerusalem was dramatic and iconic and left me with so many questions. I wondered how I had ever survived my religion class. Not to mention the politics in all of this which we started to touch on. But that would be another day and a walk through the modern twentieth century Israel.  Complicated doesn’t even get close.

Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Pietro Place Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Pietro Place Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Pietro Place

Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Pietro Place Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Pietro Place Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Pietro Place

Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Pietro Place