Visiting The Holy Land of Isreal.....Part Two....

As our tour continued we headed into the mountains to see the beautiful vistas of the Golan Heights. While this area looks pretty with it's mountains, winter ski resorts, ancient ruins and springs there is more hidden here that the naked eye cannot see. Sharing a border with Syria there were large warning signs indicating the existence of land mines throughout the area. During our week long tour our guide pointed out spots along the way where bombs recently went off the week before we arrived. While this gives an eerie edge to our travels, we still felt perfectly safe here. Talking to locals along the way they assured us that there is little to no crime in Israel among the people, just some discourse with the neighboring countries over religious issues. And it's because of this that Israel does NOT stamp passports of tourists entering the country but instead issue a separate piece of paper with the stamp. In the past tourists have not been permitted to enter certain countries with a stamp from Israel in their passport. Our first stop was at ten in the morning for a wine tour and tasting!  Got us in the mood for the day.

An Excellent way to start the day! Four tastings of Israeli wines.

A drive through the Golan Heights
There are still land mines out there!

Our guide told us that there had

been bombing from Syria in this area
just the week before

Back to our tour we passed through an ancient Druze village to snap a few photos of the Druze people. The women of this unique ethnic and religious minority can be seen wearing long black dresses with white veils covering much of their face. The men typically dress in black or blue with large "kippa's" or skull caps on their heads and sport a long, bushy mustache. Although their faith developed out of Islam the Druze are not considered to be Muslims but are Arab speaking citizens of Israel.

Not to happy to
have her picture taken...a Druze woman.

Our tour group was asked if they would like to pay a few Shekels, about $15 each (Ok a LOT of Shekels) to take a boat trip on the Sea of Galilee.  We all agreed and experienced a relaxing trip on the boat.

blowing in the wind on

Sea of Galilee

Ancient Wooden Boats

Next we were off to explore the ancient fishing village of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. There we visited the ruins of a 2nd century synagogue where Jesus was said to have preached.  Then we visited the town of Tabgha where the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes took place. Since that time a church was built over the spot where according to tradition Jesus turned 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread into enough food to feed 5000 men plus their children and women. Then our bus climbed high up on a hill to visit the Mount of Beatitudes. There we marveled at the stunning views of the Sea of Galilee as we learned about the sermon that Jesus delivered on the very spot we were sitting. Our guide explained that the word, "beatitudes" is Greek for "blessings or blessed," since every one of the beatitudes begins with that word. We drove through the town of Tiberius before returning to our hotel for the night.

Ruins of the Synagogue that

that Jesus preached at

Entrance to the church built over
where the Miracle of the
Loaves and Fishes
took place

Mosaic of two fish
and a basket of loaves of bread

Church of the Beatitudes

They had all of Christ's
beatitudes all over the grounds

The following day we checked out of our kibbutz hotel in Galilee and boarded the bus headed for Tel Aviv. Our first stop was the 5000 year old, UNESCO city of Acre (or Akko). This ancient city was shaped by the Ottomans, Crusaders, Romans, Mamelukes, Byzantines, and the British and features one of the oldest ports in the world. We took a short tour around a ruined, crusader fortress and heard stories about how Richard the Lionheart  captured the city in 1191.

Walking in the steps of
The Crusaders!

One of my fellow Tour people
spotted these little guys

Our bus climbed up Mount Carmel to offer us a breathtaking view from the top, overlooking The Bahia World Center and port below. The Bahia Center offers 19 terraced gardens, fountains and spectacular views of the sea and the city of Haifa, Israel's third largest city.

Beautiful View from the Top

Terry and I with the city and port of 

Haifa in the background

Then we proceeded onto the city of Caesarea to see a ruined 2000 year old city built by Herod the Great. This ancient city once served as Rome's capital in Judea and included an amphitheater and other Crusader (or Christian) fortifications.

Out last stop on this

magnificent Tour

We ended this day in the city of Tel Aviv where we said good bye to Patrick our guide and our new friends. The next day Clyde and I did an optional tour to the Dead Sea and Masada.

Despite being tired we woke up very early to meet our tour guide for the day at 7am for another long day of touring. What began with a small group of just us and an Australian couple we knew from our week long tour turned into something much more. After an hours drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem we picked up a single British male traveler along with a Spanish speaking group of six people. This made things difficult as our guide had to explain things both in English and Spanish. She seemed much more comfortable talking in Spanish and pretty much ignored us English speakers for much of the day.

On our journey to Masada, we were able to view from the bus the actual caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  This was special to us as we had already been to the museum that housed the Dead Sea Scrolls

Can you see the caves?

This is were the scraps of paper  (dead sea scrolls) were
 found that created our Bible

After a two hour drive we made our first stop at Masada, an ancient fortress and palace built by King Herod. Along the top of a rugged mountain range sits this massive fortress that was the last stronghold of the Jewish Zealots against the Roman forces in 73 AD. We rode a cable car to the top and strolled around the ancient buildings. We learned that the Zealots ended the siege by committing a mass suicide of some 900 people instead of being captured by the Romans. The views overlooking the valley below were gorgeous with desert landscapes set against the mountains in the distance.

The flat top of the mountain where the 

fortress of Masada, was built

views from the top

Look carefully at the bottom left

This is where the Romans were slowly building up a ramp

to invade the Jews of Masada.

Instead of being captured and enslaved,

They all committed suicide

Back on the bus we headed to a spa near the Dead Sea where we could finally relax. After lunch we changed into swimwear then boarded a rustic train that dropped us off in front of the sea. We were now at the very LOWEST place on the planet....some 1,412 feet or 430 meters BELOW SEA LEVEL. Wow....hard to imagine! Filled with extreme amounts of salt the Dead Sea waters are super easy to float in, and good for our skin. The ground was hard and scratchy with dried salt and wearing our flip flops into the water was a must. The water has an oily feel to it, smooth on the skin yet heavy to walk in due to the high concentration of salt. The mud on the banks of the sea are said to be therapeutic containing plenty of minerals and good stuff for our skin so we rubbed some on. Swimming is NOT permitted in the sea due to the salt so visitors are only permitted to float on their backs, trying hard NOT to get the salty water into their eyes or mouth. Once our time was up we enjoyed a hot shower to remove the salty, oily residue from our bodies, dressed and headed back to our bus. It took another good shower with scrubbing later that evening before I really felt clean.

The Dead Sea

Since Clyde and I picked up the communal cold that was passed around our tour group we enjoyed a day of resting in our hotel the following day. After lunch we walked around Tel Aviv taking in the sights and watching young surfers trying to catch the perfect wave in the Mediterranean Sea across from our hotel.  Tel Aviv which literally means, "old and new," is a vibrant, lively, 24-hour city that never sleeps. While walking around we passed by a laundromat with directions in English so went back to our hotel to collect our smelly clothes and give them a wash.

Hanging out at the Laundromat

The Directions on how the machines work in Hebrew

The little joys that make us SO happy in our travels! Clean clothes, an amazing week of visiting the Holy Land and now onto our next adventures......along the gringo trail.

Visiting The Holy Land.....Israel....Part One

Disclaimer: Our week touring the Holy Land was a blur of too much information and remembering amazing sites along the way. Days were long and internet was scarce so I am writing this a week later from memory so please do not complain about my lack of facts or biblical information. It is what it is, just a recollection from two tired nomads travelling the world.

Get ready for Terry's awesome Blog

on this once in a lifetime tour of

The Holy Land

Our plane landed in Tel Aviv Israel where we were picked up by a driver from our hotel in Jerusalem. The one hour drive passed by quickly as we chatted to a Canadian couple who was booked for the same Holy Land tour. We made our way to our hotel and quickly dropped off our luggage before heading out to find some lunch. Armed with a map of the city provided by the hotel we ended up in a nearby shopping mall and found our way to the food court, thinking there would be something we could recognize there to eat. Wrong! While each restaurant offered a large menu, some with photos, everything was written in Hebrew which is written backwards and upside down.....literally.

Our first impression of Israel
Soldiers Everywhere!

Throughout the week of touring we encountered massive crowds of tourists, pilgrims, buses and more all looking for a life changing experience, retracing the steps of Jesus.

We managed to get a plate of chicken shwarma (slow cooked meat that we recognized from Egypt) with salad, fries and a thick pita bread and drinks for around 49 shekels each which translates to around $13. Ouch....expensive compared to the dollar prices we paid in Egypt. Next we headed out onto the streets of Jerusalem to explore this vibrant, Holy City. We hopped onto the local tram and made our way to Old Jerusalem to literally walk on the same cobblestoned streets where Jesus once walked.

The next morning we met with our tour guide Patrick along with about 38 others to start our Holy Land tour that would last through the next week. We boarded an air conditioned bus and headed to the old part of the city once again to begin exploring with a knowledgeable guide. We passed through the Jewish quarter to the Western Wall of the city more commonly called, "the wailing wall." There we joined others to touch the wall and slip notes with prayer requests into its slots. It was an emotional experience, but just the first of many here in Israel.

The Western Wall
also known as the Wailing Wall

Clyde praying at the Western Wall

(Our tour bus mates included people from: Holland, Hong Kong, Russia, Germany, Canada, US and more.)

After that we walked the famous Via Dolorosa or, "way of the cross" where Jesus literally walked as he carried the cross. Growing up Catholic I knew about the stations of the cross but it never dawned on me that THIS really happened and was documented somewhere in the world. Yet back then I had NO idea that someday I would be here in Jerusalem walking in the same road and stopping along the way at the stations of the cross. Wow!

The fifth Station of the Cross
Simon helps carry the cross

Next we toured the Church of the Holy Sepulcher  which according to tradition was built upon the tomb or cave where Jesus was buried and three days later rose again. Wow.....and here we were about to see this most Holiest of places. A shrine was built on top of the tomb and the line into this most Holy place was long.....with many a miserable tourist trying to push their way in front of others. Our tour group was only in the church for about thirty minutes so we phoned our guide and asked if it was alright that we passed on the rest of the tour to wait in the long line? He agreed so we stayed and waited for an hour or two to see the spot where Jesus was laid to rest. Afterwards we made our way back to the hotel using the public tram system.

This Shrine was built to cover
the Tomb of Jesus

The next day we were up bright and early again to meet our guide at 8am for another long day of exploring Israel. We passed by the Mount of Olives which boasts having olive trees that are over 900 years old. These ancient trees have massive trunks and still produce fruit. Nearby at the foot of the mountain we stopped at the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed and his disciples slept the night before his crucifixion.


We stopped at the mosaic-coated Church of All Nations which houses The Rock Of Agony, a slab of rock where Jesus prayed before his arrest.

After lunch we visited the famous Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum. These scrolls were found in the Judean desert by the nomadic Bedouin people that lived there. Over 980 different manuscripts were found telling about what life was like during the times when Jesus lived on earth. It is from these scrolls that much of the Old Testament was written. The scrolls were found in twelve different caves around the area of the Dead Sea.

The fountain signifies the
top of the earthen jars in
which the scrolls were found

No photography was allowed in the museum
This picture was taken from the internet to show you what
the bits of the scroll look like today.

Look Close, we passed these caves later
These were the caves next to the Dead Sea
That the scrolls were discovered in.

Next was a stop at Yad Vashem, the museum that honors the victims of the holocaust. It was an emotional, eye opening experience that taught us much about Hitler and how many Jews he had killed.  The name "Yad Vashem" is taken from a verse in the Book of Isaiah and refers to leaving behind a memorial of those Jews that have no one to carry on their name. We had no idea that Hitler killed Jews throughout all of Europe, a total over 6 million Jews were killed just because Hitler didn't like them.

This monument was erected in memory of
Boris Korckzac who rescued many ghetto children

This plaque was at the entrance of the part of

the museum dedicated to the

TWO MILLION CHILDREN

murdered by Hitler, (heart breaking)

Afterwards we drove through the village of Ein Karem, the picturesque village that was the birthplace of John the Baptist. As tradition tells us an elderly woman and her husband were impregnated at the same time that Mary became pregnant with Jesus.



While our tour was great we were a bit shocked by how expensive Israel is compared to Egypt. The price of our tour included breakfasts and dinners but not lunches. We paid anywhere from 49 to 80 shekels for lunches which translates to $13 to $23 US dollars for each meal for each of us. Most days we were offered a choice of 1-3 items that always included chicken shwarma (slow cooked chicken with spices) or falafel (vegetarian meatballs made with chickpeas). Alongside the protein choices were a selection of salads, hummus dips and thick, fresh pita bread.

After spending three days touring from our hotel in Jerusalem we packed our bags and moved to our next location of Galilee. Here we stayed in a traditional styled kibbutz hotel, a group of rooms centered around a main house. Back in the day kibbutz's were used to house farm workers, pilgrims or anyone coming together with a likeminded purpose.

Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem.....those lyrics will never have the same meaning again after seeing the "real place." We were surprised to discover that the town of Bethlehem is NOT part of Israel but instead is located in the West Bank under control of Palestine. Our guide Patrick actually had to leave the bus as Israeli's are NOT permitted to enter this area. We were passed off to a Muslin guide since the town is made up mostly of Arabs. Before entering the walled town we passed through one of three guard gates.

Guard tower separating the
West Bank from Israel

Guard checking cars on the way
out of the West Bank

We drove to the Church of the Nativity to see the grotto or cave, the famous spot where Jesus of Nazareth was born and where he was laid in the manger afterwards. Again we waited in a long line of tourists to see this Holy spot. Interesting to know that Bethlehem is the only place in the world that celebrates Christmas three different times. Like other well known Holy Land churches this one is owned jointly by several different religions each celebrating their own holiday. Catholics and Protestants celebrate the holiday on December 25th while Eastern Orthodox celebrate on January 7th, and Armenian's celebrate on January 19th. Perhaps a dream come true for lovers of Christmas or a nightmare of expenses for others?

A rather crazy line to see where

the Baby Jesus was born

This church was under renovation
But we could see some of the original works
hidden away

People here are finally at the point where
they will be walking down the stairs to  touch
the actual birthplace of Christ marked by a star

you can see the feeling of reverance

overcoming them

Clyde on his knees touching the star

that marks the actual birthplace of Christ

This Gold Fenced area
marks where they laid the
Baby Jesus in the manger

Our bus took us through the Jorden valley nearby the ancient city of Jericho, to marvel at the oldest city in the world. Jericho dates back to 9000 BC and has been continually inhabited ever since. Like Bethlehem, Jericho is also under Palestinian rule. We stopped at Beit She'an National Park, home to a well-preserved Roman Byzantine city. After lunch we headed to Nazareth where Jesus is said to have spent his childhood years. There we visited the Church of the Annunciation and Mary's Well.

Roman Amphitheatre

This is the public latrine.  Both sexes would
line up and do their business here.  Water would be

running underneath them.  This was also a 

"Social Area"  where people would sit and chat

The Church of the Annunciation was built on the site where tradition says the angel Gabriel appeared to a teenage girl named Mary, telling her she would become pregnant with the Son Of God, Jesus.  The church was full of Mosaics gifted from different countries of the Virgin Mary.  It was wonderful to see what each country thought Mary looked like. Because of this the city of Nazareth and this church are considered to be one of the most holy places in the world.

The entrance to the church
dedicated to the Virgin Mary

This is the mosaic of Mary

donated from the United States.

Mary herself is three dimensional 

Japan's Gift,

The shawl that Mary is wearing
was made of pearls
 Beautiful!

During the times of Jesus the city of Nazareth was considered to be a dump that nothing good ever came out of.  Next we visited Mary's well an ancient well that Mary was said to have drank from with water that still today is thought to be sacred.

Entrance to Mary's Well

The tunnel leading to 

Mary's Well

Mary's Well

Next we visited the cobblestoned, ancient city of Safed. Continually inhabited by Jews for the past 2000 years, Safed is the home of Kabbalah, an offshoot of Judaism practiced by many here in Israel.
Full of charming synagogues this was Patrick's chance to try and educate us about his religion. We entered a colorful synagogue for a peek into Jewish life where we asked questions and gained a wealth of knowledge about Israel and its people.

The lower floor which is the men's section

This church was made to be comfortable

This chair is the special chair

with a cradle attached for

Religious Circumcisions 

to be continued.......