New Jerusalem

I really love the Old City of Jerusalem. It's got a frenetic pace, especially in the souq area, and it's also got cool hostory around every corner. I figured I wouldn't be doing the city justice unless I got outside the walls and saw what the modern city of Jerusalem had to offer.

I headed west until I came to a large park, which had the really cool looking Monestary of the Cross in the valley. This Greek Orthodox shrine is from the 1000s AD, and according to the guidebooks, would be a major tourist attraction in any other city. Alas, in Jerusalem, it sits mostly forgotten because it is far away from the Old City and in a remote valley where it is hard to get to. I would have visited the inside, but it was Sunday and it was closed.

One of my main goal in walking this far was to visit two of Jerusalem's finest museums, the Bible Lands Museum and The Israel Museum (pictured above). The Bible Lands Museum was very good, if not a bit sterile in it's presentation. It had artifacts dating back as far as 6000 BC, and had them displayed by time period in an easy to follow layout.

The Israel Museum, much to my chagrin, was mostly closed for renovations. The two things that were open, however, were the two reasons I had wanted to visit. the first was a scale model of the Old City from the Second Temple Period, around the time of Christ. The admission fee included a handheld audio device that allowed you to type in numbers and get explanations as to what you were looking at. I really enjoyed this, and it put the ancient city in perspective. Even though I love wandering the streets of the Old City, seeing it in this type of layout gave me an appreciation as a geography geek of how the city must have looked back then.

The second part of the Israel Museum that remained open was The Shrine of The Book. This is the specially climate controlled wing where The Dead Sea Scrolls are kept. Discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd boy who was searching for a lost sheep, the scrolls are the best known artifact known pertaining to the Old Testament and how the books were selected. My only disappointment in this was that the actual bible scrolls were not on display, instead there were reproductions. They were many of the original scrolls on display, but most were from books that had not made it into the Bible. I'll be visiting the site where the scrolls were discovered (Qumran) later in this trip.

I was going to visit the Israeli government building, known as the Knesset, but when I showed up there were only two tours scheduled, one in Hebrew and one in German. My high school German is long forgotten (and was never good enough to follow along on a tour like this) and my Hebrew skills leave a lot to be desired, so I settled for a picture from the exterior and moved on.

My next stop was at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial and museum. I'd read a real good article before I'd left criticizing Yad Vashem for it's politicizing of the Holocaust. It's true, the way things are phrased and presented do have a definite bias, but unlike the authors of the article, I'm not ready to let that define my visit. The Holocaust is something that for those of us who aren't Jewish will ever be able to grasp as deeply as they do. The museum was sad and gripping, laid out in an historical order that was easy to follow. Like The Israel Museum, Yad Vashem had a handheld audio guide that was available for 30 Shekels (about $8) and added to the experience.

The were no pictures allowed inside, but I did snap the one above of the shoes that were taken from victims right before they were gassed at Auchwitz. I saw displays upon displays full of these things (suitcases, shoes, false teeth, even human hair) when I visited Auchwitz in 1999. Seeing this again brought back memories of that sobering experience.

Outside the museum portion, was The Avenue of Righteous Gentiles, a pretty walkway with trees planted for many of the people who had risked their lives during this awful period to save the lives of Jews.

My final stop of the day was at the Mahane Yehuda Market, or shuk. This is the market where Israelis go to buy their meat, spices, produce and vegetables. It was much less touristy and much more functional than the souq, the Muslim market in the Old City where I was staying. the biggest difference was that no of the stall owners tried to talk me into buying things that I did not need, the thing I hate most about the touristy souq. I picked up some pitas, hommus, olives and grapes and had a nice little lunch, all for about $5. After leaving the market I walked back to my hotel through modern Jerusalem, which was, to put it as nicely as possible, uninspiring. More about that in my Jerusalem summary post.

I had one more day in Jerusalem, but it wasn't going to be spent there- I was going to the West Bank, something I'd thought about everyday since I decided to do this trip, and it was quite an experience.

A few days break

I'm not sure I'll be posting anything the next couple of days. I'm staying at a kibbutz tonight and then my hotel Thursday does advertise having internet, so I guess I'll have to play it by ear. It's day seven for me and I just finished posting on day 2, so catching up is a little hopeless, at least while I'm here.

I'm off to the Sea of Galilee today.

The Walls of Jerusalem part 2

On Friday, I walked the walls of the Old City from Jaffa Gate in the west all the way to the Western Wall Plaza on the southeast side of the city. I had tried to go back and walk the stretch from Jaffa Gate to Lions Gate but that part of the walk was close on Friday. I went back to finish my circuit of the city walls Saturday afternoon. (The part of the walls that border Temple Mount in the southeast corner is closed for 'security reasons'.)

The above picture is from on top of The Jaffa Gate, as one enters the Old City. It's under construction right now, it looks to me like they are expanding the road as it runs into the Armenian Quarter.

The views from to the west of the Jaffa Gate were of modern Jerusalem. This part of the wall was very important in the Six Day War, as the Jordanian Army held the Old City and was able to fire into Israeli held West Jerusalem without impunity. The Israeli Army eventually to back the Old City in this war, as well as all of the West Bank territory they hold today.

It was hot (94 degrees) and having chosen to do this right when the sun was at it's mid-day peak probably wasn't the brightest move. The southern part of the walk had no shade, but I'd done it in the morning on a day where it was considerably cooler (mid 80s). I passed the New Gate (the scene from here entering the city as seen above). As you can surmise from the name, this gate, cut out of the wall in 1887, is the newest of the city's gates, and was closed during the Jordanian occupation of the old city from 1948 to 1967.

I reached Damascus Gate after a few minutes more of walking in the blazing heat. The chaos both inside and outside this gate which borders East Jerusalem, is not dimished being viewed from above.

The view from up top of the Damascus Gate over the Muslim Quarter was impressive, framed by The Dome of the Rock at every angle.

There were also good view of East Jerusalem, which is a predominantly Arab part of the modern city.

The walk from Damscus Gate to Lion's Gate all the way around the city was scenic, but this part of the walk was also much dirtier, both with the amount of weeds and trash that covered the promenade. Of particualer intrest on this portion was the Stork Tower, the defensive point at the northest corner, which was important because the eastern side of the wall has always been considered the weak point in the defense of the city. Many of the city's conquerers have come from this direction, including the crusaders, who breached Herod's Gate in 1099.

In the footsteps of Jesus (with thousands of other tourists)

On Saturday, I woke bright and early and took a cab from the Damascus Gate to the Seven Arches Hotel, situated on the top of The Mount of Olives, just to the west of Jerusalem's Old City. The Mount of Olives figures prominently in the story of the last week of Jesus' life.

The view from in front of the Seven Arches has to be one of my favorite viewpoints I have ever visited. Spread out before you is the whole Old City, with the gleaming Dome of the Rock taking center stage. I find myself constatntly using it as the focal point of pictures I take. It may be one of the most striking buildings I have ever seen.

Also spread out below this viewpoint are the thousands of Jewish graves. Tradition says in the last days, those who are buried on the slopes of the Mount of Olives will be the first to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Most of the major churches of the Old City are visible from here- The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Enjoyment of the view was only mildly affected in a negative way by the tons of tour groups and tour buses that are sharing this magnificent panorama. I was glad I'd gotten up there so early, as I'm sure the worst of it probably happened later in the morning.

I walked up the road the road and came the Church of the Ascension. There are at three churches on the Mount of Olives that mark spots where the different religions or denominations believe that Jesus ascended into heaven.

Down the street from The Church of the Ascension is the The Church of the Pater Noster "The Lord's Prayer". The first church at this site was comissioned by Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine. The site was chosen because it is believed to be the site where Jesus first taught The Lord's Prayer. The inside of the courtyard, and all the surrounding buildings for that matter, are lined with The Lord's Prayer in 161 different languages. When I read about this shrine in advance I thought it sounded cheesy, but it was actually very well done.

After Pater Noster, I bagan the steep decent down the mount. The first site I came to was the Church of Dominus Flevit, which translated means "The Lord Wept". This teardrop shaped church is one newest additions, having been built in the 1950s. This marks the spot where Jesus stopped and wept over Jerusalem. The viewpoint from the front plaza of the church is almost as outstanding as the one in front of the Seven Arches. I didn't get to go inside the church since a service was in progress.

The Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene is right down the path from Dominus Flevit, but is only open two days a week for two hours. I did get a picture of it's attractive golden onion domes from plaza in front of Dominus Flevit.

Nearing the base of the mountain I came to the Garden of Gethsemane. I asked my mom and dad before I left what were some of his best memories from their 2005 trip. My dad recollected how peaceful a place the Garden of Gethsemane and been saying it had been a quiet place for prayer. I did not find it the same experience, as it was on of the most crowded sites I have ever seen. It was still moving to read the story of the agony Jesus felt in the garden immediately preceding his arrest.

Next to the Garden of Gethsemane is The Church of All Nations, an attractive building with an impressive facade.

Finally, I crossed the street to the Tomb of the Virgin Mary, another one of the holiest sites in Christendom. It is believed that Mary was interred here by the disciples after her death. This shrine was really amazing, requiring pilgrims to walk down a long set of stone steps to get to the heavily incense laden chamber housing Mary's tomb. This was one place I really found effective despite the crowds.

As I mentioned in my post about The Garden Tomb, I'll write a longer post about the dichotomy of visiting religious sites later. I'm still a few days behind...

The rest of the pictures from the Mount of Olives are here on my Facebook page-

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2065446&id=1208119406&l=2be2e7446b

East Jerusalem & The Garden Tomb

In the afternoon on Friday, I left the Old City through the Damascus Gate and wandered into East Jerusalem, and another world. The chaos of the Muslim Souq had prepared me for it a little, very little though. The pace of things was incredible. The thing I noticed right away was that I saw no Jews and no writing in Hebrew anywhere. I guess this is to be expected, since the Palestinians see East Jerusalem and the capital of the hoped for Palestinian state. I wandered up and down the streets for an hour or so, so much in awe of this spectacle that I never even took my camera out- that is truly a rarity for me. I didn't feel unsafe at all, nor did I draw any attention I didn't like. I was stopped by a group of Palastinian young men, seven of them, who looked to be between 10-12. Only one of the boys spoke any English I could understand.

"You American?"

"Yes", I said.

"I know America!"

"What do you know?"

"I know Kobe Bryant", the ring leader said, and did his best impression of a basketball jump shot. The rest of the boys all cheered.

"Very Good", I said smiling. "What else you know?" Sometimes when speaking to people who aren't native English speakers, I fall into this simplified way of talking. I don't mean to, and so far, to my knowledge, I haven't offended anyone with it.

He puffed up his chest and said "I know Lebron James!"

I smiled and nodded, content to let him play to his crowd. I addressed the other boys. "Anyone else know America?"

They all seemed to defer to the leader, and he turned to a smallish boy with a small scar under his left eye. The boy looked embarrassed when addressed, and for a moment I was afraid I had made a mistake in asking the other boys. The leader prodded him some more.

The small boy all of a sudden came to life. "I know Lady Gaga!", he exclaimed, and the began to gesticulate wildly in what was supposed to be an impression. He broke into song- which I did not recognize, but I'm sure was supposed to be Lady Gaga. The rest of the boys broke down in hysterical laughter. The small boy went on for a few seconds longer, then laughed, and took off running. The rest of the boys charged after him.

The boy who originally spoke to me was the last to take off running. He smiled and said over his shoulder, "Goodbye America".

I said goodbye and thank you as he ran off. I'm not sure he knew why I was thanking him, but I knew.

After finishing my wandering, I found my way to the Garden Tomb. The story behind the Garden Tomb is a common one in Jerusalem. Certain protestants groups refuse to accept the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the site of Jesus' crucifixion. Famous archeologist Charles Gordon located the site of a skull-shaped hill just north of the Old City in 1883. When excavating the site, he found some tomb that generally matched to description of Jesus' tomb from the gospels.

Archeologists have since come up with some evidence (that is refuted by the owners of the site) that the tombs uncovered were from the 5th Century B.C.E., not from Jesus' time. Even with this evidence, it's hard to dismiss the Garden Tomb. The hill (as you can see above) does have a look somewhat like a skull. The setting for the Garden Tomb is also peaceful, where as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a magnificent structure, it's really hard to imagine the events of Easter taking place there. Lonely Planet quotes a protestant minister as saying "If they Garden Tomb was not the site of the Lord's death and resurrection, it should have been." That really sums it up- it fits the picture you have in your head of the scene- even though that picture isn't necessarily correct. Then again, most of the holy sites in Jerusalem can fall into this category. I'll talk more about this in the next post about the Mount of Olives and my Jerusalem summary post coming in the next couple days.

Here are a couple more pictures from The Garden Tomb.

Sunburned, tired and day and a half behind

So.... I'm already a day and a half behind on my blogging. I'm not going to worry about it, obviously it would be silly to spend my time blogging and not seeing. Today I was at the Mount of Olives in the morning and I finished my walk of the Old City Ramparts in the afternoon. It was 91 degrees here today, too, and that, included with all the walking, has left me a little sunburned and very tired. Hopefully, I'll be able to post about Friday afternoon and Saturday sometime tomorrow.

For now I'll leave you with the above photo, from the lookout on the Mount of Olives- what a view of the old city.

The Walls of Jerusalem

Despite barely finishing the last post around 10PM last night, I slept for a few hours and then woke up wide awake at around 230 AM. I did some photo editing and some reading, and was just ready to go back to sleep when the Muslim call to pray started echoing down the alleyways of the Old City. It was really unique- a middle of the night reminder of how far away from home I am.

In the morning, I wondered down to the Jaffa Gate.

This gate is the link between the Old City and West Jerusalem, the newer, modern part of the city. I took a flight of stairs up to the Ramparts Walk, a walk that follows the path of the walls of the old city. The walls as they currently stand are from 1542 when they were rebulit by Suleiman, the Ottoman ruler of the area. The Crusaders had torn down the previous city walls in 1219, when they captured the city.

Today there are two ways to do the Ramparts Walk, from the Jaffa Gate north then east all the way around the north side of the old city to Lions Gate on the West Side of the city. This way was closed today, I'll have to go back and do this Saturday or Monday. The route I took followed a southern than eastern direction, from Jaffa Gate to near Dung Gate, the gate closest to the Western Wall Plaza and Temple Mount.

The above building is the Tower of David in the Citadel. It was closed on Friday, so I did not have a chance to climb the tower. The Citadel contains overlapping pieces of a least seven different cultures who at one time or another controlled this strategic point.

The first part of the walk provided great views over modern West Jerusalem and the Montefiore Windmill.

Rounding the southwest corner of the walls, the Basilica of the Dormition Abbey came into sight. This is a church built on the site where Jesus' mother Mary was reported to have died. Also in the same complex is the Room of the Last Supper.

The southern end of the walk granted amazing views of both the Tyropoeon and Kidron Valleys. The Kidron Valley was especially important in the story of the last week of Jesus' life.

This part of the tour also included sweeping panoramas of The Mount of Olives, my destination Saturday morning.

Finishing the walk, I visited The Western Wall, the most sacred sight in the Jewish faith. This wall comprises the western side of Temple Mount, sight of the first and second temples. This visit was especially moving, see the devout pray with such ferver is stirring, not matter what you believe.

Sensory Overload

Well, I'm here. The 11 hour flight from Philadelphia was an excruciating time. The seats were pretty small and the nice lady from Philadelphia next to me & I jostled for space the whole way over. I guess I slept about an hour or so, but I didn't really start feeling the effects until a couple of minutes ago.

I ended up taking a sherut (share-taxi) from the airport to the Damascus Gate (pictured above), when I walked to my hotel. I walked right through the middle of the Muslim Souq (marketplace) to get there. The souq is chaos personified. Besides the vendors selling their various wares, there were kids on bikes, people using wheelbarrows to deliver goods, road maintenance crews and trash collectors, families out for an afternoon stroll and tourists everywhere. I have a feeling that if I hadn't been so tired, and traveled as much as I have, I would have found the scene downright overwhelming.

I checked in at my friendly hotel, The Hashimi Hotel, which comes highly recommended by guidebooks. The Hotel has a magnificent view of Temple Mount and The Dome of the Rock from it's third floor breakfast room.

I dumped my stuff in my room and headed out to use what little energy and sunlight I had left. I wandered through the souq some more, marveling at the array of goods available.

I found my way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchure, the church built on the site where Jesus was crucified. I intend to go back with a guidebook and really do this building well, so today I just wondered around in awe taking pictures.

My last stop was at the Western Wall. I didn't go down into the plaza, but intend to tomorrow.

Here's a link to a gallery of today's best pictures.

http://s1038.photobucket.com/albums/a463/esmith7273/Israel%202010-%20Day%20One/?mediafilter=images

I'm crashing pretty hard right now. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day, and with some sleep, my post tomorrow should be a little more coherent.

At the airport

I'm sitting in Detroit's fancy new North Terminal. It really needs a name. North Terminal is so boring. Maybe the Kwame Kilpatrick Terminal? No Seriously, my vote goes to the Ernie Harwell Terminal, but I have a feeling that modest Ernie would be embarrassed at such a suggestion.

I figured I'd better blog from here since I ponied up the $8 to have access to the internet both here and in the Philadelphia airport later today. I really don't have a lot to say right now. Those of you who travel will understand where I am at emotionally right now. I'm excited, but I really need to be across the Atlantic and settled in before I'll feel like I'm on vacation. I showed up at the airport for my 4:30pm flight at 1:45pm- I prefer to be safe about getting to the gate on time. You hear all the horror stories about security taking two hours, but even though I was in a long line, I was through in about 15 minutes, and that included all the time it took to put my laptop back in my bag, refill my pockets, and put my shoes and belt back on. I don't really find security an annoyance. It's simply part of flying. The guy behind me was annoyed that they confiscated his bottle of water, even though all the signs tell people no liquids will be brought through security. He was further annoyed when they had to rescan his bag after the offending water bottle was removed. I assumed he was annoyed because he was late for his flight, but I can see him across the terminal right now sleeping in a gate area that has a flight that leaves a little after 5. I would love to see him go through Israeli security, but no such luck.

I have two options for getting from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem. The first option is a sherut (pronounced shey-root) which is a shared taxi. With a sherut, you wait until all the seats in the vehicle (usually a mini-van or van) are full and then you leave. How quickly you get to you destination depends on where you stop is in relation to the other passengers. The bonus is that it is much cheaper than a regular taxi. I'm probably going to splurge and get the regular taxi, since I get in at 315pm, have to pick up my luggage and clear customs and security, and still hopefully get to Jerusalem before the sun sets around 8. If I was getting in during the morning, I would have taken the sherut.

That's all for now.

Getting to it

Well, I'm down to three days before my flight leaves. I have an incredible range of emotions going on now. I'm excited, most of all, to finally be getting down to the execution of the trip. I love the planning, but there comes a point where I'm re-reading the same guidebooks, looking at the same sights online and staring a schedule that's been pretty much finished for a month. Time to get down to it.
I'm also a little nervous. Not about the political situation, like I've said previously, that's out of my hands. I'm nervous mostly because of the length of the trip. Before when I did my long trips (Two months in 1998 in Europe and two months in 2001 in Australia), I wasn't married. I know I'm going to miss Janeen, and I can't help but wondering if that missing her is going to make this trip less fun than it should be. I have a cell phone rental that will work while I'm in Israel (but not the week in Egypt and Jordan), and we can talk using our webcams over the computer. But I know that's going to be a poor substitute for seeing her everyday. I guess we'll see if this kind of trip is even possible for me anymore, and that's my biggest question right now.
I'm nervous about lots of other little things, and those of you who know me well probably aren't surprised by that. Most of all, as I said previously, it's just time to get to it.
Hopefully I'll be able to check in with my pre-departure thoughts while waiting to board my flight in Philadelphia on Wednesday. If not, I'll talk to you from Jerusalem Thursday!

Volcano Mess

I've gotten a lot of e-mails asking me if the Iceland volcano has affected my travel plans. It's hasn't really, and that is mostly due to the fact that my flight goes from Detroit to Philadelphia then directly to Tel Aviv. I had the option of taking flights that were a couple hundred dollars cheaper than this one, but they flew through either London, Frankfort or Warsaw. I didn't anticipate most of Europe's major airports being closed down, but the travel time on a Detroit-Chicago-Warsaw-Tel Aviv flight was 36 hours including layovers, and my flights travel time was just under 18 hours. That was worth the extra money for me. Now that said, US Airways did add Tel Aviv to the list of cities directly affected by the chaos. Their policy is that if cancellations start happening, a customer could book another flight to another destination without having to pay the change fee (usually upwards of $250). All the customer has to do is pay the difference if the flight is more expensive. What this means for me is that if the volcano mess does start to make flying to Israel not possible (or unpredictable), I would have to find another destination, since this change without fee is only allowed if the departing flight is within 7 days of the original flight departure. My bosses were already counting on not paying my salary for the three weeks I'm going to be gone- so I have to take a trip.
So that would leave me finding an alternative destination, somewhere US Airways flies. My best guess would be New Zealand. I'd also consider Australia. I had also thought about Southeast Asia, but US Airways doesn't fly there. Alaska is another consideration, but the flight would be less expensive than my Israel one, Alaska is prohibitively expensive and May is probably still a little cold (and snowbound).
The biggest issue for me would be that all of my research for the Israel trip would be useless, as by the time I got to go in a couple of years, much of the hotel and restaurant information would have changed. It would leave me a really short time to prepare for the alternative destination. That's more of a problem because it would deny me the fun of planning the trip, not because I couldn't get the planning done in a short amount of time.
I hope to be able to go to Israel, and would say that barring another huge eruption, that's going to happen. I do want to visit New Zealand someday, and hopefully that day is a few years from now on my next big international foray.

More News & the Security Question

Those of you who are Facebook friends with me might have seen my link to an article on Israel warning it's citizens to get out of the Sinai Peninsula immediately. This warning was based on credible evidence that Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, was planning on trying to kidnap Israeli citizens and take them to Gaza. There has been some trouble in the Sinai, but not since April 2006, when three bombs went off in Dahab, killing 23 and wounding 80, including some foreign nationals. Egypt has since cracked down, and from all the information I've read, and e-mail contact I've had with people in the Sinai, the situation appears to be pretty calm. That's good, because I would be really disappointed to have to abandon my plans to hike Mount Sinai. I was also looking forward to a couple of sunrises over the Red Sea while staying in Dahab, too. The Egypt part of the itinerary is right at the end of the trip, so if something happens I can always cancel it.
I've gotten a lot of questions and comments about security is Israel. The most common one is "That's not real safe, is it?" Most of the books and blogs I read, as well as the travelers who's opinion I trust, state with no reservations that traveling to Israel is safe. The fact is, and many Americans are in denial about this, we live in one of the most violent societies in the civilized world. I don't wish to underplay the security situation in Israel. They have the tightest security situation for good reason- most of their neighbors don't want them to exist at all. I'm nervous about the security situation only so far as it effects me, meaning the long delay at the airport going through security and at the border when I return from my excursion to Egypt. I readily accept that I will have my bags searched not just at these times, but also when entering shopping malls, market places, tourist sites, and some restaurants. I'm sure when driving in my rental car I'll have to stop at numerous roadblocks. This is just a fact in dealing with traveling to Israel. I accept that it is a possibility that my laptop maybe confiscated upon entering the country. I hope not, but it has been known to happen. While these things may be a hassle to some, knowing the measures are in place make me feel secure as well.
Now, as far as the crime situation, Israel's statistics are right on par with European standards, meaning pickpocketing in crowded areas, theft from cars, and theft at beaches. Knowing this, I'll be extra vigilant at these places. I also carry two PacSafes- a steel mesh netting that unfolds from a pouch about the size of a softball and covers my bags and locks to something stationary while they are in my hotel rooms or rental car. I don't have to worry about my bags at other times, since they will be with me- you don't leave bags unattended in Israel, EVER, or they might get blown up by Israeli security forces. Again, this might seem extreme, but one only needs to look at their situation and this becomes perfectly reasonable. Violent crime in Israel seems to be very isolated, as it is in Europe.
The final thing, security related, that I'm worried about is all the stories of Israeli driving habits. Some of the articles I've read make it sound horrifying- behaviors so extreme that it would be funny if I wasn't in a rental car for 12 days. I guess I'll just be really careful- I won't drive in cities, I'll practice defensive driving and generally won't put myself in uncomfortable situations- like driving in big cities. I do have to drive into Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem, but I intend to park my car at the hotel and move around by foot and public transportation instead of driving all around as we tend to do in this country. I wanted a sense of adventure from this trip, and it sounds like I'm going to get it from my driving experiences.
It's a little under three weeks away. Most of the things I have to get done are done. I'm sure it's only going to get harder to focus on my daily life as the time approaches....

New Camera

Ok- I caved and bought a Canon 550D for the Israel trip. I'm excited about using it, and am going to make sure I use it a lot before I go so I am as comfortable with it as possible.

Here's a photo the Janeen really likes.

Here's a great portrait....

It's very different from my point and shoot cameras, and a little intimidating, I'll be honest.

Sea of Galilee & The Golan Heights

After spending the last couple of days reading about the Sea of Galilee area and the Golan Heights, I'm really disappointed to have left myself only two days in this region. It's a dilemma I run into often with trips, and it's usually the product of reading too many different guidebooks. I have a limited number of days and there are a seemingly unlimited number of sights that I want to see. I could cut a day from Haifa or Tel Aviv (which to be honest I would skip if I didn't realize I would be missing a real important piece of modern Israel), but instead I have to pick the sights I want to see, get up at the crack of dawn both mornings, and stay out until sunset each night.
The Sea of Galilee is heavy in sights that revolve around Jesus' ministry. A visit to The Church of the Primacy of St. Peter, The Church of the Multiplication of the Fishes and the Loaves, The Mount of the Beatitudes and it's chapel, and Capernaum (Jesus' Galilee home base) are all a must. I also hope to visit the ruins of Kursi, an ancient village on the east side of the lake where Jesus performed the Miracle of the Swine, where he sent demons from a man into a group of pigs who subsequently drown themselves in the lake. I also want to visit two elevated viewpoints, one at Mount Arbel, just north of Tiberius, and the other is Mitzpe Ofir Viewpoint, which reportedly gives the best overview of the lake. I'm planning on sunset from here.
My day in the Golan is probably (along with Caeserea) the biggest reason I got a rental car, as public transport would have made it impossible to even attempt to visit all of these sights in one day. I'm getting up real early to make the drive all the way up to near the Lebanon border to take in the Banyas Nature Reserve, which is loaded with both natural beauty and historical significance. From there it's on to Nimrod's Castle, a crusader-era fort perched picturesquely on a hilltop. After that hike I have about an hour's drive south to Gamla, called the Masada of the North for it's famous battle between the Jews and the Romans in 66 AD. The result was the same, with hundreds of Jews throwing themselves off the cliff face to the deaths rather than being taken by the Romans. With what remains of the day, I'll travel to Tzfat (Safed), the home to the ancient mystical tradition of Kaballa. Besides having an outstanding artist's colony and historical significance in Israel's founding, Tzfat has an ancient citadel park on a hill overlooking the old city, which sounds like a great place to catch sunset.
The next day takes me to Mount Tabor (the site of Jesus' Transfiguration), Nazareth, the town he grew up in, and Tel Meggido, which translated means "Armageddon", now ruins of another ancient town. In the evening I'll be in Haifa, and that city will be covered in another post.
Those are three really packed days. It's exactly the type of travel I love.

The News, plus Egypt and Jordan plans

Videos of Palistinians throwing rocks and bottles about four blocks from my second Jerusalem hotel was a rude awakening on Monday. I've never discounted the political situation, but I kept hearing phrases like 'longest period of sustained peace in recent memory' and I think I fooled my self a little. It's not going to deter me. If suicide bombers start going off again, I have a feeling Janeen will strongly encourage me to find another destination.

As promised in my last post, here are some more details about my plans for visiting Egypt and Jordan. On Sunday the 23rd of May, I'm going to leave Jerusalem on an early morning bus for Eilat, Israel's southernmost town, on the Gulf of Aqaba, a gulf off the Red Sea. The next morning, I am going to take a cab to the border with Jordan, then once in Jordan, take a cab to Wadi Rum, a desert hamlet of Lawrence of Arabia fame. I hope to do some hiking that day or possibly a camel trek. The next day, the 25th, I am going to the famed ruins of Petra. Anyone who has seen the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has seen Petra. It is that building at the end that is carved into the side of a mountain.

The next day, I will take a cab from my hotel in Wadi Rum to Aqaba, Jordan, where I will catch a fast ferry to Nuweiba, Egypt. This ferry has a decent website, but I have heard lots of stories about it's timetable being unreliable. Worst case scenario would be that I would have to go back to Eilat and the cross to Egypt going through Southern Israel. Assuming the ferry goes as planned, I will catch an afternoon bus to the Egyptian resort town of Dahab. The following morning, I will take the hotel's shuttle to the town of St. Cathrine's in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula. In St. Cathrine's I am going to see the monastery of the same name, and then climb Mount Sinai of 10 Commandments and Burning Bush fame for what I hope will be a spectacular round of sunset photos. After a night a the Bedouin Camp in St. Cathrine's, I'll take the hotel shuttle back to my hotel in Dahab for a restful day on the beach. The next morning, I'll head back to Isreal by bus via the border crossing at Taba, Egypt. The following morning, May 30th, I fly from Eilat to Ben-Gurion Airport, and then home via Philadelphia, arriving back on Memorial Day in the afternoon, jet-legged, exhausted and I hope enlightened.

In my next post (Hopefully next weekend) I'm going to lay out my plans for the week I'll have a rental car, another adventure I'm sure.

It's in the planning

I'm a true travel geek. I admit that I love the planning of a trip almost as much as I like the traveling itself. Read carefully, I said almost.

This trip is a little tough, especially since I haven't been overseas since 2004. The majority of my solo travel has been in Europe and Australia. Australia was easy, especially because everyone spoke English and stuff was so easy to book over the internet. Europe was more difficult, especially because it was 1997-1999 and the internet hadn't completely exploded yet. The lack of good internet resources for this trip has surprised me. Maybe they are there, but I haven't been able to find them yet. Booking hotels has been pretty simple, and so has transportation- renting cars, bus & train timetables. Finding information on tours has been frustrating, and so has looking at the web pages of individual sights that I want to see, as those are out-of-date or don't seem to exist at all. I haven't even begun to look at the sights where fellow travelers share information, like WikiTravel and Trip Adviser. I've been suspicious of those in the past, but I'm sure I'll look into them after I try to find all the other sanctioned sights.

Now as far as the week traveling to Jordan and Egypt, the only resource I trust so far is the emails I've exchanged with the two really helpful ladies at my respective hotels. They have been so helpful, and with the absolute lack of reliable information on this part of the trip, I don't know if I'd even try that part without them. That last week of the trip is going to be the most exotic thing I've ever done by myself. More coming on that in my next post....

Flight Booked- On to the itinerary

I booked my flight yesterday morning- so it's on.

I've been thinking about this trip for a while, so I have an itinerary outlined already. I think people who know me won't find it surprising that I have itineraries planned for about 20 different trips, most of which I'll never take!

The plan, for now, is as follows; Five days in Jerusalem. Three days in Galilee & Golan, which will include Nazareth, Armageddon (ruins of an ancient city), Mount Tabor (Transfiguration), Tiberius and the Sea of Galilee, Tsfat (birthplace of Kaballa), and the Golan Heights. Two days in Haifa. Two days in Tel Aviv & Jaffa area. Three more days in Jerusalem, with a side trip to Bethlehem & the West Bank. South to the Red Sea area for 8 days which will include a couple days in Eilat, Israel, a two day trip to Wadi Rum (of Lawrence of Arabia legend) and Petra in Jordan, followed by a ferry boat ride across the Red Sea to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, where I'll climb Mount Sinai, and finish with a couple days in the resort town of Dahab.

I'm sure it will continue to develop. Stay tuned for more details- I leave May 5th.