I’ve been resisting creating a journal because for me it seemed easier to put everything in one place but I didn’t want to put my ramblings about our vacation in the middle of the 100 Days of Exercise, so here’s the journal. We’ll see what comes of this split.

Our trip to Israel and Jordan was incredible. I experienced a “click” many times, some of them embarrassing because they were things I should have known ahead of time.

We never would have gone except for my desire to see a woman I’ve been talking to on the phone for 3 years and her son’s encouragement when he was here last December. When he called from Boston on his way home and told me “next year in Jerusalem is not just a saying” I decided I would take him seriously.

My husband was less enthusiastic about the trip beforehand but he’s been telling everyone what a great trip it was. And many have asked me if I felt safe. I did although I was aware of the part of the world we were in.

We flew EL AL, the Israeli airline because of it’s reputation for security and we did get questioned multiple times. The flight was uneventful.

Our first night was in Tel Aviv so we could decompress. The evening temperature was in the high 60s to mid 70s so we had a delightful walk a few blocks from our hotel on the Mediterranean coast to a business district. We ended up having sandwiches for dinner at an outdoor cafe. That was quite a change from the 35 degree weather we experienced on our way to the Newark airport.  The fashions in the store windows were “high” fashion. I don’t know who would wear them. . . .

Click #1: With all the news about the conflicts in Israel, it never dawned on me that it bordered the Mediterranean just like Italy, Greece, etc. Duh. There was a marina filled with sail boats directly behind our hotel.

Our second two nights were spent on a kibbutz visiting the woman I had been talking to. Her husband was a relative of my elderly colleague whose condition made my husband and me get more serious about our physical fitness. Anyway, I knew that the settlers in the various kibbutz around Israel had made remarkable changes in the environment and that they had a communal way of life but neither of those concepts was really real to me. The woman who got there around 1949 showed me a barren patch of ground and said that that was the way the whole place looked to begin with. Now there are all sorts of plants and she has a small garden around her house. They use underground drip lines to make the best use of the sparse rainfall. They discovered that one of the better crops for them was bananas. In the long run the experimental communal living didn’t work because of the lack of incentive so now the system has been modified.

When the kibbutz was built, the residents were glad for the protection of its being next to an air force base. Now some complain about the noise. I jumped the first time that two jets took off overhead because I worried that something was happening. The woman said if it was routine, there would be two more jets--and there were. We heard the jets multiple times while we were there. This kibbutz is not that far from the Gaza Strip.

Click #2: How different it must be to have the noise from fighter pilots be a comfort as well as a concern and how hard it must be to be on alert 24/7 for decade after decade.

However, at least one inhabitant of the kibbutz seemed totally undisturbed by the jet noise!

to be continued. . . .

Joan, absolutely beautiful!

Thanks for sharing.  I look forward to you next post.

Thanks, MB.

Our next stop was Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean. Again the coast is beautiful. We kept running into evidence of King Herod in Israel. It turns out that in addition to being a megalomaniac (he had his own children killed along with all the other killings we’ve heard of) he liked to have things built. To make a safe harbor, he had boxes built, towed into the water, and filled with rocks until they sunk. Then more boxes were piled on. In recent history this barrier was found by someone taking pictures of the water from the air.

What struck me about the hippodrome (race track) were the remains of the Roman columns in the center. Nearby there’s a modern power plant and the stacks coming from the power plant are reminiscent of the profile of the Roman columns although the power plant stacks are much higher.

And then there were the remains of Herod’s fresh water swimming pool. It was surrounded by a building in his time. Caesarea was one more place where the Romans build aquaducts to move water around. Slaves were good for that too. . . .

The only real bump in our trip happened here when our rental car was broken into and our carry on taken from the back seat. (It didn’t fit in the trunk.) Ugh. This could have happened anywhere and we don’t usually keep luggage visible in a car. Luckily most of what was in the carry on was replaceable, we had travel insurance, and the son of the woman from the kibbutz was with us so he expedited the exchange of the rental car and led us there. Everyone was helpful so we would have been able to do this on our own. It just would have taken longer and been more stressful.  Since we’ve gotten home I’ve been replacing the important items. I didn’t bother replacing our granola but I do need new retainers for my teeth.

Once again, beautiful!

Your mention of retainers reminds me that I need to find mine so I wont have to replace it (again).

That’s funny. I can imagine the thief going through our stuff and finding that 95% of it was useless to them. All I had of any value to anyone else in the case was one gold bracelet that I was given by my friend and at least I enjoyed wearing it for several years.

You are so right that it could happen anywhere.

Also, I just refreshed so your new avatar showed up.

Very nice, you look great!!

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip Joan and it must have been nice to meet your friend.

It was great to meet this woman who was just a voice to me. Her story is a whole other episode!

The reason it’s taking me so long to tell what we saw/did on the vacation is that I’m labeling and transferring the pictures from one place on the computer to another and it takes a bit of time. My intention is to not leave the job half done--as I often do.

What a beautiful place! I’d love to go sometime, and I look forward to hearing the rest of the story!

Bree

Continuing about our trip . . . 

One of our most peaceful days included an introduction to Meggido (Armegeddon) which I think was the model for “Makor” in Michener’s “The Source.” And then we went to Tiberias and rented a boat for a short ride on the Sea of Galilee. I didn’t realize Galilee was actually a relatively small lake. Of course since the area tends towards desert, any water is treasured.

We then spent 3 nights in Jerusalem. Several things surprised me there. I didn’t know that Jerusalem was hilly and I didn’t expect it to be mostly stone. And although I had read about it, I didn’t realize that much of the Mount of Olives is a cemetery. Yad VaShem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial was quite moving. We didn’t have time for the last third of it. Maybe someday we’ll get to go back. There are a couple of museums I would like to see. I also didn’t realize that the streets were considerable lower 2000 years ago.

I’ve attached a picture of the excavation down to the Roman road which seems to be made of marble. Today street level is at the top of the picture!

Amazing pics, Joan! And your descriptions really make me want to go and see it for myself. Thank you so much for sharing this amazing journey! I do hope you get to go back and spend more time there taking it all in.

Bree

Thanks, Bree.

I don’t like leaving things incomplete so here’s more of our trip:

Masada was awesome. I knew that a resistance group of Jews withstood a siege there and then committed suicide rather than become Roman slaves. But I didn’t know that again, the structure was the work of Herod. He channeled water to cisterns and then had slaves carry the water up the mountain. Masada is in a desert so it rains only a few times a year. And when the group was attacked, the Romans built a huge ramp so they could get inside. The outlines of the walls on the Roman camps can be seen from above. From ground level they’re not immediately noticeable.

The Dead Sea is visible from Masada--across rocky, barren, desert land. The Dead Sea is shrinking because of evaporation and because the Jordan River which feeds it is now used so much for irrigation before it reaches the Dead Sea. We did try floating in the Dead Sea. It’s actually a bit difficult because your legs want to float too so it’s hard to keep your balance. The last thing you want to do is get the water in your eyes or swallow any of it. There are too many minerals in the water. I didn’t expect the crust of minerals (salts) on the floor of the lake. Somehow I expected sand, not hard crusty stuff.

That is fascinating, Joan. Thank you again for sharing all of this.

Bree

Thanks, Bree. And here is the next to last installment:

I was a bit nervous going into Jordan because it is an Arab country even though it’s been a long-time pro American country. The experience going across the border was intimidating--but only because we didn’t know what we were doing. A mini-van left us off at a bus terminal. We had to give up our luggage for inspection (unusual at a bus terminal) and then after going through the typical security reclaim it, get our passports and visas checked, and make a payment and got a “ticket.” Then we waited in a waiting room. Eventually we were motioned to go outside. I tried to give the man outside the bus the ticket but he wanted money. So I forgot about the ticket. Then an official came on the bus and he wanted something--it turns out he wanted the “ticket” which showed we had paid the tax. He couldn’t speak English and of course we don’t speak Arabic. Eventually I found the ticket in my pocket and gave it to me. Then this ancient but took us down the road and across a bridge and eventually to another bus station. Then we had to go through immigration on the Jordan side. Luckily our tour guide was waiting for us on the other side. . . . So what all that was was basically an old bus that goes two or three miles back and forth from one country to the other. Some cars drove across but I don’t know what that process was.

The Jordan Valley was green and that’s where almost all the country’s food comes from. We quickly left that behind. I just never realized that desert could be mountainous and rocky. Attached is a picture of the road we took through Jordan on our way to Petra.

Petra was a highlight of the vacation. We walked for hours through it. I had never heard of Petra before we planned this trip but now it’s everywhere. The Smithsonian magazine just included it in 28 places to see in the world. It’s a series of carvings in the rock that are spectacular. Attached is part of the carving that was in the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The rocks have incredible rose colors in them.

My husband rode a camel because we have a picture of his late aunt who was adventuresome and who rode one in her late 70s/early 80s. He just went in a circle for a while but he enjoyed it. I didn’t need to ride in a circle but I did think the camel was sort of cute!

The end of the tour of Petra was considerably down-hill from where we started so there was a “taxi stand” for those who couldn’t manage the hike out. I’m pleased that we walked out rather than riding.

Our trip ended in Jerash, Jordan which has spectacular Greek/Roman ruins. I couldn’t believe how many columns are still standing! Attached are photos of the remains of one temple and of a whole circle of columns.

An American who’s been living in Israel for years took our picture at the airport in Tel Aviv as we were waiting to come home so we do have one picture of the two of us. It’s hard to believe that that was just about one month ago. . . . We arrived back in the states the morning before Thanksgiving and this is Christmas Eve.

The end.