The Transient Nomad

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Fidel says Hi

***not much to post at the moment other than I am here and I made it safe and sound***

ciao!

Monday, March 22, 2010

After Jerusalem, I decided to rent a car and drive up into northern Israel to the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. The road that takes you there hugs the Jordan border and takes you up the Dead Sea valley. I love a good road trip and the scenery was amazing. Beginning in Jerusalem, you drive down to the Dead Sea, below sea level, and then gradually go up in elevation until you reach the high hills of the Golan Hights.

Produce farms

Sea of Galilee

Tiberias

Church of the Primacy of St. Peter

Capharnaum, town of Jesus

Mt of Beatitudes

Banias Falls

Nimrod Fortress

Bahai Gardens in Haifa, Israel

Then finally back to the Mediterranean Sea down to Tel Aviv

The whole trip took about 2 days, one night.

This is my final post for the Middle East. In 4 1/2 hours I'll be on a plane back to NYC for one night then off for another 2 weeks in the beautiful Gulf of Mexico. An end to one adventure and the beginning of the next!

In and around Jerusalem

The Sanctuary of Gethsemane

Mosaic tiles

grotto of olive trees where Jesus was arrested

Mount of Olives

Virgin Mary's tomb

Jerusalem Syndrome

A must read. This actually happens to people here. No worries, it didn't happen to me...I think I'm pretty exempt from any threat of this.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

This church was built over the believed location where Jesus was crucified. The church is to represent all forms and religions of Christianity. In fact, the keys to the church were given to the Muslims so that no single religion of Christianity could fight over the church.

The "exact" spot of crucifixion

This is the slab where Jesus was placed after being taken down from the cross

and here is the tomb Jesus was placed in.

Of course, it wouldn't be a holy place in Jerusalem without one of these.

Bomb detonation capsule

Bethlehem

Church of the Nativity

Believed to be the exact spot where Jesus was born which is actually a cave under the main alter area of the church

Birthplace

The manger

Entering the West Bank

To get to Bethlehem from Jerusalem, you have to cross into the Palestine occupied West Bank. Very easy except for Israelis which it is illegal. On my way to the bus I ran into a friend that I was traveling around with in Syria and he was wanting to go to Bethlehem as well so I was happy for the company.

This is the wall separating Israel and Palestine. A very sad sight to see that even after the Berlin wall, that building walls are still a solution in some government's minds.

Palestinian soldier

Leaving Bethlehem was a little more confusing. We were given a ride to the border by a nice Palestinian man. The border guards are always on alert because as approached the gate we were shouted at to STOP...STOP...STOP!!! I looked over to him and his gun was raised. This sounds intense but you honestly get used to being around guns while in Israel. Practically everybody has one. But just shows that they do not take this border lightly and are ready to keep anyone out that they don't want. Being used to guns or not, the feeling you get when one is being pointed at you is a feeling I do not want to feel again. All Johno and I could spit out were American and holding our passports out. We were then shown the gate to where you enter by foot. We were attempting to enter the vehicle gate. Very little was asked once at the correct gate. The guard just wanted to see the Israel stamp on our passports and kept commenting on how many stamps we both had in our passports. Johno got him to laugh which is one of his great talents and I was very happy to have him along at this point. While waiting for the guard to look at every passport stamp I noticed another armed guard above us watching our every move. We were let through to the other side and in a taxi back to Jerusalem. I think both of us were glad to be back though not the" kiss the ground" kind of feeling. The tension is very heavy and you feel it on either side.

Riots in Jerusalem

While visiting the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem, there was a rather loud procession of people singing, dancing and above all, pushing. Then there were the media and photographers. It was like the paparazzi surrounding a celebrity. In the middle of the crowd was an old man, a rabbi I assume. He was carrying a Torah. The Group moved (pushed) their way through the crowd and approached the wall touching the Torah onto it. Then off again processing through the streets on the way to the Hurva Synagogue. I found out later that this particular Synagogue is part of what's causing all the excitement to stir up again in Jerusalem between Israel and Palestine. The Hurva Synagogue was built in the 1700's, destroyed by the arabs 20 years later, then rebuilt in 1860's, then destroyed again in 1948 by the Jordanians to now be rebuilt yet a third time and it was just by coincidence that when I was there the Torah was on it's way to it's new home and the Hurva was to be reopened. Combine this with the announcement of new Jewish homes to be built in Eastern Jerusalem and you have a lot of unhappy Palestinian people.