Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Cruise to the Holy Land, Nov 2010---part 3

Friday, November 19---    Port Said and Cairo, Egypt
            The very name of the country is exotic: Egypt. We think of the pyramids, Cleopatra, Moses, one of the first true civilizations in human history. Today, we begin our two-day visit to this ancient land. We find many things we did not expect to see, and many we did.
            We come ashore in Port Said, a city that owes its existence to the Suez Canal, which was completed in 1869 with the British government the largest shareholder. Britain exercised political control over Egypt for almost a century after that, but the Egyptians seized control of the canal in 1952. Today, it is one of the busiest shipping routes on the planet.
            Port Said itself was heavily damaged in the Six-Day War of 1967, and all but abandoned until 1973, when the canal was re-opened and maritime commerce quickly picked up. Today the city has over 51,000 inhabitants. But few of the passengers will be spending the day here. Our goal is further west.
            When we disembark and go to our buses, we are immediately struck by the large amount of trash in the streets. Our guide, a young Egyptian woman named Sawson, apologizes profusely, saying that the city was just wrapping up a big celebration and trash-collecting was running behind. As we rumble through the city streets, it appears they are way behind. But soon we are on a four-lane highway heading south, paralleling the canal.
            We are one of a convoy of ten buses on our way to Cairo. Egyptian police have a car to lead the way, and another vehicle in the middle, another at the end. The middle vehicle, a small pickup truck, is right behind our bus, and occasionally it pulls ahead. Our convoy stays in the left lane and if a vehicle pulls alongside us on the right and slows down, the police truck shrieks its siren to keep the natives moving past us. Evidently they are concerned that someone might pull up alongside and attack the bus. Someone speculates that the cops would not be able to stop a car that decides to launch a rocket at us. Sawson tells us that the guys  in the trucks, casually fiddling around with their AK-47s, are not even real police officers, but police "soldiers," usually poorly-educated young men who might have been drafted into the regular army and don't have enough education to be trained as real cops. This does not inspire a great deal of confidence.
 
The police were riding shotgun for us---literally.

            Sawson does her best to keep our attention elsewhere. She is very personable and tells us much about her country, and is happy to answer questions. At a toll booth, our driver buys a newspaper and she says it is Egypt's version of USA Today.
 
Just like back home, Hilary Clinton is on the front page in Egypt.


             The ride to Cairo is about 3 hours long. We can see large cargo ships on the canal to our left, and fields being tended by farmers with 18th-century equipment. Most of the homes we see, from isolated farm houses to small villages, are almost primitive, but almost every one has a satellite TV dish. There are a few Egyptian military bases, with large signs saying NO PHOTOS, and we see some tanks on maneuvers in the desert. 
            Soon we turn west, leaving the canal behind us, and awhile later the outskirts of Cairo are upon us. Cairo has been the capital of Egypt since around 700 AD, and some of the buildings we see look like they haven't been repaired since about that time. In a blur of contrast, we see ultra-modern apartment complexes next to slums, glitzy stores and shopping centers next to places that look as if they had just been bombed last week. Cairo is the largest city in Africa, indeed the largest Muslim city in the world, with nearly 8 million people within the city limits, making it one of the most densely-populated cities in the world. Add in the 10 million people who live in its environs, and metro Cairo has ten percent of the entire population of Egypt. Al-Azhar University, located here, is by some estimates the second-oldest university in the world, opening in 970 AD. 
            Like everything else in Egypt, going back to antiquity, Cairo depends on the Nile. This most exotic of rivers was the cradle of modern civilization. Predicting the flooding of the Nile led to the development of the first calendar, around 3100 BC, which allowed for an explosion of agricultural development. This in turn led to written numbers and letters, mathematics, geometry, architecture, astronomy, and a complex economic system, all while Europeans were still living in the Stone Age. In spite of its history, when we cross the Nile on a modern bridge, it looks pretty much like the St. Croix back home when we cross from Wisconsin to Minnesota. 
            On the west bank of the Nile, we are no longer in Cairo, but in the city of Giza. And we can see the pyramids looming ahead of us. In a few minutes, we are there. It is yet another example of how our Hollywood-induced perceptions are jarred by reality: the pyramids are right on the edge of the city. We park behind them and advance on foot to examine these marvelous buildings which have beguiled visitors for thousands of years. 
 
The Great Pyramid, far left, was built around 2560 BC for the pharaoh Khufu.


             These structures are truly engineering marvels. About 455 feet tall, the Great Pyramid was built so well that the four sides of its base have an average error of only 58 millimeters in length. The base is horizontal and flat to within 21 millimeters. The sides of the square base are aligned to the four cardinal compass points, within 4 degrees of arc. Modern engineers would be hard-pressed to be that accurate. We would also have a difficult time handling the building materials, even with modern equipment. It is estimated that the Great Pyramid was built with 5.5 million tons of limestone, 8000 tons of granite, and half a million tons of mortar. And it was all built by hand. Not by slaves, as we have all been led to believe, but by paid native workers, who had to have something to do during the months when the Nile flooded the farmlands.
            The second pyramid, in the middle of the photo, is the Pyramid of Khafre, the son of Khufu, and it is slightly smaller than the Great Pyramid. Next to that is the Pyramid of Menkaure, which still has a couple of smaller pyramids around it; these were the tombs of the pharaoh's servants and concubines. Menkaure is the only pyramid open to the public, but only one person on our bus decides to go in. (No, it isn't me or Sue. She'd been inside on her visit here with our daughter Kim in 2005.) But we do get an up-close look at this one, along with the camels that were offered for rides by the ever-present vendors. A couple of cops are using camels to patrol the premises.
 


            A short distance away is the Great Sphinx. We are back on the outskirts of Giza to get a view of this structure, and I am surprised by how small it is, compared to the pyramids. 
 

            Of course, size is relative. This is the largest monolith statue in the world: 241 feet long, 20 feet wide, 66 feet high. It is commonly thought to have been built around 2550 BC. Nobody really knows for sure, just as nobody knows who it was supposed to represent.
            We are not allowed to get too close to the Sphinx, and after a few minutes to take pictures and fend off the souvenir hustlers, we head to the Nile and our luncheon cruise. We board a two-story riverboat and set sail, enjoying a nice buffet, and there is entertainment, with a male "whirling dervish" dancer and a female belly dancer.

These are not the typical dancers Dad might see down in Arizona.


Our vessel was constantly flanked on both sides by Egyptian police boats. If any other boat tried to get close, the cops didn't hesitate to show their submachine guns.
      
            It has been a pleasant cruise on the Nile, but after awhile we're more than willing to board our bus for the trip back to Port Said and the ship. First, there is a stop at a store selling Egyptian art, including parchment paintings, and then we hit the road for real. Unlike the ride here, this time we are not part of a convoy and no cops are in sight. We were told there would be a security officer riding with us, but nobody shows up. Sawson doesn't seem concerned, but night is falling and one would think that this would be somewhat risky. But on we go, and I am able to have a nice chat with our guide about Egyptian and Middle East culture and politics, and she asks many questions about America. At the end of the evening, both of us have benefited from the exchange.
            The day has not been as tiring as we might have anticipated, but after all we spent some 6 hours of it sitting on a bus. We are grateful to have been able to see the pyramids, but we can't help comparing exotic but grubby Egypt with the pristine Israel of our previous two days. Tomorrow, we will see Alexandria. Egypt has one more day to favorably impress us.





Saturday, November 20---Alexandria, Egypt
 
            I was particularly looking forward to Alexandria, a city founded by one of history's greatest warriors, Alexander the Great. He intended it to be a city of culture and learning, and its great library, one of the wonders of the ancient world, held thousands of volumes---all of which have been lost. What happened to the library, and to the body of Alexander, has never been determined.
            When we come ashore in Alexandria, things look a lot better. The port is beautiful, but when we get into the city itself, it's a lot like Cairo. Our first stop is at Pompey's Pillar, and we get off the bus right by this structure, which was fairly common in both cities.
 
 
            The site we have come to see, Pompey's Pillar, was built by the Romans during their occupation of Egypt. Around 88 feet high and with a diameter of nearly 8 feet at the base, the pillar is one of the largest monolithic columns ever erected. It was built around 297 AD, commemorating the Emperor Diocletian's victory over an Egyptian revolt. The pillar somehow picked up the name of Pompey, who was a great Roman general and politician of the first century BC.


Mom trekked around Pompey's Pillar and then posed for this shot.


             We do some walking through the streets of Alexandria, and this is a common sight: men sitting around, smoking on a hookah, or water pipe.

           
           We visit a museum and a gift shop, but after nearly four full days of touring our enthusiasm is starting to wane, so nobody is disappointed when it is time to return to the ship. We are all looking forward to the next day, which would be a most welcome day at sea, before our final port of call, Kusadasi, in the nation of Turkey. Some of us wonder if Turkey will be like Egypt; we had all seen enough trash and poverty to last us a long time. But Sue, who has been to Turkey before, assures us it will be different. She will, of course, be proven correct.

Sunday, November 21---   At sea aboard the Pacific Princess
 
            This will be our third and final sea day, and it is most welcome. By now we have developed a pattern to our sea days: church again this morning, as it is a Sunday, with our Kentucky pastor once again doing the honors, followed by ping-pong. This time, a gent from California provides both Dad and me with some stiff competition.
 
           
            There's more time in the library, and I have another foot treatment from my Portuguese masseuse. Pretty soon it is time to dress for dinner, the second and final Formal Night on board, beginning with a reception to schmooze with the skipper. Our cruise director, JJ King, an Englishman who has been with Princess since 1986, is retiring after this cruise, and we all agree that he is the best cruise director we've seen on any of our voyages. We ask him what he plans to do in retirement, and he says he will be going home to see his grandchildren. Then, displaying his charming British wit, he says he might just go on a cruise.
            The last song-and-dance show of the cruise is tonight and once again the troupe puts on a great show. We hit the rack with anticipation for the next day's stop in Turkey.




Monday, November 22---   Kusadasi, Turkey
            There wasn't much here besides a sleepy little village, until tourism started picking up. The lure is not Kusadasi itself, but another, much older town several miles inland: Ephesus.
            At one time, Ephesus was on the coast as well, but its river port silted up in the third century AD. In its heyday, the city was a cultural and commercial hub in Asia Minor. The cult of Artemis, the Roman goddess of fertility, was centered here. Ephesus was the site of one of the original early Christian churches, and the city was visited often by the Apostle Paul. His letter to the Ephesians is regarded as his finest literary work. It was in Ephesus that the Apostle John wrote his gospel. Tradition says that John spent some of his final years here, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and their tombs are nearby.
            Our Turkish guide, Burak, is a jocular fellow and puts us at ease immediately, but that is not hard to do, as Kusadasi is beautiful, and as we go inland we see more evidence of why Burak is proud of his country. It is very bountiful, rich in agriculture, a small example of why Turkey is a fast-moving country.
 
The port of Kusadasi, a fine way to get introduced to Turkey.


            Ephesus itself is a remarkable place. Even more remarkable is a souvenir stand where we get off the bus, and I finally see the hat I have wanted to get, a straw fedora. Ten euros later it is in place, and off we go.
            The excavated portion of the town---only a small percentage of the place has actually been revealed so far---is something to see. Burak carefully explains the various buildings and describes the architecture and the way people lived in what was obviously a thriving center of trade and culture, two millenia ago. Roman engineering methods were quite advanced for their time, with indoor plumbing, heated tile floors, aqueducts and much more. Especially interesting are the "terraced houses," which have only recently been opened to visitors, and are excellent examples of Roman upper-class homes, right down to the artwork.
 
The parliamentary house of Ephesus.

A representation of the goddess Artemis.

Feral cats are all over, helping to keep the vermin at bay.

The Temple of Hadrian.

The public toilets were ingeniously designed, if a little short on privacy.

Inside one of the Terraced Houses, currently being excavated by an Austrian archaeological team.


Elaborate paintings and mosaics decorate the walls and floors.

The Library of Celsus, which once held 12,000 scrolls.



Just outside the city, a troupe of Roman re-enactors entertained.

The Great Theater, which seated 25,000 and is still in use.


            Returning to Kusadasi, we stroll through their vibrant bazaar; one sign reads "Genuine Fake Watches." The best part of this visit is a stop at a rug store. Turkish rugs are renowned worldwide for their quality, and this family-owned business puts on quite a show for us, with refreshments and a display of truly beautiful rugs from all over the country. They are not cheap, but the merchants love to dicker and more than a few of our group wind up placing orders.
 
           
           After leaving the bazaar, we stroll through the downtown near the harbor before returning to the ship. Our visit to Turkey has been most pleasant indeed, and we resolve to return here one day and see the magnificent city of Istanbul. For now, Kusadasi and Ephesus have proven more than satisfactory. It's been a good day.

           
          Back on board, we spend some time packing, then head off to one final dinner, one more show---a terrific double bill featuring the English comic and Scots-Irish singer/flutist---and one more night of karaoke, this one even livelier than the last. I get things going with The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There," and then Shane, our Australian host, gets all the ladies up to sing "These Boots Are Made for Walking."

           
          Then all the guys do another Beatles tune, "Yellow Submarine." We don't stay too late, but it's a fine way to cap the cruise. We retire for our last night on board. Tomorrow we will disembark in Athens, Greece.

Tuesday, November 23---   Athens, Greece 
            Our disembarkation from the ship this morning goes well. On a smaller ship, you get to know some crew members by first name---they all wear ID badges, of course, with nationality. We'd gotten exceptional service on this cruise, especially from the two Thais who were our waiters in the main dining room and the Filipino steward who serviced our cabin. Most cruise lines these days will include gratuities for your crew in your overall pricing. They're well worth it. On this cruise, we actually saw two American crew members. Americans aren't often seen on these liners, and one time a line executive told us the reason was that American young people generally don't like to work as hard as is required on these vessels.
            Originally, we'd wanted to fly home today, as many of the passengers are doing, but Sue wasn't able to find us reasonable flight times and so we decided to stay a night in Athens and take an early flight back to the US tomorrow. The cruise terminal is a modern facility and we pick up our bags right away, then go out to the entrance to wait for our cabs, which are being sent by the hotel. As usual, the waiting area is filled with cabbies, a few with signs for particular fares, most of them just hoping to get picked. Within a few minutes a middle-aged man walks through the crowd of hacks and begins yelling at them in Greek. A nearby limo chauffeur tells us that this guy is an airport exec who is telling the cabbies they must stand in a certain area, away from the entrance. They don't take well to this and suddenly there is pushing and shoving. No cops are in sight, and I recall from the news that there were riots in Greece not too long ago over the government's austerity program. I don't see any weapons on these guys but you never know, and I get ready to move our group back into the terminal.
          For a couple of tense minutes it looks like something serious might happen here, but cooler heads prevail and the cabbies retreat. A few minutes later our cabs appear and we are soon whisking through the streets of Athens, bound for the Hera Hotel, near the Acropolis. It's a four-star property and will suit our needs quite nicely. After taking a bit of time to settle in and freshen up, we set out on foot for the Acropolis.

The Acropolis of Athens, viewed from the southwest.
          
          There are about 3 million people living in greater Athens now, and by what we can see it is a bustling metropolis in every way. Thousands of years ago Athens was known as the cradle of democracy.  It was a center for the arts, literature and philosophy, home of Plato and Aristotle. Athens has been inhabited continuously for some 7000 years. The Acropolis, the most notable hill in the city, was the site of a fortress in about 1400 BC, and by the time of the fifth century BC, as ancient Athens was achieving the zenith of its power, the Acropolis became a center of worship. Rising nearly 500 feet above sea level, the Acropolis is the site of some of antiquity's most famous surviving buildings.
          It takes us about twenty minutes to get to the base of the hill, where we are charged 12 euros each to ascend. It is yet another beautiful day and there are many visitors here, and more than a few large dogs are meandering about, apparently strays, although most have collars. We enter the main area from the western side, through the Propyla, flanked on the right by the Temple of Athena Nike. We notice that many of the buildings are in a process of reconstruction, and signs indicate that this is an international project that has been going on for some time.
          The most famous building is the Parthenon. Built in the fifth century BC, it was a temple to the goddess Athena, protector of the city. Also used as a treasury, the building was in its time considered the finest example of a Doric order temple. 

The Parthenon, one of antiquity's most famous surviving buildings.
         
          We can't go inside any of the buildings, probably due to the restoration work, so we wander over to the Erechtheion, a temple dedicated to Athena and Poseidon. The most striking part of the structure is the Porch of the Caryatids, six draped female figures serving as support columns on the south side. Each maiden is sculpted different than the rest, and remarkably, engineered so that the slenderest part of the sculpture, the neck, is strong enough to support the weight of the porch roof without losing its aesthetic value. 


The Porch of the Caryatids behind us.
         
         Along the way--and it's quite windy at the summit today--we encounter the by-now familiar gamut of foreign travelers. We meet a group of Austrian martial artists, young men and women who are in Greece to compete in the European kickboxing championships. We also run into some people from our ship. 
          On the southern slope of the Acropolis are two impressive structures, the Odeon of Pericles and the larger Theater of Dionysus Eleuthereus. The Odeon was used for musical contests and as a bad-weather shelter for patrons of the next-door theater. This was the first theater built of stone and the birthplace of Greek tragedy. Many of the great ancient playwrights staged performances here, including Aeschylus and Sophocles. It seats about 17,000. 

The view from the Acropolis. At right, the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Behind Arditou Hill at center is Panathinaiko Stadium, which hosted events in ancient times and the 1896 Olympics, the first modern Olympiad.

          We exit the Acropolis where we entered and wind our way down to street level again, arriving at the Plaka district, a place of little restaurants and shops, and we dine on authentic Greek gyros before wandering around the area. Dad buys himself a statuette of Alexander the Great from a shop. I pick up a Greek-style shirt from another shop, and finally we decide it's time to head to the hotel. We have a 3am wake-up call tomorrow for our early flight back home.

The Plaka, one of the best bazaars we visited on the trip.

Dad made a new Greek friend at the restaurant.
         
          It's hard to believe, but our great adventure is winding down. We retire early, relaxing with our e-readers and talking about the high points of the trip. There have been many. Perhaps the best, though, was being able to share this as a family. This is our third trip overseas with my parents, and it has been extra-special because they've been with us, sharing in the adventure. 

Wednesday, November 24---   Heading home
 
            It's an early wake-up in Athens---3am, which is 7pm Tuesday back home. Fortunately, check-out from the Hera goes smoothly and our cabs are awaiting. The streets of Athens are pretty deserted this early and when our driver gets out on a freeway leading to the airport, he pushes it up to 150kph, which is about 90mph. Sue and I make sure our seat belts are buckled. 
            The flight to Amsterdam is uneventful, although running a bit late, and for a few minutes it appears we might not make it through customs in time to catch our transatlantic flight home. But the Dutch have been doing this a long time and are very efficient, so we make our gate with time to spare. On the flight home, it's the usual combination of movies, dozing and reading. Fortunately, on this leg the movies are working fine, and I polish off Toy Story 3 and Robin Hood. Our pilot, who says he's from South Dakota and talks with the folksy drawl of Motel 6 pitchman Tom Bodette, happily informs us that it is cold and snowing at our destination, Minneapolis. This news is not exactly greeted with hosannas of praise.
            But we make it down safely, and before we know it we are going through customs again and saying goodbye to my folks, who are hustling to catch their connecting flight to Phoenix. I don't envy them another long flight, but I do envy the weather they'll encounter when they land. 
            By the time we get home it is about 5pm; we'd stopped on the way to get groceries and pick up our Thanksgiving turkey. Our pets, Sophie the Yorkie and our three cats, are overjoyed to see us. Well, Sophie is; the cats, as usual, seem indifferent. By now we've been up almost 24 hours and we will certainly be retiring early.
            In the span of 15 days we have flown nearly 9000 miles and cruised over 2500 nautical miles, visited eight countries (including our stops in Holland), taken hundreds of photos and a couple hours of video, made new friends and enjoyed once-in-a-lifetime experiences. It's been a great trip, and we would certainly encourage travelers to visit the Holy Land. Going on a cruise really is the way to go---you don't have to worry about transportation or hotels ashore, you can relax on days at sea, and there's always plenty of food that you've already paid for, so it seems almost free. Will we go back? Maybe someday. I'd certainly like to see Turkey again, particularly the city of Istanbul. And more of the Greek isles, too. On mainland Greece I'd like to visit the city of Sparta and the site of the classic battle of Thermopylae. But those sites are for a future trip. The best thing about a trip overseas is that there's always more to see, always something to look forward to. 
            Another thing about going overseas---it's good to be home.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Cruise to the Holy Land, Nov 2010---part 2

Wednesday, November 17---Sea of Galilee and Nazareth, Israel  

            Today is the first of our "Big 4" days---two days in Israel, two in Egypt. Everybody has heard of Israel, of course, and many on board have been here before. Like most, though, we have not, and we're excited as we come ashore in the northern port of Haifa and board our tour bus. Our guide is a personable lady named Edna. We set out to the east over modern highways with signage in Hebrew, Arabic and English.
           The first thing that strikes us about Israel is that it is not the relatively flat, dusty desert we remember from the movies. Perhaps in the southern third of the country, the Negev Desert, but not here. Galilee is lush with fertile fields and forested hills. Edna tells us that the Ottoman Turks, who ruled here until being ousted by the British during World War I, denuded the hills of trees. The Israelis are an industrious people, and they've planted over 3 million trees since achieving independence in 1948.
            It doesn't take us long to get to our first destination, the Sea of Galilee, known to the locals as Lake Tiberias. It is smaller than we had thought, but we'll find that a common perception here in Israel: Everything is smaller or closer than we had imagined. Instead of being a vast inland sea like Lake Superior, the Sea of Galilee is small enough for us to easily see the famed Golan Heights on the eastern shore.
 

          
              The Golan was originally part of Syria, and Edna tells us that from independence in 1948 until the Six-Day War of 1967, Israelis living on the western shores were routinely shelled by Syrian artillery. Israel captured the Golan in the '67 war and although Syria demands its return as a condition of any peace treaty, we don't have to be told that Israel will never give it up.
               Our first stop is the Mount of Beatitudes. Not really a mountain, the hill is known as Mount Eremos and is traditionally regarded as the site of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Edna explains that many Christian sites in Israel have not yet been confirmed by archaeology, but instead rely on the work originally done by Helena of Constantinople, mother of Emperor Constantine I. Helena journeyed to this land around 325 AD and relied on oral histories told by the residents to mark the sites of important events in the life of Christ. She built churches on the sites and over the centuries, the churches were destroyed by earthquakes or invaders. New churches were built on top of the ruins, and today's buildings are often atop two or three older foundations. The one on top of the Mount, the Church of the Beatitudes, was built by the Franciscan Catholics in the 1930s.
 
           
           We walk around the balcony and gaze down upon the southeastern slope of the Mount, toward the lake. The hill is a natural amphitheater, and acoustic tests have shown that someone speaking from the top can be heard at the bottom.


           Edna asks for a volunteer to read from Scripture, and I step forward. I've read Bible lessons many times in church back home, but this is something much different. It doesn't really hit me until I actually begin to read from the 5th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew:
                                           Blessed are the poor in spirit,
                                             for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
                                           Blessed are they who mourn,
                                             for they shall be comforted....
              It is an emotional moment, but I get through the text and the group moves on. I have to stay behind for a few minutes to compose myself, and fortunately my mother is there to give me a hug. The feelings are really indescribable, and no matter what else happens on this trip, this moment will live with me the rest of my days.
               At the foot of the Mount is another location we visit, Tabgha. This is the site of Jesus' miracle of feeding the multitudes, as described in the Gospel of Mark. It was an event at a different date than the Sermon on the Mount; Jesus was mourning the death of his cousin, John the Baptist, but so many people were following him around the area that when he and the disciples stopped here to have their supper, about 5,000 people were in the crowd. With only five barley loaves and two fish, Jesus fed the crowds.

             The original shrine on this spot was built in Helena's time, and now the Church of the Multitudes is on the site, maintained by the Benedictines and owned by Germany. In the courtyard, Dad reads the gospel account of the miracle, and inside we see the altar, and underneath it is the rock which tradition says was the spot where the disciples placed the loaves and fishes before Jesus.  
 
         
           A few minutes away is Capernaum, the home village of the fishermen brothers Peter and Andrew, along with brothers James and John, who were recruited by Jesus into the ranks of the disciples. Capernaum was a village of about 1500 in Jesus' time, and has not been inhabited for a thousand years. Jesus stayed here after leaving Nazareth to begin his ministry, taught at the synagogue, and performed many miracles, including the healing of the paralytic who was lowered through the thatch roof of the house where Jesus was dining.

A statue of Peter greets visitors to Capernaum.

Sue and I in the ruins of the synagogue, itself built on the ruins of the one in which Jesus taught early in his ministry.


            It's lunchtime, and we go to a nearby kibbutz. I'd been under the impression that a kibbutz was just a collective farm, but Edna explains that many kibbutzim are much more extensive than that and agriculture is only one of many enterprises they're involved in. This kibbutz has a hotel and a dining hall, and we have an excellent buffet lunch, followed by a quick visit to the gift shop. Then it's back on the bus to our next destination, the River Jordan site where Jesus was baptized by his cousin, John the Baptist.
               The Jordan has its headwaters near Mount Hebron in extreme northern Israel, and flows southward about 150 miles through the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. For centuries it has served not only as an important source of fresh water but as a political boundary. What surprises us is its width; we are used to big rivers like the Mississippi and the St. Croix, but this is more like the little Red Cedar River that flows near our home back in Wisconsin. In ancient times, the Jordan was almost certainly bigger than it is now; research has demonstrated that it once had a flow rate of 1.3 billion cubic meters per year, but now it is down to about 30 million, and in fact is ecologically endangered. In a land with little fresh water or rain, the Israelis, ever industrious, have large desalinization plants which produce 500 million cubic meters of water per year.
             The spot renowned as the site of Jesus' baptism is, unfortunately, pretty commercialized, and today it is crowded with pilgrims, many of whom appear to be from Latin America. There is also a group from Eastern Europe, here with their pastor for a group baptism by immersion. You can buy a knee-length white shirt (bearing a logo) to wear if you want to go in. We pass on that, but there are places where you can step into the water. Local wildlife is also in evidence; we are surprised by the presence of schools of large catfish and even muskrats, all of them looking for a handout.
 

         
            Since leaving Venice, I've been looking for a more appropriate hat to wear in this warm weather than the brown felt I brought along. In the gift shop I see some safari-style hats, which would do, but these bear the logo of the Israeli Defense Forces and probably would not be a good choice to wear when we get to Egypt, so I pass. Mom gets a rosary for her daughter-in-law Irene back in Arizona.            
            Our final stop on this day is the city of Nazareth, so we head east back up into the hills, about 25km from the Sea of Galilee. Again, Hollywood has failed us; instead of a dusty little village in the desert, Nazareth was built on the hills. Today it is a city of 65,000 and has the largest Arab population of any city in Israel. As we journey through the narrow streets and marvel at our driver's ability to avoid accidents, we get deeper into the Arab heart of the city and the atmosphere is decidedly different here. There is grafitti and trash, so different than what we saw earlier in Haifa and along our route. We disembark the bus and don't have to be told to stick together. 
            We are here to see the sites of Jesus' boyhood home, and tradition says the home of Joseph the carpenter was, in effect, a cave dug out of the hillside. Atop that hill today is the largest church in the Middle East, the Church of the Annunciation, on the site of the home of Mary, mother of Jesus, and next to it is the Church of St. Joseph's Carpentry, on the site where Jesus grew up. We go inside the beautiful Church of the Annunciation, and see the entrance to the Grotto.
 
A church service had just concluded inside the church marking Mary's home.

Outside the church, a stark reminder that we are in Muslim territory.



              There are street vendors aplenty, something we will find to be commonplace over here, and I can't help noticing that one table, run by some Arab teens, offers toy AK-47 submachine guns among its trinkets.
 
           
              We have had a good day, but we are anxious to get back on the bus and head back to Haifa and the ship.
              For me and Sue, this is an important date: our wedding anniversary. That evening we dine with the folks in the ship's Sabatini Restaurant, enjoying a sumptuous Italian feast (served by Peruvian and Romanian waiters). All things considered, this will be one of our most memorable anniversaries.
 





Thursday, November 18---Jerusalem and Bethlehem  
            Overnight we have sailed down the Mediterranean coast of Israel to the port of Ashdod. This was one of the main cities of ancient Philistia, a maritime power that was the main Old Testament adversary of Israel. We pick up our new guide, a New York-raised Israeli named Hughie, and head east. Just outside of the city we pass through the Valley of Elah, where the Philistines sent their best warrior, Goliath, up against a young Israelite shepherd boy named David.
            This section of central Israel is, if anything, even hillier than Galilee. Hughie explains that the highway we are now on was the most important roadway in Israeli history. During the 1948 War of Independence, this was the Israelis' main supply route from the coast to Jerusalem, as depicted in the 1966 movie Cast a Giant Shadow, starring Kirk Douglas as a US Army colonel who is recruited by Israel to lead its armed forces in the war. At some places along the way we see the preserved wrecks of Israeli convoy vehicles that were ambushed by Arabs from the hills. With the steep hillsides rising above us very close to the road, it's easy to imagine the harrowing gauntlet the Israeli supply troops had to run.
            We arrive in Jerusalem's outskirts in about a half-hour and our first stop is on the Mount of Olives. It was on this hilltop that Jesus ascended to heaven. To the east is the dry "Wilderness" stretching to the Jordanian border. To the west, the Old City of Jerusalem.
 
Dad gazes upon Jerusalem. In the center is the golden Dome of the Rock, revered by Muslims as the site from which Muhammad ascended to heaven.


            From the Mount of Olives we descend into the narrow valley between the Mount and the city, to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was here, amongst the olive trees, where Jesus went to pray on the night of his arrest. Hughie tells us that the trees remaining in this garden have been tested and many are more than 1600 years old, so it is entirely possible that they were here, at least as saplings, to witness the events that evening. Hughie asks for a volunteer to read the gospel account of the night, and I offer my services again.
 

           Next to this grove of trees is the Church of All Nations, and we go inside to see a section of bedrock which, by tradition, is the place where Jesus knelt to pray after leaving his sleeping disciples at the outskirts of the garden.


Sue touches the rock where Jesus prayed.


            We head into the city. The current walls of the Old City were actually built in the 16th century by the Ottoman Muslim emperor, Suleiman the Magnificent, and are outside the location of the city walls from biblical times. Within the walls, the Old City is roughly divided into four quarters. We will enter the Jewish Quarter through the Zion Gate.
 
Outside the Zion Gate, rising from the Muslim Quarter is the al-Aqsa Mosque, at the southern edge of the Temple Mount.


            Hughie tells us that we are liable to encounter some bar mitzvahs today, as they are commonly held here on Thursdays, and indeed we see one right away as we exit our bus. Passing through the gate we go through a security checkpoint, and then enter the plaza of the Western Wall, one of the most revered spots of Judaism. The wall is the only surviving wall from the Temple of Jerusalem, and Jewish pilgrims gather here to pray and insert handwritten notes into the wall. Visitors of other faiths are welcome here, but Hughie tells us that non-Muslims are not welcome in the Muslim sector of the temple area, just over the wall.
On the men's side of the Western Wall; women go to the right.

Jewish pilgrims praying at the 2000-year-old Wall.


            Jerusalem was partitioned between Israel and Jordan from 1948-67, but in the Six-Day War, Israeli troops pushed the Jordanians out of the city and well to the east, across the Jordan River. This area where we now stand was the site of vicious hand-to-hand combat innumerable times in history, most recently in 1967. Today, it is peaceful. There are some policemen in evidence, a few carrying automatic weapons, and a number of Israeli soldiers, and many of those (including women) are also well-armed. Hughie says the troops are actually here on leave; IDF troops routinely carry their weapons even when they're not on duty. Considering the history of this region, that's probably a smart move.
            We move further into the city to the Via Dolorosa, where we will see most of the Stations of the Cross, walking the path Jesus walked on the way to his execution. The street is narrow, crowded and winding, with shops and vendor tables almost everywhere. The stations are marked, and Hughie points them out. Thankfully, he is connected to us by radio and we can easily hear him through our earpieces. 
 
Along the Via Dolorosa---crowded, cramped, exotic.

Station V, where Jesus stumbled and his cross was given temporarily to Simon of Cyrene. The spot in the pavement where Jesus placed his hand to avoid falling was later moved to the wall of the chapel.

Modern commercialism mixes with ancient religion on the Via Dolorosa.

             The final stations are at our last destination in Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In Jesus' time, this was outside the city walls and was a hill we know as Calvary. The church was built on an elevated site so that the actual top of Calvary is within the second story of the church.
 
           
            The original Byzantine church on this site was destroyed by a Muslim caliph in 1009, an event that enraged many Europeans and was one of the key events that sparked the Crusades. The church was rebuilt by succeeding caliphs with financial help from the Byzantines, and later expanded by the Crusaders. A millenia later, the church is visited by pilgrims from the world over. We enter and ascend a winding staircase to the second story, passing a niche that marks the spot where Jesus' robe was the prize in a gambling contest between Roman soldiers.
             An ornate altar marks the peak of Calvary and the spot where Jesus' cross stood. A long line of pilgrims waits their turn to touch the spot, and we pass by them as we don't have the time to wait in line.

The Altar of the Crucifixion, with part of the rock under glass at left, and an open section to the right, where Jesus' cross was placed.

The edicule containing the tomb of Jesus.

Near the edicule, the Stone of Anointing, where Jesus' body was prepared for burial.


          Hughie leads us out of the church and we exit the Old City through the Jaffa Gate. It has been quite an experience, but there is more to come. We go to another kibbutz for lunch, and then a few miles down the road is Bethlehem.
            The city of Jesus' birth is now in territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and there is a checkpoint we have to pass through that lets us through a gate in the infamous security wall. A few years ago the Israelis, plagued by suicide bombers coming from Bethlehem and other West Bank towns, decided to enclose the entire region with a Berlin Wall-like barrier. Extending about 700km, the barrier was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice; those jurists, of course, lived far away from Israel. The Israeli Supreme Court, whose justices all live here, disagreed, ordering only some small adjustments in the location, and so the wall was built. The politics of the wall continue to be debated in ivory towers far from here, but what is undeniable is that the wall has done the job, as suicide attacks from the West Bank have virtually ended since the barrier was completed.
            Hughie has to get off the bus before the checkpoint, as Israeli guides are not allowed in the city. Once we clear the checkpoint we are joined by our Palestinian guide, a Christian. He leads our bus through the narrow streets and once again, the atmosphere is notably different. We see a mural on a wall showing a dove holding the olive branch of peace; superimposed over the dove's breast is a gunsight. I was not able to get a photo of the mural, but later I looked it up and found out it is by a British artist who calls himself "Blanksy", and who specializes in satirical graffiti. Here's a link to a photo of the mural:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22846385@N03/4527963129
 
The checkpoint entering Palestinian territory is a heavily-guarded, no-nonsense place.


            Our destination is the Church of the Nativity, over the grotto that marks the location of the stable where Jesus was born. It is a crowded place today, with a long line to see the grotto itself. Our guide explains that we simply don't have time to wait the 3 hours or so in line, especially since the church will be closing in an hour or so and all these pilgrims, most of whom seem to be Russians and Eastern Europeans, will have to leave without being able to see the grotto.
 
           
            We leave the church and walk a few blocks to our bus, which is in a parking garage. During the walk the guide does not have to remind us to stick together. There are Palestinian cops in reasonable numbers, but I notice that none of them are armed.


            At the parking garage, I notice a group of Palestinian school children waiting for their bus. They seem to be around kindergarten age, and half of them are playing with toy AK-47s. We board the bus and snake through the streets to a nearby souvenir shop, operated by a Christian family, where we do some shopping. It's a nice place and the people are friendly, but we are getting anxious to leave---frankly, to get back to Israel on the other side of the barrier. Outside the shop we are accosted by Palestinian kids hawking trinkets and they won't take "la shakram" for an answer. We manage to get on the bus safely and begin the trek back to Israel. At the barrier, two Israeli security guards, in civilian clothes and wielding heavy automatic weapons, go through the bus quickly. Earlier, someone had asked Hughie about the methods used by Israeli security to spot suspicious persons. "We profile," he said, drawing gasps from some. But that was before we crossed into the Palestinian sector, and perceptions have changed. We say goodbye to our Palestinian guide and welcome Hughie back aboard. By now it's getting dark and there's a palpable sense of relief on the bus now that we are back in Israel.
            The trip back to Ashdod is without incident, and as we enter the port area we contemplate our two days in Israel. A beautiful country, to be sure, with friendly, hard-working people. Visiting the religious and historical sites was certainly a memorable experience. Our visits to Palestinian areas were also memorable, and as we board the ship we wonder how much of our unease in those areas was due to a subconscious feeling of hostility from the people, or was it more from our own media-induced paranoia?
             We are glad to be back aboard, and over dinner the talk is of Israel, Palestine, and our next day's desitination: Egypt.