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.