Israel, Ashdod 26th May and Haifa 27th May
I did a private tour with six others from the Concierge Lounge. We were collected by our guide at 7.30 from Ashdod port. Awesome Mercedes van. Lovely. It even had wifi.
We headed out of town towards the Dead Sea.
The first hour or so of the drive was really freaky. It was so like NSW.
They have a huge agricultural industry – much of it using irrigation.
Their main export is technology. Then Diamonds. They don’t produce diamonds, they cut them and sell them! Then Agriculture.
We saw many Kibbutz – a collective community based on agriculture. Many have become privatised as the young people want to be paid and to have a life out of the community.
We also saw many Bedouin settlements / camps. Bedouins are the traditional pastoral nomadic Arab tribes who roamed al the Arab states.
They are the gypsies of Israel, but are living a more permanent life style now. Some live in settlements with tin homes. Others live further out and still use tents. They all have goats, camels, donkey and horses. All the flocks were being tended by a single person walking with them.
We then starting to move into the desert and The Judeaen Mountains. It was no longer like NSW. Dry rocky and barren. I have no idea how they made a life here.
Heading down the Judeaen Mountains – now at 100 metres BELOW sea level.
Absolutely stunning though! We stopped at a great lookout and got a crash course on Israeli history.
I am an expert now. Well at least I have some understanding of it all.
Masada.
We rode a cable car up and down. And saw wild Ibix.
King Herod (Herod the Great) was an Arab. His father converted to Judaism so he was declared King of the Jews. He was worried the Jews may turn against him so in around 37 BC built and fortified the palace on top of a huge flat mountain at the edge of the Judaean Desert over looking the Dead Sea.
It covered the whole top – but he built his personal place on these three bumps (on the far right).
Herod like nice things. This palace was immense, well equipped and had some amazing things in it. Two large bath houses, the most massive water cistern that was filled by slaves carrying buckets of water up from below the mountain.
Bath house.
Ducted heating.
The bathhouse had a furnace pumping heat under the floor of the bath house up up the ceramic pipes around the walls.
Heat pumped up through the ceramic pipes in the walls.
Storage areas.
Herod’s balcony.
Original mosaics in the bath house.
The toilet. It would have had a wall around it. They were often outside to keep the smells out.
It had to be done!
The Siege of Masada was one of the final events of the First Jewish-Roman wars.
In 66 CE, at the beginning of the Great Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire, a group of Jewish extremists called the Sicarii overcame the Roman garrison of Masada and settled there.
In 72, a Roman legion of around 15,000 troops, to lay siege to the 960 people in Masada. They built a curcumvallation (a line of fortification) and laid siege to Masada for two years. Eventually they built a siege ramp up this massive hill, using thousands of tonnes of rock and earth. The Jews at the top through large rocks at them. Eventually they built the ramp an a siege tower, with a battering ram, and pushed it up. They broke down the surrounding wall and got in.
What is left of the ramp.
The Roman Camp site.
The squares are remains of the Roman Camps.
The Roman line surrounding Masada. The ‘curcumvallation’.
When the Romans arrived they found a ‘citadel of death’. The Jews were not willing to became Roman salves of war. They came up with a suicide pact – but suicide is not allowed in the Jewish faith…..so ……all the men killed their wives and children. Then 10 names were drawn in a lottery – they found the name tiles in the archaeological dig.
These 10 men then killed all the other men.
One of the 10 then killed the other 9! They don’t know what happened to the last one
One woman and a few children survived to tell the story.
They also pile up all of the food reserves and destroyed it to show that they had not suicided due to lack of food. They didn’t want to be taken alive.
The place was amazing. Wall frescos, Original mosaics, Synagogue,
Five full oranges died to make this glass of liquid sunshine.
Wadi David.
An oasis in the mountains. This water is at least four years old and has worked its way through the limestone. It had to be played with.
Then onto the Dead Sea. 400 meters BELOW sea level.
The sea is an area very rich in many minerals – salts especially.
The sea is on a tectonic plate that dropped millennium ago.
There are heaps of spas specialising in medical treatments.
So down we went and in we went.
It’s a huge walk from the resorts down to the water level – climate change, irrigation, mining!
I covered myself in the lovely mud that makes your skin soft. Which does not make your skin lovely at all. It was just mud.
Of course I had to lie on my back reading a book.
I had to taste it. Just touching my finger onto my tongue – AND IT TASTED LIKE POISON!!!!!
The minerals are good though. They suck fluid out of your body!
I floated and just bob around for a long time. Changing position is very hard as you just roll over! And people have had heart attacks there from inhaling a mouthful of the water.
We then went through the checkpoint into the West Bank. But only Zone A, which is fine. Although it was a little different.
Then back out through another checkpoint.
We saw more Bedouin camps,
and lots of Jewish settlements. I always imagined the settlements to be — settlements. But they are actually blocks of modern units.
Back into Jerusalem for the night.
Jerusalem
We stayed at a lovely hotel and I got to share with another lady so saved $80!
Breakfast Jerusalem style was so nice.
Our guide arrived and we started the adventure.
First was up the Mount of Olives where we had an amazing view over Old Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times and captured and recaptured 44 times.
The oldest part was settled in the 4th millennium BC. The wall was built round the city in 1538.
Now the wall defines Old Jerusalem which is divided into four quarters. Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian Quarters.
Modern Jerusalem spills far beyond the wall.
It is believed that Jerusalem was founded by Northwest Semitic people around 2600BC.
1000BC – King David conquered the city from the Jebusites and established the United Kingdom of Israel. King Solomon,his son, commissioned the building of the first temple.
Around 300BC Jerusalem fell into Greek rule when Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire.
In 63BC, Pompey the Great captured Jerusalem for the Romans. Herod was installed as a Jewish ‘client king’. Herod the Great devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city – towers, walls and palaces.
Christianity took off, and the city was called Aelia Capitoline. Jews were banned form entering on threat of death. During the 4th century the emperor Constantine ordered the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – over the tomb of Jesus.
Byzantine Jerusalem was conquered by the Arab armies in 638. Jews were allowed back into the city.
In 691 the Muslims constructed the Dome of the Rock. This is the site of the Islamic miracle where Muhammad travels on a steed to the “furthest mosque’ where he leads other profits in prayer. He goes to heaven and speaks to God, who gives Muhammad instructions on how to pray. It’s the gold dome in the photos.
Around the year 100 the Crusaders came to save the Christians and fought for 150 years.
In 1517 the Ottoman Turks took over and had control till 1917.
And then the real fun began! …………
Mount of Olives
Garden of Gethsemane – Jesus frequently went to Gethsemane with his disciples to pray. The most famous events at Gethsemane occurred on the night before his crucifixion when Jesus was betrayed.
Has a fantastic view over Old Jerusalem showing most of the major sites.
Jesus spent a lot of time up here, praying and resting, he walked down here on Palm Sunday, told of the second coming and was arrested up here.
In the foreground is the huge Jewish cemetery. Their most ancient (3000 years) and most important cemetery as it overlooks Temple Mount. Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, and is regarded as the place where God’s divine presence is manifested more that in any other place. The area around the gold dome.
Temple Mount – contains the Muslim Dome of the Rock (Gold Dome), Christian Church of the Sepulchre (where Christ’s tomb is) and the first Jewish temple. Image how different the world might be if all these three things were 500 ms apart!
We then drove down to Old Jerusalem.
And headed off on our 5 hrs of walking around the most amazing rabbit warren of thin winding lanes and amazing iconic places.
Driving alone the outside of the wall.We entered through the Jaffa Gate.
And spent many hours walking along the alleys. Great.
Every so often you would come across an archeological site with diggings on places up to 3000 years old.
The coloured tiles indicate that you are above the original wall.
Mosaic shows how Jerusalem was at the time of Jesus. The ‘road’ of column is where I was. These are original columns.
We were very safe. This is our guide. Note the gun hanging out of his ankle. And a bulge on his waist. We were well protected.
The Wailing Wall.
Not so much of a wail – more of a mumble, or a hum.
The washing station for hand washing before praying.
Women’s side.
Men’s side.
I have touched the Wailing Wall. Very cool.
People sat and prayed,
Stood and bobbed as they prayed,
Lent their heads on the wall as they prayed, knelt and prayed, bowed and bobbed as they prayed.
Many kissed the wall. Many people place notes with important messages or blessings in cracks in the wall.
You walk backwards as you leave the wall. Some walked backwards for 20 metres – in the crowds.
We then walked down more alleys and lanes.
Many people travel to Israel to do a pilgrimage and walk the Via Dolorosa.We then walk the Via Dolorosa – “The way of Grief” or “The way of Sorrow”. It’s the route that Jesus took for his trail to his death. There are 14 stations along the way.
On our day there was a large group of Pentecostal people from Angola. They had a priest with them and stopped at each station to pray and sing. Very lovely.
Station one and two are the site of the trail and of giving Jesus the cross. There is nothing to see there now as it is built on. All of the other stations are identified through archaeological proof. There are small chapels over most of the spots.
Station 3 – Where Jesus falls for the first time.
Station 4 – Jesus meets his mother.
Station 5 – Simon helps Jesus carry the cross.
Station 6 is where Veronica wipes the blood from Jesus face.
There is an order of Nuns that have a convent at the 6th station and ……they paint images of Jesus on things. This is their contribution to the world. Of course the images are for sale!
Station 7 Jesus falls again.
Station 8 Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
Station 9 Jesus falls for the third time
Station 10 Jesus is stripped of his garments
Station 11 – He is nailed to the cross
Station 12 – He dies.
Station 13 – He is taken down from the cross.
Station 14 – Jesus is laid in his tomb.
This is the rock his body was laid on. People go made over it – fairly obviously I guess.
They kiss it, rub their faces on it, lay hands on it and rub hankies, towels etc, to take home to sick loved ones.
How bad is it that I kept looking at the slab of marble thinking “wow, what a beautiful piece of stone. What a bench top it would make.” ? I will probably be smitted!
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built over the place of the tomb.
The Holy Church of the Sepulchre – or the Church of the Resurrections is in the Christian Quarter. It is Calvary – the site of the crucifixion, burial ad resurrection. The last four Stations of the Cross are within the church. Control of the building is shared between a few Christian churches with complicated arrangements.
Our guide, last year, saw two priest of different denominations, have a physical punch up over something.
This tomb is very close to this other tomb (20 metres), and is the one that gave archeologist a reference to how the tomb of Jesus was done with the rock door etc.
We then left the Christian Quarter and headed into the Muslim Quarter.
This area was more of a food area then tourist junk. And was so nice.
More guns.
No roads means no cars, which mean all deliveries come in hand carts.
Lunch was the most amazing Kebabs. Made to order from scratch. We ordered then went back 30 minutes later.
He cut meat from the leg of lamb, minced it by hand with a knife, spiced it and cooked it. SO GOOD!
Of course it was with Humus, tomato and cucumber, pita bread and all.
We went past the home of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
And not a gun this time. A row of tanks going up the road.
Bahía Gardens.
It was then back onto the ship safe and sound. I was in bed very early!!!!
Israel was amazing – but I don’t want to live there. The people were lovely. The landscape was stunning and the history was gob smacking.
Four rockets was fired from the Gaza Strip last night. Towards Ashdod – where the ship was. Three were shot down by the “Iron Dome” (The Iron Dome missile defense system, designed and developed by Israel and jointly funded through the United States, is a response to the threats Israel faces from short and medium-range rockets and mortar shells fired by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.).
One landed by the rocket did no damage and no one was hurt so all is good.
People on the ship had some fun as the air raid sirens went off and text messages came through telling people to get to a bomb shelter. Anyone near the ship was told to get on quickly.
They ‘threw the tie up lines’ (as in cut them) and took off, fullfart – without a pilot and without a number of passengers.
But they still headed to Haifa – the next port where we all met them today.
from the news.
“Israeli Air Force jets launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip after a missile fired from Gaza landed in the Lachish Regional Council near the port city of Ashdod.
There are no reports of damage or casualties in the Israeli city, although a 15-year-old girl was taken to to Barzilai Medical Centre in nearby Ashkelon suffering from shock.
Israeli sources said the missile was likely to have been fired by Islamic Jihad, to mark the appointment of a new commander for the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
According to The Times of Israel, the new commander was supposed to start his new position on 26 May, but he was opposed by his predecessor, sparking clashes.
The new commander’s men then kidnapped two operatives working under the former commander and, in retaliation, the predecessor’s followers decided to fire rockets at Israel.
Irrespective of that, Israeli government sources made it clear that they held Hamas responsible for all attacks launched from the Gaza Strip.”
Thursday 28th Sea day
A much needed sea day after the last few days.
Slept in, read, caught up on Israel reporting here.
Went to the Suites and Pinnicle luncheon!
Laughed at Tim and Crackers playing Shuffleboard.
Went on a Bridge Tour and Capt Gustavo said the same jokes.
Dinner in Chops.
Lovely day.
Tomorrow Santorini.
Now click on THE GREEK TAB.