Kate (and Pam) on the Loose, Part 9: After Jerusalem

 My good friends, Kate and Pam, were in Jerusalem and Jordan before coming to Georgia. Kate started as a solo adventuress in Egypt. Kate and Pam met up in Jerusalem. From Kate's journal:


When Pam and I left Jerusalem our destination was Cesarea as there are Roman ruins to view.  The trip there involves lugging our luggage on two taxis and a train.  Quite exhausting.  We stayed in a guest house in Binyamina.  This area was purchased by Baron Rothschild in the 1920's and settled by a group of Jewish immigrants.  It is a small resort town known for its wineries.  We spent the day touring the ruins which are on the Mediterraen Sea.  We met an artist from California.  She does very interesting fabric art.  Pam and I both splurged and bought a piece.  Mine will look great on the back porch.

I had an Israeli dish for breakfast, shakshuka (misspelled I'm afraid).  It was several eggs poached in a marinara type sauce.  Quite good but enough to feed an army.

Next we went to Nazareth which is a large city inhabited mostly by Palestinians.  We stayed in a guesthouse run by nuns.  It was in this crowed noisy neighborhood but when you entered the gate, it was a quiet oasis.  Most houses are surrounded by a tall solid fence or wall.  The small garden had many flowers and trees, also some fruit trees.  We stayed for two nights.  We toured many churches and ate a lot of good street food.  We also went to Nazareth Village.  It is a re-creation of houses and a wine and olive press as it might have been at the time of Jesus.  There also were many wild flowers growing on the side of the hill and a few goats tended by a shepherd.  It was a quiet oasis in a busy city.  It was quite well done and very touching.

Do you know that grapes are crushed by feet (men only) because if you crush the seeds it makes the wine bitter?  I always thought they stomped for the fun of it.  Olives on the other hand are crushed by a large stone because the pits need to be crushed also as it adds to the flavor.

The next day we took a bus tour of many places around the Sea of Galilee where Jesus carried out his ministry. We saw Cana, commemorated by a church where you can renew marriage vows, not applicable to us.  The Mt of the Beatitudes was nearby, that sermon is a favorite of mine.  We also went to the River Jordan where you can be re-baptised, it was pretty commercialized.

But in a quieter area I dipped my hand in the river and took my favorite picture of the river with a bull rush in the middle.  The picture will be framed to hang in the sewing room.

We left the tour and stayed on the outskirts of Tiberius in the old home of a past director of the YMCA in Tiberius.  Our room was high on the bank overlooking the Sea of Galilee.  The views were spectacular and it touched my heart to be in the place Jesus lived.  I must admit the nature in and around Galilee was a more spiritual experience for me as opposed to the grand churches in Jerusalem.  We had planned to walk part of the Jesus Trail and you might think 10 days would me enough time but it wasn't.  Anyway probably couldn't have walked far.

Now on to Jordan!

KATE

Kate (and Pam) on the Loose, Part 8: Jerusalem

My good friends, Kate and Pam, were in Jerusalem and Jordan before coming to Georgia. Kate started as a solo adventuress in Egypt. Now she is meeting up with Pam. From Kate's journal:


Ah sweet Jerusalem!  Jerusalem has several quarters - Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian.

The Lutheran Guesthouse was located in the Armenian section near the Jaffa Gate.

The old city within the ancient walls is made up of a labyrinth of cobblestone walk ways lined with merchants and their wares.  By the end of our four days we had figured out how to get from A to B.  The rest of the time we guessed or were lost.  But isn't aimless rambling the point of an adventure.

On our first morning we took the free tour offered by the Tourist Office.  He gave lots of history and tried to orient us, I was totally confused.  We did go to a small out of the way section of the Temple Wall and tucked a piece of paper with our prayer in a crack.

In the afternoon we went to the Dome of the Rock Mosque.  It is set on the top of a hill with a large garden and courtyard and of course the dome is covered in gold.

We of course went to the Western Wall of the Temple on Friday night and peeked through the wall separating the men from the women and watched the men sing and dance to usher in the Sabbath.  On the women's side it was lovely to see everyone dressed up with their children.  They would pray for awhile and then hurry home to prepare the Sabbath meal.  We also went to Vad Yeshem, the Holocaust Memorial. We spent four hours and it was one of the highlights.

The Church of the Sepulchre is very large and beautiful.  It is supervised by the Roman Catholics, the Greek Orthodox, the Coptic Church, and the Ethiopian Church.  While we were in the church the Roman Catholics had a procession to the Sepulchre, beautiful robes, incense, and magnificent organ music.  All the churches take turns worshiping at the Sepulchre.  The Ethiopian monks have been relegated to the roof of the church. Everywhere there is a pecking order.  I bought several crucifixes and laid them on the large stone designated as the place Jesus' body was  prepared for burial.

It was a special experience being in Jerusalem during Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week.  The Saturday before Palm Sunday a procession of Roman Catholic monks led a procession through the streets.  They were led by a man carrying a large staff and striking the cobble stone very loudly.  At another time the same day, Muslim men with their prayer carpets had spilled out of a crowded Mosque and were praying in the narrow street.  So many faiths in this holy city.

A large part of the allure of Jerusalem is the energy. Everyone bustling off to pray or do some work.  It is jarring to see young people in uniform or not, carrying guns, on the other hand a group of handsome young soldiers posed with tourists for pictures.  Security was high because of Passover and Easter.  I felt very safe.

There is a large German church, Redeemer, it was founded by Kaiser Wilhelmina around 1850.  On Saturday night before Palm Sunday we went to a concert performed by 28 young women.  The church is all stone, excellent acoustics, and beautiful voices.  Then went back on Palm Sunday for an 1 1/2 services in German.  It is worship all the same.  The pastor's 3yr son got away from his mother during Communion and proceeded to cavort around the altar the entire time.

Our accommodations at the Lutheran Guesthouse were very good.  We definitely had some stars. A big German/Arabic breakfast was included.  The German part was cold cuts and cheese.  The Middle Eastern part was hummus, olives, and pita.  We also had a meal of street food that cost $30, they saw us coming. When I questioned the price he said it was FRESH lamb, must have been a prized pet.  Oh well live and learn, ask the price before ordering.  Our last night in Jerusalem we found the Armenian tavern, a cozy quaint place with great homemade soup and good price.

KATE

Kate on the Loose, Part 7: To Jerusalem

My good friends, Kate and Pam, are in Jerusalem and Jordan, soon coming to Georgia. Kate started as a solo adventuress in Egypt. Now she is meeting up with Pam. Received on April 6:

Well it's been several days since my last installment.  I want to assure you I have not been sitting around doing nothing.  Once Pam arrived on March 27, the pace picked up and time to journal has been limited.

Before I tell you about Jerusalem let me tell you about leaving Dahab and crossing into Israel at Eilat. Jimmy, my host at Bishbishi, arranged for me to join a group of people going from Sharm al Shiek to Jerusalem for a one day tour.  Jimmy instructed me to go on the tour and when it ended to slip away.  I said you mean leave without telling them-oh yes it's done all the time.  More to come about that.  So I bought the water and fruit as instructed and the van picked me up at 10pm.  Saby walked me to the van and when I tried to tell him goodbye, he said oh no I will go with you until you get on the bus.  So bless his heart he went with me for ten miles and waited twenty minutes until the bus came.  As I got on he said something about Russians.

The whole bus was Russian speaking except for me and four young girls who are in medical school in Sienna, Italy.  Off we went, it took about an hour to get to the border and three hours to get through security.  We also switched buses as they can't cross the border.

We traveled through the night and at morning's light we arrived at the Dead Sea.  We got out and many people took off their clothes (bathing suits underneath) and walked into the sea.  The mineral content is so high it buoys you and sinking is impossible.  People get their picture taken sitting in the water reading a newspaper.  They then put clothes on over their suits and got back on the bus.  Not pleasant for the rest of us.

Two more hours through the Negev desert and we arrive in beautiful Jerusalem.  Upon arrival one of the Russian men put on a black cassock and hat and it turns out he's a Russian Orthodox priest and several of his parishioners are with him.  Our first stop is the Church of the Sepulcher, Christ's tomb, this part of the church is supervised by the Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox.  The tour guide would speak Russian for 15 minutes and then give us nonRussian speakers a three sentence explanation.  Needless to say we got the abbreviated version.

Several of the women had very emotional experiences and had to be assisted.  We also visited Golgatha and the stone Jesus was laid on in the tomb.  Many people laid crosses and other icons on the stone to bless them.  We also drove to Bethlehem( about 20 minutes away) to see the birthplace of Jesus commemorated by a beautiful church.  The tour was over and I told the guide I would be leaving the tour in Jerusalem.  She told me it was against the law as I said at the border I would only be in Israel one day and besides the bus would not be going back to Jerusalem.

At that I asked a tourist police if I could get a bus to Jerusalem, he said I could but I needed some Jordian dinars to pay for the bus.  He walked me to an ATM.  The guide later told me the tour bus would be returning to Jerusalem and I could get off with her.

Of course she didn't know where my hotel was located, so I'm walking around the wholesale food district I have stumbled into, sides of beef and lamb hanging everywhere, trying to find a taxi driver to take me to the Lutheran Guesthouse which no one has heard of and I have no sheckles.  The taxi driver found an ATM and the Guesthouse.  Hallaluya!!!  By this time it's dark( 6pm), cold and damp and after the taxi driver drops me off I still have to drag my suitcase about two blocks through winding cobblestone alleys.  But I made it only five minutes after Pam arrived.

So that's enough adventure for now.


KATE