July 15-21, 1984

 July 15-21, 1984

The bus for Israel left at 4am from the Cairo Hilton.  It crossed the Suez Canal and the Sinai Peninsula before entering Israel.  It would have been a nice trip except I was dead tired after trying to sleep crowded into a narrow bus seat.  Too bad I hadn’t learned about coffee yet.

At the Rafah border crossing in the Gaza Strip, Israeli customs questioned and searched us thoroughly.  I guess looking at me I might have also been suspicious.  I now have a great tan, I haven’t had a haircut in a very long time, my passport has all kinds of stamps in it (including a Communist country) and I am traveling with a Canadian I don’t know.  Border Security x-rayed all the trinkets we bought.  Eventually they let us pass and unfortunately for our fellow travelers, the bus was still waiting for us when we got through.

From the border it was a couple more hours to Jerusalem.  Jerusalem was like returning to the modern world.  Or so I thought.  On the main thoroughfare of Jaffa Street we stopped in a pizza joint to get some real food for a change.  I ordered pepperoni pizza, my favorite.  Unbeknownst to me pepperoni is pork and this is Israel.  But I could have any vegetable topping I wanted instead.  I chose plain cheese, I was hungry.

We stayed in the new section of Jerusalem.  The Old City is just a short distance away and is completely surrounded by an ancient wall.  Pretty Cool!  Jerusalem is important to many religions and as a result the Old City is divided into four quarters; Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim.  The main gate into the Old City is the Jaffa Gate.  They have been doing excavations here and are uncovering some of the original sections of the fortified towers at the gate. 

Just inside is the Arab Market.  It is like walking back into history with its narrow pathways, arches, steps and coverings.  The market is fascinating to stroll through.  Because of the latent hostility between the Muslims and the Jews, I bought a cheap necklace with a wooden cross to let people know I was not part of their conflict.

We spent some time walking the Via Dolorosa following the Stations of the Cross.  I got into a minor conflict with some Arab kids while trying to find one of the stations.  The “Way of the Cross” ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is supposed to be built on Cavalry Hill where Jesus was crucified.  Inside this medieval looking church is a crypt where Jesus is believed to have been buried. 

On a plateau in the rear of the Old city is Temple Mount where the Jewish Temple once stood.  On the west side is an exposed part of the retaining wall that is known as the Wailing Wall.  Here lots of Orthodox Jews come to pray for the Temple's restoration and stick little notes with wishes in crevices.

Atop the mount are two mosques.  The most famous is the Dome of the Rock.  It is small but colorfully decorated in blue tile and a Golden Dome.  Inside is a rock where Jacob was supposed to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Later we went outside the Old City behind the Temple Mount and climbed up the Mount of Olives.  At the base is the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas betrayed Jesus.  Also on the hill is a large Jewish cemetery and the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene.

Another day we took a bus to Bethlehem to visit the Basilica of the Nativity.  The church is supposed to be on the site of Jesus’ birth.  I am shocked at how close Bethlehem is.  It is only a few miles from the city center of Jerusalem. 

We took another bus to the Dead Sea area.  It also is very close, maybe ten miles, but is a world away.  It is a desert.  Our first stop is the ancient citadel of Masada.  I probably would have never heard of it except for a book (The Antagonists by Ernest Gann) I read as a kid.  Masada is an imposing fortress built by King Herod on a high steep plateau in the desert.  During the First Jewish-Roman War in 72AD one thousand Jewish rebels hid out atop this table-mountain.  Masada was impregnable, only accessible by a narrow winding path. Impregnable, except against the determined and ingenious Roman Army.  They laid siege to Masada and eventually built a massive stone ramp to get their siege towers close enough.  By the time the Romans stormed the fortress, the Jews had all committed suicide to avoid surrender.  The remains of the ramp still survive.  We took a cable car up to the top and walked around the ruins.  King Herod also once had a palace atop Masada.  It was a multi-tiered house on the north end of the plateau.

From Masada we took the bus to the resort town of Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea.  The Dead Sea is the lowest point on the earth at an incredible 1388 ft below sea level!  As a result it is very hot and no water can flow out of the lake, making it extremely salty.  I can’t float in a swimming pool.  But here I have no problem, even when holding rocks!  The downside of swimming in the Dead Sea is the skin peel from the high mineral content.  There goes my tan from spending all summer in the sun! 

Another day we went to the Israel Museum to see the Shrine of the Book.  This museum contains the Dead Sea Scrolls that were found in caves along the Dead Sea.  The badly decomposed scrolls contain the earliest versions of the Bible.

I have had enough of Israel. The people we met were not the friendliest. I think mostly that is because many of them are from New York City.  We went to Tel Aviv where we got a flight to Athens.  Here Kathy and I departed.  I went to the National Archeology Museum for a few hours to see awesome artifacts from classical Greek civilization.