Israel

Haifa at night

We have 3 days in Israel between 2 ports – Ashdod and Haifa.  Today it was Ashdod and we chose to visit the Masada and the Dead Sea which unfortunately had the horrid starting time of 6:45am.  New country new immigration/security procedures.  In Israel we are issued a B type visa that is a driver's license sized card with our passport picture on it and the dates we can be in the country and warned not to lose it or it would be much hassle and $400 to replace.  Go through the scanners show our ship card, that new card and our passport multiple times and we are on our bus on our way to Masada.

Along the way we see the land and learn about how there are tectonic plates in the area that were related to the recent earthquake in Turkey and how they usually have an earthquake here every 100 years and they are overdue, so we were kidding/hoping for no earthquake while we were on top of the mountain.  Happily, no issues there. 

Masada

 We take the cable car up to the top of the mountain.  It was built as a palace by Herod and is an impressive piece of construction for its time with multi levels and tiers and a cistern and baths all the good roman architecture stuff.  Oh, I should add it is atop of a large hill 1,424 feet above and overlooking the Dead Sea.  All that is nice, but its claim to fame happened after Herod was gone.  The Romans took over the country and there was an uprising by the Jews.  The Romans had squelched it all except for a bunch of Jewish zealots who were holed up in the palace (Masada) with their families.  The Romans decide it was time to get them in line so they come with an army of thousands and first build an earthen ramp to get up to the top of the hill and then with all the modern equipment of the time – catapults, burning arrows and a battering ram they waged battle.  The zealots were outnumbered and then the walls of their structure caught on fire and the battering ram did its job.  For whatever reason, the Romans decided to enjoy a night in their camps and then come get the people the next morning.  Well, that night the Jews all disappeared.  Per our guide and Jewish tradition, they killed their families and each other till the last one committed suicide – well 3 people were found alive.  Now the online resources I saw said that they have never found any proof of the Jews killing themselves (like bones, etc in the area).  So anyway, it is a neat UNESCO heritage site and we got to ride a cable car up the mountain. 

Dead Sea

After that it was on to a hotel for lunch and the beach.  Beach as in Dead Sea.  We were with Tom and Linda and another couple from our ride in Wadi Rum playing in the water.  Amazing things from a visit to the Dead Sea:  the bottom is salt – no sand so you get pieces of salt between your toes; you can NOT swim in it; since you can't get our body be face down; if the water is deep enough, you can stand up right floating – no touching the bottom; floating on your back is the thing to do and incredibly easy.  In short, you are very buoyant, and it is a unique experience.

white lines are salt harvesting sites

Jerusalem

Next day we are in a new port of Haifa and have planned a 12-hour day trip to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.  For some reason I am not very excited about this trip - maybe the long bus ride, or maybe foreboding I don't know, but the trip had problems as in bus trouble.  Go through the security lines and get on the bus to find some broken seats and a bus not in great shape - what I expected in some of the Asian countries not Israel.  Find acceptable seats and start on our way.  Make a "comfort stop" at a not so nice gas station and our troubles begin.  Come out to find the equivalent of a hood is up on the bus.  We get on and the guide tells us there is a maintenance issue and it will be a few minutes.  Happily, they seem to fix it and we are on our way.  Or not.  We pull over on the shoulder for a few minutes and the driver gets off does something and we are on our way again.  Or not.  Next time he pulls off on an exit ramp and admits defeat to somebody because our guide says a new bus will be coming so we sit.  Bus shows up faster than expected - yeah - oh one of the other tour buses has come to rescue us and get us to Jerusalem - hey I'll take it.  Our ride drops us off at the Jaffa Gate to the Old City.

Old City of Jerusalem 

The old city walls were built by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in the mid 16th century.   Our guide tells us about how what we now see as a road was formerly the moat but it was converted for a wife of an Austrian king when they visited.   Then we walk down the road which is narrow and start seeing shops in the bazaar.  

Church of the Holy Sepulchre 

Various Christian groups, including the Greek, Roman, Armenian, and Coptic churches, control parts of the present church and conduct services regularly.  Our guide gives us advice as to which way to go within the church to see things and then sends us to fight the mobs.

The Alter of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

Edicule, The purported Tomb of Jesus Christ

At one point in the bazaar, we turn and join the Via Dolorosa which is the road pilgrims would take.  We pass several stations of the cross on the outside of the walls of the buildings.  

Temple Mount

Western Wall (aka Wailing Wall)

Dome of the Rock

Bethlehem 

Segregation of Israel

One thing I was clueless about before the trip to Bethlehem is that it is within the Palestine Territory.  The sign below was on the road as our bus entered a highway exit/roundabout.

Our bus parks and we head off to the Church of the Nativity.  It is here that we believe Jesus was born. It is built around the grotto.   Oh, I should add that you enter through the door of humility meaning we have to lean over to enter the door since it is low.  We see the alter with the 14-point star which is where Mary gave birth to Jesus and then nearby another small alter where the manger was located.  The church is multi-level and has many alters.  We wander around some more.

door of humility on the left

Original 1st Church flooring

The Manger

Grotto of the Nativity where its believed Jesus was born - see the star on the floor

People would kiss the floor under the Alter

Then it was time to head back to the ship.

Akko or Acre

I went solo on this excursion since it did not interest Jeff.  I figured I had followed in the footsteps of the Knights of the Crusades last year and I might as well keep following them!  Our tour started with a drive up the mountain right outside of the port.  Our bus driver made a point of letting us get several photo opportunities on the way up because this was the Bahai Gardens which are quite pretty as they make their way up the mountain.  

looking upward at the Bahai Gardens

The mountain is Mount Carmel which had vague meaning to me before the tour.  Seems that here is where there was a test of gods many years ago and God was here, and the fire took hold sorry bad description there.  Anyway, it is a spot that proved to many people there is only one God.  Bringing it all home was the fact that a group of nuns that had a monastery in Kirkwood had their main monastery here – the Carmelite nuns.  We had a photo stop at the top of the gardens after driving around the monastery.

Carmelite Monastery

looking down from top of hill at the Bahai Gardens

From there we drove north along the coast to the present-day town of Akko which was Acre when the 

The Knights of the Templar and the Hospitallers (Order of the Knights of the Hospital of St John) were here until they were run out by the Muslims.  There is a fortified town with a nice shady park, bazaars, underground tunnels, and a port.  We started out our tour by walking through the bazaar.  The bazaar is small shops under archways.  The archways were built to give stability to the foundation for a mosque which they are under. 

shady park at entrance

the bazaar and its arches

The Knights’ fort is a nice old gothic stone structure that is still in good condition. This was their kingdom from 1191 to 1291 until they were literally run out of town to the sea where many of them would perish.

Top Left
Top Right -fleur de lis on a support
Bottom Right - Excavation for lower floors

One of the last places we visited was the tunnel.  The Templars Tunnel to be exact.  The tunnel was built underground from the inside of the fortress/citadel to the sea (150 meters) and had two purposes.  The first was a sewage system and the second was an escape route if needed.  The tunnels would have been dark so as our guide pointed out they might have had torches with them or running in the dark to get to the sea on a slippery floor that was rather low at times.  The plan was for them to hop on their ships that were at sea, but the ships left before most of the knights got there so they were killed by the Muslims.

Top Left - The tunnel is very low, we must bend down to enter
As we travel they get larger
The tunnel exits into the port

As in most places in this part of the world, these buildings were rebuilt and re used many times.  One of the last uses for part of this fort was a prison by the British (1918-1948) when they ruled this part of the Middle East.  This was the largest prison and held many of the fighters of the Jewish underground.

this was where the prison was located

Today its a pretty port on the Mediterranean Sea