AFRICA and the MIDDLE EAST

May 13

You know, sometimes you just want to get on the bus. It’s got pumpin’ a/c inside the bus, it’s comfy, high off the ground for views of the countryside, and takes you exactly where you want to go. Yes, sometimes you just want to get on the bus.

This bus is off for a tour of Masada and the Dead Sea.

The guide assured us these were the exact caves where, in 1947, young Bedouin shepherds discovered the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The details of the story that the guide told doesn’t match 100% with Ms Wiki’s story, but close enough, and the guide’s was more colorful.

Of course there was a shopping stop, this one at the Ahava cosmetics company where they make all their products from elements found at the Dead Sea.

There were several of these tree/bush plants growning around there…I wonder what it is?

Hilla replies:

“I found that plant that you took a photo of near the Dead sea on the internet: Crown Flower, Giant Calotrope, Giant Milkweed, Swallow-wort (Calotropis gigantea) And here is some of the information that I translated for you from the Hebrew:

“The tree grows mainly in the Ein Gedi area, and when damaged the leaves will exude a milky liquid which is poisonous. The fruit is large and round, but completely hollow inside except for some fine hairs and seeds.

“The plant is also known as Sodom’s apple. Legend has it that when God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he also decided to transform the trees into trees that served no use, and so the once famous and delicious apple trees that were found in that area, today bear beautiful fruit that is useless, and even poisonous.”

…we took the aerial tramway!

At the tramway exit point, The Snake Path is visible below.

There are two separate and basically unrelated parts of the Masada story, 90 years apart.

The first is the building of the fortress by King Herod around 30-20BC and the second is about The Great Revolt of the Jews against the Romans beginning in 66AD. Why people particularly care about Masada now, it’s all about The Great Revolt.

What you’re seeing down there is what they call The Snake Path leading up to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Masada. Yikes.

Not for us though…

So by 66AD when the Jewish rebels fled to Masada much of what had once been grand was abandonded and had suffered from earthquake damage.

See that black line…below the line are original walls and above are the more modern restorations.

And nobody jumped off any cliffs…

“The account of the siege of Masada was related to Josephus (a Jewish-Roman historian) by two women who survived the suicide by hiding inside a cistern along with five children, and repeated Eleazar ben Ya’ir’s exhortations to his followers, prior to the mass suicide, verbatim to the Romans.”

The fortress in King Herod’s day included an elegant water delivery system, elaborate palaces, and massive defensive features. After Herod’s death in 4BC and the annexation of Judea to the Roman Empire in 6AD, only a small Roman garrison remained at Masada.

Our colorful and informative guide who said every sentence in both English and Spanish.

“Because Judaism strongly discourages suicide, Josephus reported that the defenders had drawn lots and killed each other in turn, down to the last man, who would be the only one to actually take his own life.”

Visible are some of the remains of the Roman garrisons that surrounded Masad.

“Josephus says that Eleazar ordered his men to destroy everything except the foodstuffs to show that the defenders retained the ability to live, and so chose their own death over slavery, but archaeological excavations have shown that storerooms which contained their provisions were also burnt, though whether this was by Romans, by Jews, or natural fire spreading is unclear.

“Josephus also reported that the Romans found arms sufficient for ten thousand men as well as iron, brass and lead which casts further doubt on the accuracy of the account, especially when considering Josephus’ predilection for exaggeration.”

You can see the earthen ramp that the Romans built to bring their battering rams up to the walls of Masada.

The guide’s last remarks were regarding the meaning of the Masada story to Jewish people today. In the early years of the modern Jewish state they taught the children that to be like those in Masada was good, courageous, committed, and in charge of one’s own destiny. Now they prefer to teach the values of perseverance and ultimately of survival.

After the Romans left, the fortress remained uninhabited until the fifth century AD when a few hermits of the Byzantine era made a monastery here, but with the rise of Islam in the seventh century the monastery apparently ceased to exist.

I went down there and did all this and then I went back up (it was a schlep!) to shower, change, and get the camera.

The Dead Sea, and that’s Jordan in the distance.

Couldn’t miss a shot like this! I did that too(!) although not as throughly…

It’s true, you cannot sink in the Dead Sea.

Ahhh.

When I went out this morning I took a picture at each of the critical intersections, to impress upon myself how to get back. Hurray, it worked!

That’s a lot of police down there on the plaza. That’s where the flag wavers were from yesterday but yesterday there were no police.

When I got there I learned of Jerusalem Day.

This is in a snappy mall near the Jaffa Gate with a Gap, a Limited, and many other well-known mall shops.

I went here to get out of the sun and to buy a map and these guys came tearing past.

My day was actually very odd. There was the unexpected drama of Jerusalem Day, and that my two intentions were not to be.

1) I had intended to take the bus up to the Hadassah Hospital where there are some magnificent Chagall stained glass windows, but I learned at the information center that the windows were closed until July 31st.

2) I had intended to go to the office of the tour company I wanted to use to organize some out-of-Jerusalem visits but they no longer had an office in Jerusalem, everything had to be done online and on the phone.

So hot, foiled, and weirded-out, I decided to walk up the hill to the King David Hotel and the YMCA, two important structures in the life of Jerusalem. This picture is from the early 30s with the King David in front and the YMCA behind it.

A bit of the inside of the King David Hotel.

The plaque leading into the YMCA:

“Here is a place whose atmosphere is peace where political and religious jealousies can be forgotten and international unity be fostered and developed.”

The reception hall at the YMCA.

I tried to find a quick summary of Israeli military service requirements but did not succeed. In general though, I think it’s true that basically every Israeli is required to serve, with exemptions at least to the very Orthodox, and maybe others, but basically, everyone serves.

This is a system that suits me actually.

That’s folks from a police unit getting on the bus to go to their assignment.

I have no idea, but who could resist? Not me.

May 12

What is it with me and this trip? First it was May Day in Istanbul and now it’s Jerusalem Day here, “commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City in June 1967.”

I didn’t know about Jerusalem Day (bad tourist!) until this afternoon when full-dress army units were forming on every corner and in front of every gate in the Old City, perhaps their own form of an ‘extreme abundance of caution’.

And old extreme-abundance-of-caution me wandered my way back to my hotel to wait it out. Just so you know, in case there’s something on the news, I’m Perfectly Fine.

I’ve got more pictures too, which I’ll get to now.

I was continually lost, well not really lost, just wandering around not knowing where I was.

The museum is a chronological story of Jerusalem set in individual rooms as you move through the structures.

I particularly liked the movie where they told the story pretty much just sticking to when the city changed hands, which was enough to follow, managing quite well I thought in just fifteen minutes. I’d like to see it again.

May 11

Welcome to Jerusalem!

The whole of Jerusalem is a fairly big city but most of what visitors want to see is contained behind those walls, the Old City, .35 square miles of ancient history and intense (InTense!) emotions.

(Unless otherwise stated all facts and all text in quotes are courtesy of our own little know-it-all, Ms Wiki.)

In 1542 Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the Jerusalem walls and included eleven gates, seven of which are in use today. “Until 1887, each gate was closed before sunset and opened at sunrise.”

This is the Damascas Gate…

…I am actually staying in East Jerusalem, 15 minutes walking to the Old City and an entirely Palestinian community. I’m very happy here at this hotel. The people have been great, the room, the breakfast, the location, are all great, and the price is right.

There is virtually no overlap between the Jewish and Arab communities maybe not even among the tourists. Like Jonathan said when looking at my map, with a sweeping hand ‘here, all Jews, no Arabs, here, all Arabs, no Jews. Jews, Arabs, Arabs, Jews’.

Ah, were it only that simple.

I do get lost every single time I walk out the door and some stranger on the street always leads me back. I’m trying to figure it out, where I go, and then remember how to return but it might take another day or two!

Just inside Lions’ Gate.

There are market streets inside the Old City so packed with people and goods, I couldn’t get off a single shot and am probably not going back on those streets, not to the surprise of anyone who knows me.

The colors of the flag of Palestine.

Following along the path of the Stations of the Cross is a big tourist attraction. This group is carrying a cross and they were loudly singing a dirge-like tune.

More travellers along the Via Dolorosa.

This is the Western Wall. To reach this point you have to pass through metal detectors and there is a very visible police presence.

There’s the one obvious fence you can see and then inside the praying area there is another fence that separates the men’s section from the women’s. This path leads to the much smaller, the women’s section.

Peering over the fence at the men!

Also there was a group of young boys doing something in unison beside the fence and I’m guessing many of the local women were the moms trying to catch a glimpse of their sons.

We can see here what the men are doing. What are the women doing?

Standing just outside the praying area, here is a panorama of the surrounding buildings. Where did all this space come from? “The Moroccan Quarter, which was located adjacent to the Western Wall, was vacated and razed to make way for a plaza for those visiting the wall.”

I’m probably in his picture too.

More of the unknowable streets of the Old City. Behind every door and through every arch is more more more.

The only vehicles that pass through are narrow tractors pulling narrow carts to pick up trash and make deliveries. There are small ramps built into most of the stone stairs to allow the tractor to pass.

You can get the best views from up here, looking into the Old City and beyond. The sign has arrows pointing to these landmarks but unfortunately the picture didn’t come out.

From left to right: Hyatt Hotel; Church of the Holy Sepulcre; Hadassan Hospital; Rockefeller Museum; Hebrew University; Church of the Redeemer; Mormon University; Augusta Victoria; Dome of the Rock; Church of Mary Magdalene; Russian Church; al-Aqsa Mosque; Mount of Olives.

A view down to the Jaffa Gate and the river of tourists flowing in.

By the Jaffa Gate is the Tower of David and the Tower of David Museum.

These guys were playing loud military music on a boombox and doing war drills with their flags – lunging and striking and whipping those things around, and then lining up to race up and down the plaza yelling like mad.

Which brings me to…

When I checked in I told the guy that I like rooms with lots of light. This room has two full sides with windows and a third side has a door leading to a balcony.

This is the view from the balcony. The tower is the minaret with the loud speakers for the five times a day call to prayer.

I wish you could have heard the hotel man’s voice when he told me ‘you can have this room but you must know, you will be able to hear the call very very well.’

HURRAY! Mazel Tov!! Lucky ME!!! I got to have dinner with the newlyweds – Judy and Jonathan.

I’ve know Jonathan for his Whole Life, his many lives actually… his LA growing up years; his off to college years; I visited him during his Korea years; and now here he is married to a wonderful woman and about to become a citizen of Israel. You go Jonathan!

Ahh, Happy young people just starting out. What an adventure!

Judy took this.

I got a passer-by to take this one. No, I’m not trying to strangle her, she’s just so darn cute.