Israel - Egypt - Jordan

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Ready to go...

We decided to do this trip sort of suddenly as we already had the South and Central America trip coming up in the spring. One of the perks of retirement is being able to take advantage of last minute travel deals. So inside of two months we will have gone through both the Suez and Panama Canals. To date, we've been on all 7 continents and all 7 seas, and have visited 51 countries. And counting...

I'd go anywhere with this woman!

Tel Aviv

We arrived at our Tel Aviv hotel in the evening, exhausted but excited to be here. The long flights are always grueling but after a few hours you are in a foreign land, and it all seems worth it. People are mostly the same everywhere, experiencing the same needs and emotions... but it's the cultural differences that are so interesting, and that enrich the human experience. Diversity is strength.

From our hotel in Tel Aviv - Our Pizza joint above, the red and white striped awning behind the bus, and below, Kite Surfing on the beach outside the hotel. We enjoyed the local ambiance of the little Pizza place, and actually ended up eating there every night in Tel Aviv. A slice of pizza and a slice of real life in in Israel. And it was windy, with a wild surf, so the local kite surfers were out in force on the beach outside our hotel.

Most of our tour group of 21 people... a particularly good group we thought, intelligent, curious, and fun to travel with...

Roti was our guide in Israel...

We started in Tel Aviv, with Roti as guide, and would then have Roti again at the end of the tour for our time in Haifa and Jerusalem. We had a different guide for each of the 3 countries we would visit.

And the obligatory 'man on a horse.' Really, everywhere you go, there is a statue of a man on a horse. Though in St Petersburg we noted a statue of Catherine the Great on a horse. #HerToo?

Jordan

Nader was our guide in Jordan...

Nad was guiding a group of tourists when the flash flood of November 2018 hit, threatening people caught in the narrow canyon leading to the ancient city of Petra. That's him in the red and white plaid shirt in the video below, directing people to safety during the flash flood.

But meanwhile, most of what we saw of Jordan was dry, sandy, and rocky, with little vegetation. I think it's where they filmed the fake moon landing!

Nope, you don't escape the Duty Free shop even here in the desert at the border between Israel and Jordan. We had to stop here for Nad to get our passports stamped.

Globalization is the reality.

Just when you get that guy's voice on the OxiClean ads out of your head...

PETRA: (from Wikipedia): The city is accessed through a 1.2 kilometre long gorge called the Siq, which leads directly to the Khazneh. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system, Petra is also called the Rose City due to the color of the stone out of which it is carved, It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985. UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage." In 2007, Al-Khazneh was voted in as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. Petra is a symbol of Jordan, as well as Jordan's most visited tourist attraction.

These photos of our visit to Petra speak for themselves...

Through the Siq Gorge...

And, as you come out of the passageway, you come upon this marvel...

The above building was the financial center of the community.

An entire city carved in stone, replete with plumbing (conduits to carry water). The water system was elaborate and impressive, allowing for seasonal changes. It brought fresh water to the city and carried the waste away.

Incredible! They started carving at the top, so the resulting pile of stone rubble began to create a ramp up which they could go as they finished the work.

Jan rode a camel here in Petra. And below, another beast of burden...

We had a home-hosted lunch in Jordan, where we visited and had a meal with a local family. Their Christmas tree was pine fronds in the shape of a cross, and decorated much like we do back home.

Our Arab hosts in Jordan, three generations. We watched the little boy play with his car while we socialized with the adults, come to think of it, the same as we did at our home hosted meal in Poland, and as I recall, also in Peru. It's the same everywhere. Only different! Viva la difference!

Boys will be boys, everywhere you go. Jordan above, and Poland below.

We had a dish called Maqluba, cooked in a big pot with chicken, rice, veggies, and I'm not sure what all. Then, at meal time, it is ceremoniously dumped upside down on a big plate. A one pot meal, if you will. It was good, and it's always a highlight to go to a local's house for a home cooked meal and interaction with the folks.

Like I said, mostly dry, sandy, and rocky. But it is just 'so what it is' that it's beautiful.
After a fashion...

This is Wadi Rum, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. And we just happened to see the Scrolls at the museum in Denver a few months before, on their only stop in the States.

Pieces of the Scrolls at the Denver exhibit...

Santa Claus at our Dead Sea hotel. Dude gets everywhere, obviously...

Camels can drink a lot of water, fast, and then not drink for a long time. These 'ships of the desert,' as they are called, are said to be smarter than horses, and actually will hold a grudge. They will be mean to anyone who has mistreated them, even years in the past..

So, with that in mind, they drove us out to the middle of the desert and dropped us off by a caravan of camels, miles of unforgiving desert stretching in all directions. I don't know why our granddaughter thinks I'm given to hyperbole, as she puts it, but there we were.

They want us to what???

We had no choice but to mount, and ride, these ships of the desert, these beasts of burden. Mick Jagger's voice in my head broke the eerie silence. You lean backward when the camel stands up...

Voila!

Here Jan is showing Nad and some of the Bedouins how to mount a camel...

Voila!

And in a photo finish with the Toyota, Jan won because her camel stretched it's neck to spit...

This was fun, the endless, stark landscape reinforcing our bond with these noble beasts. Hyperbole, moi? Of course there were also the Toyotas.

Of course Jan had already ridden at Petra, so her experience won the day...

Really, look at that landscape. But even in the desert, there is beauty...

Camels and Toyota's everywhere. Really. There must be an ad here.

The surface of these flat rocks is covered with thousands of years of dead bacteria, making a great surface to write on. Being a fan of lice paleontology, this piqued Jan's interest...

And we came on a veritable oasis in the desert, wherein a buffet lunch awaited us. Such hardship! But we had seen enough of this endless desert to appreciate a source of water and food.

Then out again upon the unplum'd salt estranging sea... ummm, desert, on our way to the ship we would be on for a week as we made our way along the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal, and into the Mediterranean. We made a stop at a mosaic factory/retail outlet. We were given a brief demonstration of how mosaics are made, fascinating really. Then they turned us loose in a huge showroom with thousands of mosaic items, from tiny refrigerator magnets to chairs and mirrors, and other furniture. All for sale, of course. Some truly beautiful stuff.

Then on to the ship...

Oops, no, not the Queen Mary, though it was there too. This one, the Clio... 89 passengers...

The obligatory life-jacket and evacuation drill on the ship...

Egypt

Walid was our guide in Egypt. Walid, a doctor of Egyptology, like Roti and Nader, was very knowledgeable about his country and history. And a kind and gentle soul. We had a great group of guides for this whole trip, we thought. Thank you all!

On to the land of Pyramids and Cleopatra and Sand Storms... oh my!

Some ginormous columns. Amazing!

The familiar 'ankh,' an ancient Egyptian symbol for life...

Amazing builders, but really, they could have taken their scaffolding when they were done.

Gods and Goddesses everywhere...

The most compelling evidence that the Sphinx was built for the Egyptian Pharaoh Khafre during his reign (2520-2494 BC) is in the architecture, geology, and archaeology of the Sphinx and its related monuments. Carved from the bedrock of the Giza plateau, the Sphinx is truly a mysterious marvel from the days of ancient Egypt. The body of a lion with the head of a king or god, the Sphinx has come to symbolize strength and wisdom. Puts me in mind of Jan, except for the lion's body part.

Prime real estate! Really, they are building a whole new Capitol City to replace Cairo as the head of government. A wall around the whole city. Well, hey, after the pyramids and all this other incredible stone work, building a new city from scratch should be snap! I'd like to have the water concession!

In Greek legend, the Sphinx devoured all travelers who could not answer the riddle it posed: "What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening?" The hero Odeipus gave the answer: Man, because a human walks on all fours early in life, on two legs as an adult, and with a walking stick in old age.

I know, right? But who's gonna argue with a Sphinx that could eat you?

They found this boat, in pieces, in an excavated pit near the pyramids. It had been built to convey people to the afterlife. In Incan mythology, we learned in South America, the condor takes you to the afterlife. So many ways of crossing the Rubicon. Talk about travel!

Don't get in that boat, Jan!

We flew to Luxor to see more amazing ancient sites. Well, Jan and the rest of them did. I stayed on the ship wherein I was the only passenger on board for 2 days... talk about the royal treatment!

A cold dinner on the hotel patio at Luxor, Egypt...

But check out the view!

Some ship-board dancing and merriment, following some silly skits by the crew.

In the Red Sea now, on the MV Clio, making our way to the Suez Canal...

Recently a tour bus in Egypt went off it's scheduled route and hit a roadside bomb, killing and injuring multiple people. Security was tight on our trip, especially in Egypt. We had armed escorts on the buses with us, and armed police car escorts ahead of, behind, and in between the buses. We had to go through security, usually an official or two and a scanning unit much like those used in airports, for hotels, museums, attractions. We didn't really ever feel unsafe, but all this security did give us pause.

Waiting our turn to go through the canal.

An incredible sand storm forced a little change in our itinerary. First, we had to make an unscheduled stop in Cairo for the night due to expected 30 foot waves in the Mediterranean, and then said wave-causing-storm created a huge sandstorm. All roads in Egypt were closed for a while. So we had to stay a second night in Cairo. We wanted more time on the boat, but Cairo was interesting and really should be part of any trip to Egypt, so hey, that's why they call this adventure travel!

We went by Tahrir Square several times, long a gathering place for protesters. Egypt's 'Arab Spring' saw the square occupied by protesters wanting to unseat President Hosni Mubarak. Of course now there is a car park...

Tahrir Square in 1958...

Tahrir Square during the Arab Spring...

A tranquil and beautiful Tahrir Square at night...

Bright colors stand out in this mostly colorless landscape... sing it, Mick! These Beasts of Burden...

Finger lickin' good...

And everywhere you go in this diverse world, there is music...

I mean really, break bread, make music... Imagine...

A few days after we returned from this trip, we saw The Silk Road Ensemble, founded by YoYo Ma, and consisting of musicians from about a dozen countries that lie along the storied Silk Road trading route, coming together to make music, each contributing their talent and ethnic heritage.

Children, teach your parents well...

Bruce and Walid on deck during the Canal crossing...

Jan and Walid

Walid had to jump ship to make his way back home as we headed back to Israel...

Jerusalem

A storied city, if ever there was one...

A Jewish cat, a Christian cat, and a Muslim cat...

You take my point!

And we might as well include the Baha'i Faith in the mix...

What is Jan hiding in that wall?

The famed Wailing Wall...

We have a quorum...

So, in conclusion, God is metaphor. An aspect of existence. All existence. All that is.

Love your neighbor, as you do yourself. Love begets love. Simple as that!

Religion is just explanation. God is you!

And what visit to Jerusalem would be complete without a stroll across King Herod's famed swimming pool. It's infinitely easier when there's no water in it...