Blogs from Israel, Middle East - page 162

I’ve made arrangements to be in Jerusalem by Friday afternoon, but like a Facts of Life reunion, it’s a plan that looks far better on paper once it’s whirred into grim, regrettable motion. On Friday morning, having lazily worked my way through some old emails and a Nescafe, I get to Abdali Station just in time for a taxi driver to look at his watch, shake his head, and explain that the King Hussein Bridge border crossing into Jerusalem closes at noon for the shabat. It’s a perilously stupid start to my Israeli odyssey, one that - if you’ve come to know me by now - is bound to take a few more turns for the moronic before all’s said and done. I check back into the Palace Hotel, with a few light-hearted barbs for ... read more

Today was another great day. We began the day again with another hike to the Banias river. The waters here are a crystal clear blue colour and are beautiful and clean. We hiked from the Banias waterfall to the source at a spring beside some ancient ruins from the 1st century CE. Afterwards, we hiked back, and then drove up Mount Hermon to the Nimrod Fortress. This fortress is one of the best-preserved ruins in all of Israel and the Middle East. Later, we took a scenic route around the entire Golan and then stopped at a Druze village along the way for lunch. Josh and I had falafel which was excellent - Noah stuck to pita & hummus. We continued our trek through the Golan, and then drove along the Eastern shore of the Kineret ... read more

Today we got the car!!! Yos drove us to Netanya around noon and we picked up the car that Ilan had arranged for us. It's a brand new 2007 Nissan Micra, great small car. Once we were on the road, we headed up to the Galil to drive through Nazareth. This was mostly for Josh, but Noah and I had never been there either. Just before arriving in Nazareth we took a wrong turn and ended up in a small Arab village called Iqsal. It didn't take us long to figure out that we were in the wrong place. After a few strange looks, we headed back out to the main road and quickly found our way to Nazareth. Unfortunately, it was Sunday, and almost everything that we wanted to see was closed, but it was ... read more

Shalom, Sorry for the delay in getting out an update on our travels. Since were in Israel you may have suspected we had been shot or kidnapped, but no such luck. Since Tuesday morning we have visited the shopping district and Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. Been to Masada (cable car to King Herods mountain top palace/fortress in about mid 30's heat) and Ein Gedi (thermal spa), plus of course swam in the Dead Sea and I did manage to float. And of course Jerusalem. Sianne got interrogated at passport control, which was quite funny and I walked straight though. Don't really think much of Tel Aviv. It is the more modern city and has lots of these ugly 60's 3 or 4 storey apartment building that are in need of repair or demolition. Apparently they ... read more

Last night Yos took us to see the new Refet (loose translation - dairy farm?). It was pretty amazing. Everything was completely automated, everything from milk measurements, to tracking cows, to showering - I saw a segment once on this system on How It's Made, and it looked like it was the same thing. An Israeli invention, naturally. My head was spinning last night though, I definitely picked something up in Turkey, and my stomach is not going to forgive me at least for another 2 days or so. Yet another unproductive day.... read more