Blogs from West Bank, Israel, Middle East - page 2

this morning we had breakfast at tiberius coffee and bakery and headed for the valley of the way of the sun, Wadi Fara which is where abraham came into the promised land to shechem and later jacob came this way after leaving Esau and the children of Israel after taking Jericho and Ai went to shechem this way it is the main route from the jordan valley to shechem. we drove up this Valley almost to shechem (Nablus) and saw mt Kabir where we had climbed to see this valley Wadi Fara from shechem. Wadi Fara is a beautiful wide fertile valley fed from springs at shechem all year we are at the end of the dry now. the wadi Fara comes into the jordan valley at Adam (when the Israelites crossed the river further down ... read more

Had quite a day today its 430 and we've just got back to the motel we headed off this morning about 8am and went to mt Scopus to see Jerusalem from the north the direction from which it was taken in 67 from ammunition hill before heading down to Jericho Jesus had walked up the roman road from Jericho about a 9 hr walk before he entered Jerusalem from Bethany we drove down about 1/2hr in an airconditioned car, we went straight tothe ruins of the old city and walked around on it the excavations are not that revealing seems like not much has been done for a long time but we did see that the structure was mostly clay and mud bricks and no stone explaining why the israelites were able to walk over the ... read more

After much research and anticipation, the day of my Bethlehem excursion had arrived. I like the shepherds and wisemen before me would be making my way to the place where Jesus was born. I had gotten good advice from my fellow pilgrims about what to expect and what bus to take. The bus, since it would be going into the Palestinian territory, would leave from the Arab bus station just outside of the Damascus Gate. After surveying the scene, I hopped on what I hoped was the correct bus, told the driver I was going to Bethlehem and deposited a few shekles in his hand. I was slightly apprehensive about the security procedure since I was technically leaving Israel. As the bus made its way to the West Bank I was on the lookout for signs ... read more

I'd booked us on the Tour Israel Dead Sea and Masada tourto start the trip. The coach picked us up at 0715, our tour guide was Norbert who delivered the tour in English and French, switching seamlessly between the two making me jealous. I slept though the journey and BAM delighted in telling me about all the cool views and facts that I'd missed. Thanks BAM. The coach stopped at a cafe/gift shop selling Dead Sea Minerals creams and had a cracking view of the Dead Sea. We continued onwards to the Masada ruins. Masada is an ancient fort atop a massive mountain. There's a visitors centre at the bottom with facts, a gift shop and a cafeteria. Our tour ticket included the cable car to the top, but the traditional route follows the "snake path" ... read more

Today was a rainy and chilly day which makes it very difficult to take pictures. You must realize that many of the pictures I take are taken out the window of a moving bus....not the idea setting for picture taking. Today was really tough because when the rain did stop the bus windows were dirty. Our first stop was at the marker that showed Sea Level. We were headed to the Dead Sea which is the lowest place on earth so we had a photo op at the Sea level marker. We headed on down toward the Dead sea but first visited the place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist called Qasr el Yehud. It was interesting because it was in what is known as no mans land. It was near the border of ... read more