Blogs from Middle East - page 1237

My trip to Qatar was in 1980 - a while back but since no post were listed for this country I thought I'd let folks know that I have been there.... read more

There's not much to see. A church, seemingly similar to any other church. A garden, not much unlike other gardens. However, this place has a slight edge over its colleagues. It's the alleged birth site of Jesus. Might as well be. If so, one of the most important historical locations on the planet. Should be treated with due respect. Nowadays it is not. It is a war-zone. Kind of kills the myth that wars are about religion, does it not? Religion might be the excuse for the people to fight. However, the conflict is about everything but religion; principles, money, greed, power, pride, differences in logical reasoning, culture, language, you name it. And my least favorite: pure stupidity. End it with a poker game, coin toss, camel race, dwarf hunt, whatever. Let the rest of us ... read more

We had one day we could ditch the tour group and do our own thing. We were in downtown Jerusalem! What an experience. I do recall walking, and walking and walking, til finally, we decided to take a bus to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. I asked my friend if the busses took American dollars, he didn't know, so I asked a woman reading a newspaper on a bench. She didn't miss a lick... without hardly putting down her paper, she asked me, 'do American busses take Shekels?" You should have seen the egg dripping from my face... Then we went to 'Old Town'. Went through the Arab markets, bought some good bread to eat. Don't remember the name of it. We found the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, paid the fare, and went in. Incredible. ... read more

22 December 1982 Wednesday. We took a tour with a couple dozen others to the Holy Land for Christmas. We flew EL Al from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv. The security was very tight. A bus took us from the terminal to the plane that was parked at a remote corner of the parking apron. We identified our luggage before we boarded the plane. Otherwise, it was an uneventful flight. Upon arrival in Tel Aviv and after checking through customs and immigration, our tour bus took us to the Hilton in Jerusalem, where we had dinner and an introduction to the Holy land. 23 December 1982 Thursday. We took a walking tour of Old Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate, along the Via de la Rosa with its Stations of the Cross where Christ walked to his crucifixion, ... read more

The Olympic Airways flight from Athens to Tel Aviv was pretty uneventful apart from a special airways meal of trout, veal and veges, with cake, cheese and biscuits to follow. And I was able to double up on most from the dieting pair of English girls Lyn and Claire, who were on their way back to their kibbutz at Beersheba. They extended an invitation to come down and stay later in the week. The flight made it down into Tel Aviv right on 2pm. I found that Tel Aviv from the air resembled most modern cities, although I was surprised at the number of areas of barren land so close to the city. I was met at the airport by Shirley, after completing a non-hassle entry and ensuring I did not have my passport stamped. I ... read more