So we finally got online again today. It’s not that there aren’t plenty of Internet café’s here in but it’s just more convenient to log on from the hotel which means committing ourselves to an hour in our room. Although today is Yom Kippur and there’s nothing else to do so we splurged and got the 24 hour Web package… oh yeah ;-)
I have to apologize for my last post… I didn’t have time to review it after I posted and it seems that a bug in this blog service ate up all the names of key locations that I mentioned (i.e. Mediterranean, Golan Heights, Jordanian Mountains, etc) so if you go back and reread the first post now, it’ll make a lot more sense as I’ve re-inserted all those words back into the text.
I also have to apologize that there are no pictures or video just yet… we need to edit them so we’ll let you know when we do finally post (into our flickr) but I’ll try to see if I can upload a few more directly into the blog.
So where did we leave off…
Day 7 – Jordon and PETRA!!! Today was the first day I traveled into an Arab country. When I lived here, Israelis were not allowed in Jordon but after the peace treaty in ’94 the Aqaba-Eilat border crossing was opened for tourism. My Mom and I have been dying to visit for so long and now we have our chance.
The Israeli tour organizers drove us to the border where we had to go through customs and then walk the approx. 100 meters across ‘no man’s land’ into Jordon where we met up with our Arab tour guide – Ali. He was friendly, super talkative, and full of information. As you may know, all religious Muslims are now observing Ramadan so our guide was fasting until the evening hours, and while he was a non-stop chatterbox in the morning, he was very low energy in the afternoon hours… more power to him – don’t know how he can go all day in that heat without water.
When we finally arrived in Petra, I was surprised to see several Indiana Jones gift shops and cafes but as Ali explained, this was one of the filming locations for ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ – so we traveled all the way from to Jordon for a taste of Hollywood ;-)
Petra is gorgeous… no words can describe so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
The tour was pricey but SO worth it. Petra is probably the most incredible place I’ve seen (it’s up there with the volcano in Hawaii and the view from the top of Mt. Quandry in Colorado).
As for the fauna… there were plenty of horses, donkeys and camels… oh my.
Day 8 – After one last dip in the Red Sea, we headed up along the Dead Sea and into Masada. This is the fortress built on a Judean Mountain-top plateau which was built in the time of Herod (1st century BC) and was captured by the Romans. The Jewish Rebels took it back and used it as the final line of defense against the siege by Romans. When defeat became imminent, the 1000 Jewish defenders staged a mass suicide in order to die in the name of god rather than be taken into slavery by the Romans. There’s something very tragic about this place…
Headed to Jerusalem through the West Bank and – it’s beautiful but I was slightly nervous.
In Jerusalem, we had the best shwarma ever for dinner… made a mess as usual ;-)
Day 9 – We had to fit a lot of sightseeing into a small window today as it was Friday and Jerusalem shuts down at 2pm on Fridays. We checked out the Old City – The Kotel (Western Wall) and Temple Mount (from a far as Jews are not allowed in), The Armenian Quarter, The Jewish Quarter, The Arab Souk (we did a little shopping :), and the majestic Migdal David (Tower of David).
After touring the Old City we concluded our day trip with a gut-wrenching visit to Yad Vashem (‘a memorial and a name’) to pay our respects to the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. As we finished up our tour, we got a panicky call from my Safta saying ‘there was an attack in Jerusalem and that we are to head home immediately…’ oy! We never did find out what happened there but security was cracked up another notch (if that’s even a possibility).
Day 10 – Happy Birthday Saba!!! This is the day of my grandfather's 80th birthday celebration and the reason of our visit to Israel. We joined 30 of my grandparents’ closest friends and family at Haiim’s Restaurant for traditional Romanian home cooking.
Day 11 – last day at the beach L… My mom, Alan and I caught one last opportunity for beach time before the big meal at my grandparents’ which was our last chance to eat before the Yom Kippur fast.
After gorging myself on a combination of hummus, Turkish salad, burekahs (filo stuffed w/ cheese, meat or potato), chopped liver, eggplant salad, chicken soup, Israeli schnitzel, ktzizot (fried meat patties), chips (Romanian fries), Sarmaleh (stuffed cabbage), homemade chocolate ice cream, and chocolate tort, I thought I was going to explode… instead, I committed myself to the 26 hour Yom Kippur fast and headed out to Synagogue for Kol Nidre – even Alan came along if you can believe it.
After about ten minutes, I went out for a much needed long walk with Alan and my mom to check out the streets of Ramat Gan on Yom Kippur… which is like nothing you’ve ever experienced. A major shopping street, usually bustling with cars, buses and people taking care of their daily errands, is now bustling with kids on tricycles and bikes, while the adults walk around catching up with their neighbors.
On Yom Kippur, all of Israel shuts down… not a car in the street, no broadcasts on TV, no Café open… nothing! Even 144 (like our 411) is closed for the holiday… it’s pretty cool… for a little while.
Day 12 – BORDEOM – nothing is open!!!
Slept late, broke our fast around 11am (hey, we made it about 18 hrs.) Now I’m just futzing around online while Alan is catching some z’s. Today’s plan is to get packed up for our departure early tomorrow – we’ll be spending the day and night in Paris where we plan to celebrate our 4th anniversary in what many consider the most Romantic city in the world -- escargots, here we come!!!
We’ve finally checked into a hotel and were able to get online (up to now we were at my grandparents) so here are a few highlights from our trip to so far… with pictures :)
Day .5 – Took train into Paris during our 7 hour lay over… had lunch (very yummy)… walked around… came back to Charles D’Gaulle – short and sweet.
Day 1 – we headed straight to the beach in Tel Aviv which was as beautiful as I remembered… the water was so blue and the sand super soft but damn was it hot. So freakin’ hot and dry. We were so thirsty and jetlagged and were happy to find a café on the beach because we were craving an iced coffee like you wouldn’t believe.
Well, fluency is in the ears of the beholder because what I thought was an iced coffee when I ordered it, actually turned out to be a mocha milkshake – great milkshake – but not exactly what we were thirsty for.
Day 2 – drove our rented car up to the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee)… our aim was to find a rigorous hike but unfortunately the nature reserve we were hoping to check out was closing early as it was erev Rosh Hashanah (the eve of the Jewish new year) so we drove around for a bit and came upon a trail head (Z’avitan). We were feeling adventurous so we parked the car and headed out on the trail. The terrain was pretty rigorous but fun – although the book warns that many hikers have died there (we only read that part after the hike… oops).
We found a sweet little spot on the Kinneret to relax after our hike – – which is made up of a large patch of grass and lots of little rocks that make it a little hard to walk into the water. We swam around a bit in the fresh water and played backgammon on the nearby grass under the tall palms… I beat Alan :)… good times.
Day 3 – After a big Rosh Hashanah lunch at Saba and Safta’s (grandparents), we went into Herzliya (my hometown) to show Alan the house and neighborhood I grew up in, and to check out the the beach and marina. It was an emotional moment as I saw one of my most treasured memories – the sun setting over the Mediterranean..
Day 4 – Probably the worst day of the trip – my Safta arranged for me and Alan to take a tour of the Dan region and the Golan Heights… my dad decided to tag along. What was supposed to be a small tour of ‘young people’ ended up being two huge tour buses full of the AARP set who needed 15 minute bathroom/smoking breaks every hour. The Dan region turned out to be pretty cool… the three of us ditched the group and took off on our own to explore the Paradise Trail which went along the Dan Stream (flows into the Jordon River) and Ancient Dan – I decided to sit on Herod’s Throne just so I can say ‘I rule’… hee hee.
Unfortunately a few of the other ‘youngsters’ split off from the group as well and got lost so we departed from Dan an hour late. So… while the tour headliner was initially supposed to be the Golan Heights, the bus only when about 2/3 up the mountain before the tour organizers made him turn around to head back. We weren’t even given the opportunity to get off the bus to explore or snap a few pictures – MAJOR bummer. While the lunch that followed in a nearby Kibbutz somewhat satiated the three of us, it did nothing to stop the other ‘youngsters’ from complaining the entire (3 hr) drive back to Tel Aviv.
Day 5 - On our way to Eilat we stopped at the Dead Sea… which as you may know is the lowest point in the world at 412 meters below sea level and it is so dense with salt that no living organism can inhabit it (hence the name). The high salt content also causes any swimmer to be as buoyant as a boat. It was fun seeing Alan experience it for the first time – it’s such a cool experience… must be close to what zero gravity feels like in outer space.
The rest of the drive to Eilat was so beautiful – the setting sun reflects off the Jordanian mountains which makes them glow a vibrant red… when they reflect off the surface of the waters in the it gives the waters a reddish tint which is how the sea gets its name.
Day 6 – Today was the funnest day of the trip so far… I snorkelled among the coral reefs and Alan was finally able to scuba dive – check out the picture of the crazy moray eel he came across.
That’s it for now… I have to run, its time for dinner.
I have a blog... it took me a couple of years but I finally realized that it's actually a pretty genius idea. I'm going to use it to document my travels for the next three weeks instead of sending separate emails to friends and family, or writing in my own journal. We'll see how I do and if this will actually stick and become a habit post-vacation... baby steps.
