Larry Goes Holy (Land)

My Trip to Israel April 3-10, 2015 

 

Tel Aviv skyline 

 By Larry Brown

 Day 1 : Transaero Air is not as bad as I feared! Lots of leg room. Good news, the new Russian terminal Vnukovo is modern with no smoking.   Last time I was in Moscow getting Suzannah in 2007, the other airport reminded me of a 1950's bus terminal, but not as nice, with mandatory smoking.    Everyone was enjoying their smokes! I lost 3 years of my life.
       Because of my arrival in Israel on a Shabbos there was no public transportation. Even the buses and trains in Israel are orthodox Jews! (who knew?) So I got stuck with a $50 cab ride to Tel Aviv.
       My room, found on Airbnb was small with a private toilet/shower Room (same Room), sink and fridge. It was the smallest room available outside a prison cell. 
       My biggest fear about going over Passover is that all over Israel I'd only be able to get matzo and water...maybe if I snuck out after dark to the Arab quarter I could get a late night shish-kebab. Not to worry...plenty of bread everywhere! 

        Beautiful beach in Tel Aviv. Reminded me a lot of Miami Beach. It had a  promenade with street musicians and hawkers. I especially loved an Arab baker selling rolls out of his truck, yelling "Bakery! Bakery!" I thought, “how cruel!? Doing this over Passover is like bringing an ice cream truck to a weight loss spa. Not fair! "(To be honest the fresh rolls were a little too fluffy and the sesame seeds on them weren't as good as onion...or so I was told.) 
I went into the cool ocean water with lots of swimmers and surfers. It felt especially good knowing it was about 30 degrees in Syracuse. 

I enjoyed my first falafel. 

 You get the falafel dry and then tell the cook which toppings (about 12) to put on top. Use the Hebrew or Arab words, or point like I did. Yum! This and the "mixed salad" was my favorite food. 

       When you order “mixed salad”, or sometimes get served it gratis at a fancier place, you get a half cup of each of the following on a small plate, to share with your party. 

 The 8 mixed salads I carefully identified: Hummus, Beets, Salsa, Mushrooms with red onions,beans and parsley or cilantro (not sure) Shredded cabbage w/ vinegar (sometimes white sometimes purple) Shredded Carrot and oranges, Cauliflower with onions in Tahini, Chopped Spinach in Tahini (PS I am guessing a little and if anyone knows what the heck they were go ahead and add a comment.) 

 Day 2: Tour Bus to Northern Israel. There was a bus pick-up, and then transfer at a meeting point to one of 6 buses, each one going to a different tour. Mine was northern tour. I was told to go to "Bus 3". But..,,,there was no "Bus 3". Bus 3 had already left....The tour operator tried to get me to do a different tour...but I was not dissuaded...so they called the Bus 3 driver who had left too soon. (He thought he had all his passengers.) He pulled over 5 miles ahead. Another driver grabbed a small empty bus and took just me to join up. As you can imagine, the other passengers were delighted to sit by the side of the road and wait for me. When I got on the bus and said "hello" you could hear a pin drop... 
     On to Caesarea. This was a large Roman port from 2000 years ago. 

It had a large population. Its highlight is a Roman amphitheater,

now rebuilt and used for concerts; and a chariot racing hippodrome.

 About one fifth of hippodrome stands. Very cool. Then to Haifa To a beautiful view on Mt. Carmel for a quick view of Baha’i gardens. This is a holy shrine in Baha’i. Is Mr. Baha’i buried there? Unknown.      Lovely garden.

       Next up to Lebanon border to Rosh HaNikra. Limestone grottos on the coast with sea water coming in. Reminded me of Acadia’s Thunderhole times 5 with white cliffs.

 An Israeli war ship stood guard. Lots of families because all kids had the week off for Passover. Unlike the other sites, this was a natural wonder. Water splashes on rocks and makes holes...Jewish Thunder hole...seen it....probably could have skipped this one.  

         Our final stop was Acco, a town with a big medieval fort built about 1200. 

 At the falafel group lunch I there was almost an international incident when one large, New York City resident, typical “ugly American” pilgrim from an evangelical church asked the yarmulke wearing proprietor of the kosher restaurant if she could have some “real food... like fried chicken or shrimp or French fries!” Fortunately there was chicken schnitzel and French fries available, so a crisis was averted. Some people perhaps should not travel… The fort was interesting too...our chubby American instigator returned to the tour bus, probably after being told there would be no real food like fried chicken or shrimp at the castle, so what was the point? I was happy to see her go. My biggest surprise...saw only one orthodox Jew all day; where were they hiding? That night I roamed the open air cafes of Jaffa, reminded me of Paris quite a bit. This is the “flea market” area of Jaffa. Live music, lots of restaurants, shops, ice cream, this was the hip and happening scene. I was hip and happening. Rug makers making handmade rugs, Judaica shops and hookah bars added to the atmosphere to let you know you weren’t in Kansas anymore! 

 Day 3: Tel Aviv...to see a tour of Jaffa the ancient port. This 3000 year old port still has a small port area, a fortress, and is home to many artisans. This is where Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
Then some Lamb Shawarma

and a tour of modern Tel Aviv and its neighborhoods;  I especially liked: In 1860's a group from Jonesport, Maine tried to establish a colony there....anyhow it failed after five years. Apparently lobster fishing just doesn't work in the Mediterranean. For the true story, see:
 http://www.jpost.com/Local-Israel/An-American-colony-in-Jaffa.
     The holy site I was looking for was the Ben and Jerry selling 2 Passover flavored ice creams...charoset and chocolate matzo. While I did eat ice cream a few times, I never found this Holy Grail. I did find Ben and Jerry’s, but not the special flavors. 
      I visited the first Jewish old neighborhoods first settled. Then ended the day at Independence Hall. (Not sure how renown this is...I asked two groups of local people where it was..I was practically right on top of it, but I walked by it the first time. Neither group had a clue.) Finally found it, non-descript concrete office building. Closed.      P.S. Independence Hall in Philadelphia doesn't have anything to worry about in a popularity contest. 
            
       Tried to get on the right bus to Jerusalem. I asked the local bus driver to notify me of the bus station, but he missed telling me my stop. It is not obvious. So I left from a suburban station that was probably halfway to Jerusalem already. 
      Jerusalem really amazing...huge ancient city and fortress.

And I discovered where the Orthodox Jews were…this is the place. Oh my goodness, If you look good in black and like to pray, this is the place for you. My landlady at this airbnb was the quintessential cat lady. She had five of her own and then visited every cat in the Old City, her pockets full of cat food. She took it on as a personal mission to care for all the feral cats. She answered the door saying “I can’t shake your hand because I’m an orthodox Jew and also I am mixing up cat food and there’s cat food all over my hands.” This should have been my tip-off that my host was a bit crazy. She lived in Jewish quarter and had emigrated here 20 years ago from Baltimore. She supplements her tour guide income by being an Airbnb host...but because she was strictly kosher the kitchen was off limits. Seeing that the kitchen smelled like cat food, I was just as happy not to eat at her residence.

       Being a tour guide she helped me plan activities. Tuesday I went to the farmers market Yehuda Market. (Enjoyed delicious dates and halvah. Went to a citadel at Jaffa Gate in Old City called Tower of David (not to be confused with City of David outside the wall…more about this later.) A good history of the Old City. Then took a long walking tour that included the Church of Holy Sepulcher,

 Arab Markets, Tomb of David and. Room of Last Supper, (sparse, no supper being served)

,Temple Mount,

 and Wailing Wall. 

 Pilgrims galore in old city, from all over the world. Quite a spectacle, just the people themselves! Lots of praying and singing in the churches. The Temple Mount is a sore spot between the Arabs and the Jews. Whenever the religious Jews were up there, the Arab ladies chanted “Allah Akbar” continuously. It means “God is Great” but in the context of their yelling it means “Go Away.” Israeli soldiers about 3 per group of ten religious Jews surround the Jews to keep them from being disruptive and for their own protection. They are not allowed to pray up there, closest to the old temple, now gone, and replaced by the Dome of the Rock. Nobody but Muslims can go inside the Dome. Security was tight, and they take away Jewish prayer books and religious items…they even took away my box of chocolate matzo I purchased earlier in the day…I retrieved it 2 days later!
      The Western Wall was hopping: busy all during Passover with thousands of people. Here’s me: That night I went to Israeli museum saw the Dead Sea scrolls. Frankly, as the whole Old City is an archeological site, I probably could have skipped this modern museum that was a bus ride away in new Jerusalem…I did get to see the Knesset building in the same vicinity as a bonus though. On Wednesday I took a bus tour to Masada and the Dead Sea. We took a cable car up, which made the trip a lot faster than climbing. Plus it was hot, nearly 90. Neat site of old fort that the Romans captured about 2000 years ago.

 This is where the 1,000 Jews committed suicide when 15,000 Romans had them surrounded. I thought they jumped off the cliff, but the facts are that they picked ten of their group to kill the others, and then those ten killed themselves. This is a picture of the complex of Masada.

 This is what the mighty warriors ate at the McDonald’s at the bottom.

 The Dead Sea is not much fun to swim in, like swimming in gravy! Plus ten times the salt so it burns any cuts, hurts your eyes and lips. The bottom is crusty hard salt that is hard on the feet. To sum up: go there once, but it’s not the place to swim or relax. Here is a picture from the Dead Sea.

 The shoreline has receded quite a bit from where it was 20 years ago. Take a look. 

 Came home and went to pedestrian mall/ outdoor cafe area, Ben Yehuda street, about a mile from Old City. Lots of modern stores, outdoor cafes, street musicians. Enjoyed a kosher vegetarian restaurant on a rooftop of a place on a back alley. Most bizarre location you could imagine, but it was tasty (spicy eggplant and egg dish!) Thursday. Tour of Western Wall tunnels. Learned a lot about the construction and history. You actually get closer here and the temple mount to the original temple’s location…but since you cannot pray at the Temple Mount, this is the place to pray if you want to be one hundred feet closer to the Lord. Then I toured the City of David remains from 3000 years ago. This is an archaeological site outside the walls of the Old City. The coolest part: you walk through an ancient hand dug water tunnel; it is a dark tunnel in one to two feet of water 1/4 mile. This is not the place for claustrophobics. Finished the day seeing more of the Old City: there are literally 20 other smaller sites and museums to see. Some are ancient. Some are relating to Israel’s War of Independence. Because of the last day of Passover the sites closed early, so I had my last falafel and caught a shared bus to the airport. IN CONCLUSION: If you like archeology, or Jewish history, or Christian history, or wearing a kippa, or walking up and down lots of stairs, Israel is the place for you! I give it high marks and would go back to see more of the sites I missed. I may even go back just for the falafels!