Been There Done That Too…

Israel

// October 26th, 1996 // Israel, Passage To Africa

After a wonderful day and 2 nights sailing on the Marco Polo, and falling completely in love with the ship and the people who run her, we reach Ashdod, Israel. A fairly non-descript container port for the most part. I did find it fairly interesting thought that Israeli Security checked everyone and their passport personally and instead of stamping our passport, stamped a piece of paper we had to keep with our passport until they took it back from us at the end of the day. The reason: if you have an Israeli stamp on your passport there’s a whole list of countries you can’t enter – including Egypt and Jordan. I was wondering how they were going to get around that!

First, let me remark on how nice and hospitable the Israeli people are – they’re wonderful (and no, I’m not Jewish). Second, I don’t understand why the rest of Israel can’t get along the way the inhabitents of the Old City do. You have Orthodox Greeks, Arab Muslims, Jews, and Chrisitians all living in a very small confined area – and everyone coexists very nicely, and respects each others beliefs. All are very quick to point out that any trouble that happens here – is done by outsiders, and after being there I believe it.

The Old City itself is made up of remarkable twists and turns, cobbled streets and it is very easy to imagine what the Old City was like thousands of years ago. I don’t think it’s changed much. One dissappointment though was the Church of the Holy Seplecure was having some extensive restoration done on its domed ceiling, which made it extremely dark inside, not to mention we couldn’t see the artistry in the dome. As we arrived at the Church, one interesting thing we did get to see at the was a processiong of Greek Orthodox Priests preforming a ceremony. After the Church we wound our way around to the Wailing Wall, and after that through the Muslim Quarter. I’m not sure the Muslim Quarter was a great “before lunch” destination, one hallmark of the quarter was it’s freshly butchered meat hanging in shop windows and doors, and the blood running down the gutter is the alleys. We left the Old City and drove up to the top of the Mount of Olives for lunch at the world famous hotel there.

The short drive there was interesting because of a number of churches and other religious site on the way there. At the top of the Mount of Olives there is a comanding view of Jerusalem, showing the Old City in the foreground with it’s castellated walls and gold dome, and the sprawling modern Jerusalem with its highrise buildings in the background.

Sidenote: If you go to Jerusalem try the bread – especially the pitas, and a wonderful round dinner roll with a crisp outside and melt in your mouth inside. I’ve never had bread this good.

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