Israel: Part 2

HAIFA

A brief overview of the port city of Haifa on our way to Acre included a photo stop at Mt. Carmel and a breathtaking view of Haifa Bay.  The golden dome of Haifa's Baha'i Shrine is pictured in its gardens.  The Baha’i faith numbers over 5 million people worldwide and holds this site as sacred.

The current town of Nazareth is located about 20 miles away from here.  Strangely, Nazareth did not exist as a town until about 80 AD and did not flourish as a city until about 300 AD.

  Given this, some scholars believe Mt. Carmel was the original home of a few hundred married Essenes, or the Nazoreans of Mt. Carmel as they were known. It is reported to have been a cooperative family village where “Jesus, the Nazorean”, as Paul referred to him, was likely to have been raised.  Haifa, including Mt. Carmel, is now about 300,000 people, many of whom are Christians and Muslims.

ACRE (aka AKKO)

Situated on the northernmost point of Haifa Bay, is the amazing UNESCO World Heritage Site of Acre (Akko).  I tend to be a bit of a Knights Templar junkie, given all of the gothic cathedrals throughout Europe either financed by or built by the order, so this excursion was particularly interesting to me.

It was Baldwin I who led the First Crusade to the Holy Land, captured Jerusalem from the Saracens (Muslims) and rescued Christ’s sepulcher from the “infidels” in 1099 AD. 

 Years later the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon (aka Knights Templar), the Knights Hospitallers, the Knights of St. John and the Teutonic Knights found themselves in a bit of a mess and had to escape to Cypress through Acre in 1291 AD.  But in the many years before their escape, Acre was the Knights Templar’s main three-walled-moated-fortress for protecting arriving European pilgrims. 

It was here they built three sea ports for Genoa, Venice and Pisa and created a vibrant merchant enterprise on top of what lay beneath.

The knights’ underground city, discovered by accident and opened to the public at various time during in the 1990’s, is a staggering find.   Rubble was cleared from beneath the city streets to reveal a series of vaulted rooms called the Crusader Halls, which lead to the Refectory (dining hall ... table and chairs are not original).

Part of this underground city was known as the Hospitaller Quarter because it was there that the knights received their medical care.

Also referred to as the Crypt, it is a true representation of Crusader architecture. Near to the Crypt is a stairway which leads to a long underground passage that is thought to be an escape tunnel that was built by the Crusaders in order to reach the port during attacks by Muslim forces.

Returning to the surface was a welcomed relief, after the narrow passages and low ceilings of the tunnels, and put us the middle of Acre's long and colorful Ottoman period.

P.S.  As a piece of trivia … the country we now refer to as Israel was actually two kingdoms back in the day - Israel to the north and Judah to the south.  King David united them and his son, King Solomon, was able to keep the kingdom together during his reign.  Eventually their belief systems and cultural differences caused them to once again separate. Judah was originally settled by nomadic Semites from today’s Jordan.  Israel was originally settled by escaping Egyptian slaves from the Exodus. [In this regard, there’s a whole biblical thing regarding two of Jacob’s (aka Israel) sons, Joseph (mother: Rachel) and Judah (mother: Leah), but I’ll save that for another time.]  For now, I think it’s interesting to note that some hold an esoteric meaning to the name "Israel" to have been derived from:  IS (from the Egyptian goddess, Isis), RA (from the Egyptian Sun God, Ra), and EL (from the northern kingdom’s god, Elohim).

 Later, Bill.

Israel: Part 1

JERUSALEM

It was a tug, but key to our decision to pass up the opportunity to visit Jerusalem was the fact that we had visited the various religious sites associated with Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and wandered the cobbled streets and crowded markets on a prior trip.

The Dome of The Rock, where Mohammed is said to have ascended into heaven, now occupies the Temple Mount where once stood the First and Second Temples of the Hebrews.  Below this mosque you can see the wall surrounding the old city of Jerusalem.  This photo is taken from near the Mount of Olives toward the Essene Gate. 

We concluded our time in Israel could best be spent exploring elsewhere.

But to talk about other parts of Israel without describing the magic that is Jerusalem, seems a little anti-climactic.  So let’s do this.

During the last two weeks Jodi Magness, a highly credentialed professor of archaeology at UNC, presented 6 amazing lectures on the Ancient Near East.  Among three other women from Jerusalem, she is featured in a fantastic documentary on Jerusalem (link to video below).  If you’re so inclined and have a spare 45 minutes watch it, it’s well worth your time. 

http://www.jerusalemthemovie.com/

Dragging Your Asp to the Nile at Dawn …

Boarding the buses at 6:30 a.m. for a 13 hour adventure came awfully early.  But that’s the price you pay if you want to go from the Red Sea to Nile River and visit the town of Luxor (aka Thebes by the Greeks) and surrounding ancient Egyptian Temples.

Miles and miles of barren mountains and sand stretched ahead of us as we drove through the Eastern Desert.  Our guide explained we were driving through the home of the Egyptian Bedouins. 

These people need to be self-sufficient.  What was surprising, however, was their expertise with natural medicine and dealing with the hazards of their environment:  snakes, scorpions and the like. Small children can be found playing with scorpions and they don’t get harmed.  That’s because they are given tiny doses of venom from cobras and scorpions as newborns (before 14 days old) as a sort of vaccination.  The only poison that can’t be controlled is a bite from the black viper.  The Bedouins leave these guys alone.  

Our bus contained 22 passengers, one guide, two drivers and one body guard.  This guy had a “side arm” about the size of a piece of firewood.  I think it was an Uzi, at least this was the consensus of people who really didn’t know.   If this wasn’t enough security, we passed about a dozen police check points flanked by raised, enclosed platforms containing armed “soldiers”.  Riding along I felt reasonably secure by this. Seems like the the Egyptians are serious about their three months of Marshall Law.  One of the older passengers, however, claimed that all of these people were terrorists and reacted accordingly.  Funny thing about getting old - you become both non-cognitive and incontinent at the same time.   

About 45 minutes from our scheduled arrival time at Luxor, the desert sand was replaced by rich fertile soil and rows and rows of crops and other vegetation.  You might think this is because of the annual flooding of the Nile, but you’d be wrong.  It seems the Nile was dammed up some time ago, resulting in a giant lake used to control of the flood waters.  Now about 30 miles on both sides of the Nile there is a system of “distributaries” that distribute the Nile water to a wide swath of fertile ground.  This coupled with an evaporation and rain cycle continues to keep the Nile valley green.

Also, are the never ending, partially completed homes in route. The official reason given is: as long as the home remains unfinished, no taxes are levied.  I think it has more to do about Muslims being prohibited from borrowing money and paying interest.  Anyway, they seem to be happy, enjoying each other, their animals and way of life.

Finally, after 3 ½ hours we made it to the Luxor ... 

And the Luxor Museum. 

View of the River Nile from museum plaza.

This was great, my favorite event of the day (fn from Pat – probably because it was air-conditioned … fn from Bill, no really). The artifacts and statutes of many Pharaohs including Ramses II and Amenhotep III were presented there including my favorite Pharaoh Amenhotep IV who reigned between 1352 and 1334 BCE (who BTW changed his name to Akhenaten) and his Queen, Nefertiti.  Except for Madeline and other Egyptologists, a little known fact is that Akhenaten gave up Egypt’s traditional pantheon of gods and worshiped a single god, the Sun god Aten, hence the name change.  This Egyptian Pharaoh, represented here with the sun disk and sun rays, may very well have been the first monotheist.  

So “Roll Over Beethoven” ... and Abraham.

Pharaoh Akenhaten 

Pharaoh Akenhaten 

There are a number of links to Hebrew / Egyptian culture / religion.  One worth noting is on one of the walls at Akenhaten's capital city, Armana.  There, the longest and best rendition of a composition known as the “Hymn to Aten” is said to have been written by Akhenaten himself.  Its similarity to and possible source of the creation represented in Psalm 104 has long been noted.  It sums up the whole ethos of the Aten cult and especially the concept that only Akhenaten had direct access to the god, Aten.  

Check out the similarities.  Just sayin’.

Next was a visit to the largest religious structure ever built, the Temple of Karnak.  The hieroglyphics are carved into plaster; not chiseled into stone.  Many scenes on the exterior depict the Pharaohs’ triumph over the Hebrews, Assyrians, etc.  The interior scenes depict the Pharaohs’ relation to their gods.

Above, the obelisk of Pharaoh Hatshepsut was broken by her successors because of gender.  Somethings never change.

This was followed by The Temple of Luxor right around the corner.  Amazing day!

As I leave you we have crossed the Suez Canal and found 

our way to the Mediterranean and Jerusalem for Easter. 

Time to say good-bye to our new southern friends and ship’s “Auxiliary Guard.”

See you in Jerusalem.

Our Day with King Abdullah II

If you head north in the Red Sea long enough you'll run into the Sinai Peninsula. Bear to the West and you'll be heading to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal.  We'll do that in a couple of days.  Bear to the East and you'll enter the Gulf of Aqaba.  All the way at the end you'll arrive at our third port-of-call, and Jordan's only access to the open sea, Aqaba.

Pat and I decided to take on Aqaba differently.  

Being wise, my day at the Intercontinental Aqaba ...

'nough said.

Being energetic, Pat writes about her day in Petra, Jordan:

What an amazing place!  Its selection as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World is well-deserved.  In addition to its biblical history as a place where Moses struck a rock and produced water, the ancient city was also the capital of the Nabataean kingdom.  Nabataeans were semi-nomadic people who migrated to Jordan in the 6^th and 5^th centuries B.C.   They were skilled builders and carved their city out of sheer rock.  Petra was forgotten, except by the nomadic Bedouin tribes, until the early 19^th century when a Swiss explorer visited the ruins.

It is simply stunning.  It is also poor city planning, since the several mile walk into Petra is downhill, which means you have to trudge uphill all the way back out. 

Some of you may remember Petra from the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”  After you walk about a mile, you enter a crevice in the cliffs (The Siq) :

You walk for another mile until you get to an opening.  As you go through, there is The Treasury:

This was a famous scene in the movie, and is more spectacular in person.  Remember, these buildings are all carved out of solid rock.  There are a number of other monuments by continuing the walk, including The Royal Tombs and The Bab Al Siq.

Many of our fellow passengers bailed on the walking and hired camels, burros, horses, or horse-drawn rickety carriages. 

Not me.  I decided to walk the whole way.  I feel it today! 

The Bedouins make this 6-7 mile walk every day, to sell trinkets or play music for spare change.  Some are quite elderly:

Loving this trip so far.  

Salalah Land …

Salahah, Oman, aka “Frankincense Land” and “the perfume capital of Arabia”, is much like you’d expect to see in this part of the world. Human scaled buildings constructed of concrete block made of local sand as the aggregate and cement.  Except for a few colorful signs in Arabic and English at the marketplace everything is the color of sand – tan.

Somewhat unique to the Arab world is how green parts of the country are.  July, August and September is consider their monsoon season which allow the valley or "wadi" to become lush with vegetation.  This rain is captured and used for general irrigation and farming. 

The Sultanate began its reemergence in 1970 when H.M. Sultan Quaboos bin Said assumed the throne from his father after a friendly takeover.  Educated in England, Sultan Quaboos brought the country “out of darkness,” as he characterized it, and set it on a path as a global player in the Arab world.  Improved infrastructure, schools and public facilities have created a renewed sense of pride in his people and their apparent devotion to the Sultan.  

Among his many accomplishments is a Mosque named in his honor.  It’s smaller than the Grand Mosque of Sheikh Zayed of Abu Dhabi, but impressive none-the-less and with its temperature set for about 3,000 Muslims in prayer, a welcome oasis for the incredible heat outside.

Frankincense, a resin obtained from the sap of the Frankincense tree, it is used for birthday gifts (or at least one), an incense fragrance, for medicinal purposes including being placed in drinking water for general well-being, and as an oil to alleviate joint pain. We tried one variety used as a chewing gum.  Trident need not worry.  

The market is always a fun place to visit to get a sense of local life.  It’s not just a spot for tourists, but also a place where locals hang out.

And at the end of "Market Street" you'll stumble across one of the most beautiful beaches around.  No wonder the Sultan keeps his summer home here.

Thankfully we made it out of the pirate waters without incident.  Right now we’re in the Red Sea on our way to Aqaba, Jordan, about 900 miles away.  Pat’s going to hike the 5 miles across rough terrain into Petra.  I’m going to lay by a local hotel pool, read a book and enjoy the day.  If I wanted to see Petra, I could watch “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” … you know, the temple housing the “holy grail.” 

Stay tuned.  

Orange Papa, Orange Papa, Orange Papa

Hi,

On the last blog I signed off with the comment that we were headed to a security drill.  We in fact did.  It seemed well thought out suggesting that we should make sure all balcony lights were turned off and our drapes drawn as we pass through these waters at night.  The crew has been thoroughly briefed on its responsibilities and we have brought armed guards on board for a few days.  Somali pirates seem to like expensive cargo in small ships, not cruise lines.

The briefing went on to say if we heard the code words “Orange Papa,” we should move away from the windows to the center of the ship and if we were in our cabins we should evacuate them and make our way to the hall.  In either case we should lie down in case the captain had to make quick turning evasive moves. 

I love the way people name military-type operations.  I’m just imagining a few of them sitting around a table after deciding what to do asking, “What shall we call it?”

“How about, Operation Pirate?”

“No, that's too long and cumbersome.”

“How about just using just the initials O.P.?”

“Great, let’s put a military spin on it and called it “Orange Papa”.  That way it will be easy to say, effective - and at the same time honor the President of the United States.”

All’s fine here.  I’ll post soon regarding Oman.  We turned the corner, are now in the Gulf of Aden and headed toward Red Sea. 

Later.  


P.S,  We get the news on board and are well aware of what's happening in Syria.

Land of the Gazelle, UAE …

After a quick 22 hour flight (including layovers in Charlotte and Heathrow) we arrived in Abu Dhabi, UAE totally exhausted.  But what the heck, we were then on their clock and able to close our eyes about 12:30 am for the first time in 33 hours. 

The next morning, we forced ourselves to take a whirlwind tour of the Land of the Gazelle (as Abu Dhabi means in Arabic), thinking that it would help us adjust to the time change.  Didn’t work … nap time came early.

At breakfast we saw couples and families from all parts of the globe eating together.  Arabian women were dressed in various forms of attire and modesty, from western styled long sleeved blouses with long pants and scarves to abayas to those wearing fully enveloping burkas; and western women dressed in … well, not so much, presenting a clash of cultures which, surprisingly, went unchallenged.

Above, our hotel, the Yas Viceroy, is set right in the middle of Ferrari World and its  Formula One Racetrack Central, pictured below. 

A view from our room 

Two things were immediately apparent when we ventured outside of our air conditioned hotel: Abu Dhabi is eerily perfect and incredibly hot. The thing about the latter is, no matter how many date palms, flowers, shrubs, patches of grass and the necessary irrigation system that line the miles and miles of the 8-lane-boulevard on the way to the Grand Mosque try to say it isn’t so, it’s the desert after all.  So you should expect the heat, right? BUT in the name of Allah, it’s early April.  The thing about the former is, I enjoy travel to see the blending of history and modern life. Now, I like contemporary architecture as well as most modernists, but the architecture that is preserved over time expresses the culture that once was. It ain’t happenin’ here.

The only spot in the city reclaimed from the Persian Gulf after the 1958 discovery of oil, is a representation of the life supported by fishing, gathering of pearls and cultivation of dates located at Heritage Village shown below.

From there you can look across the water and take a giant leap into the future, as sand is pushed further into the Persian Gulf.

Skyscrapers, erratic forms of buildings for their own sake, and every form of opulence you can imagine come into view.  

You mean you can’t have a cup of coffee laced with eatable gold at your local Starbucks? You mean your local policemen don’t drive Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Rolls Royce sedans to capture the criminals who don’t exist? You mean the cost of your hometown’s most famous hotel (The Emirates Palace pictured below) didn’t cost 3 billion dollars? You'd better get with the program.

I grew up thinking that Texans always tried to do things bigger and better than the rest of the world. They didn’t even come close.  It’s the national pastime in Abu Dhabi.  

Skeikh Zayed took up this banner by constructing the Grand Mosque, an exquisite Carrara marble clad, 82 domed structure that holds 20,000 praying Muslims on its inlaid marble entry court and 10,000 inside on the world's largest carpet.

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, is in competition with everyone on the planet, especially the other six Emirates, for the tallest, the largest, and the best of everything … best provider of housing, education, health care - you name it, their citizens have it. 

And there’s the rub.  Abu Dhabi is supported by many immigrants from India, Nepal, Pakistan, and other neighboring countries who are given a two-year work visa.  At the end of two years if they are still employed … great, their visas are renewed for two more years.  If not, it’s time to go back home.  For the most part their lives are better off than back home, so that’s something. But for them everything is incredibly expensive. For example, our tour guide was for Cochin, India.  He has lived and worked in Abu Dhabi for 17 years.  He has a single room and shares a kitchen and bathroom with 3 other people.  His rent is $1,000 US per month.

 

I’m quite sure our 32 hours stay in Abu Dhabi didn’t begin to scratch the surface, but it was fascinating never-the-less.

Better sign off now.  They’re calling us to a drill of what we should do in case of a pirate attack. See you in Oman.