Masada, Hisham Palace and Petra

 Masada, The Dead Sea (Israeli side) and the Hisham Palace (West Bank - Jericho)

Saturday was another great day.  We went to Masada, had a swim in the Dead Sea and visited the astonishing and unexpected Hisham Palace in Jericho. 

Masada is an extraordinary mountain with sheer rocky faces on all sides.  It has a rocky summit plateau that is much bigger than expected.

Many of us have watched the Masada movies and miniseries, but I felt that there was much more to Masada than the brave last stand by the fanatical band of Jews at the end of the great revolt against Rome in the 1^st Century BCE. 

Firstly, Herod the Great chose this as a place to build a vast defensive fort and palace.   There are plenty of the ruins visible, and enough to give you a sense of what it must have been like 2000 years ago.  The most preserved aspects were Herod’s multi-level palace state rooms at one end of the plateau that must have been magnificent.

Looking down on the lower sections of Herod's Palace

The path down to the lower section was shut due to a rockslide

A model of how they believe the palace may have looked

The other amazing aspect was the water engineering.  Water was channeled down to great cisterns at the base of the mountain, which could hold a year’s worth of water supplies – including for the extensive baths.  Of course slaves are thought to have had the job of schlepping down the mountain to collect the water.

The surrounding roman encampments, from the siege, have been excavated and you can see them from the top.  You can also see a giant earthen slope that the Romans built to bring up equipment and soldiers to assault the fort.

The largest of the roman encampment remains

The views of the surrounding arid lands and the Dead Sea from the plateau and the cable car were superb.  It was so hot that the walking paths to the top had been closed.  Walking down was not even permitted.

Ash teaching David how to corrupt wild birds with biscuits

The stunning channels of erosion as occasional water heads for the much diminished Dead Sea

After the heat of Masada, we went to the Dead Sea for a swim, which we loved.  Ash had arranged for us to go to this private beach with bars, restaurants and music being pumped out, which was a quirky experience. 

I am still smiling about the first experience of floating on water – it’s a bizarre and exhilarating feeling.  The water was quite warm until you were able to get into deeper water.  The roped off swimming area was also quite small, and there were a lot of people, so the water was pretty murky.  We got to swim in the Dead Sea again in Jordan a few days later at our resort, which was much less crowded and the water was clear. 

Last up on this wonderful day was the incomparable Hisham’s Palace in Jericho.  It was built in the mid-8^th century CE during the Umayyad dynasty. It has the most complete mosaic floors that we’ve seen (even though they were damaged by an earthquake), and which are nearly 1300 years old.  It’s amazing how much they have retained their colours after all this time.

Lemons and a knife

 

The skill in the geometric pattern is extraordinary

All the mosaics are stunning but the Tree of Life is the star of the show. 

Ash explained that it’s rare to find Islamic mosaics this old. They depict animals, whereas mosaics from later periods do not.

The Japanese International Cooperation Agency has funded an innovative dome shelter to protect the site.

We had a drink at a nearby neighbourhood bar on Saturday night and witnessed the start of the regular Saturday night anti-government demonstrations.

David ordered a glass of rose, but the mounted police arrived first

Jordan

We transited to Jordan on Sunday via the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge border crossing on Sunday and then spent all of Monday exploring Petra.

Ancient Petra on the left, with the start of the modern town on the right

Petra is so vast that we spent 8 hours out in the sun exploring many nooks and climbing many hills (we did not see everything). 

The filming of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at Petra caused an explosion in tourism

We started with a guided tour of the Siq (the main gorge entrance to the ancient city) and the main sites in the city.  Let me say again that the site is VAST and there are many more buildings and stone carvings than we had imagined.  The Siq itself is beautiful and of course the Treasury and the Royal Tombs are stunning.

If you look hard enough you will see a face each side at odd angles to eachother

The poster child of Petra, The Treasury

The largest of the royal tombs

But there is also a theatre, a temple and commoners’ tombs to marvel at.  The Nabataean’s, who were the original builders, were also masters of harvesting rainwater and there are water channels carved into the rock everywhere.

Totally carved out of the hill

An impressive but lesser tomb

Our guide told us that the limestone carved buildings, mostly tombs, were carved from the top down.  Goodness knows how people managed to do that from the top of cliff faces and how many people died.

Although the Nabataeans originally built the city, I was surprised that it continued to be inhabited by the Romans and Byzantines up until the 7^th century, when an earthquake made it uninhabitable (we were told that what we can see today is only a fraction of what once existed).

After a morning tea break we walked up 800 steps to The Monastery, which I assumed would be a standard monastery, and probably Byzantine given the history.  But as we reached the top and rounded a corner we were presented with another awesome Nabataean rock carving structure that was every bit the equal of the Treasury and the Royal Tombs.

The monastery was much less crowed owing to the huge effort to climb up to it

I was constantly stunned by the variability in colours of the minerals in the rocks and the beauty of the patterns

And in the middle of this arid landscape, herds of goats and sheep

After lunch we wandered up to a Byzantine Church and then climbed another 800 steps or so behind the Royal Tombs to get more views of Petra, and of the Treasury from above.

By the time we walked back out of the site, it was more than 8 hours after having started and it had become very hot.  We found the nearest place for a drink and slumped into a kind of coma before going back to the hotel for a swim and a shower and then going back to the Treasury for a nighttime light show.

On our final night we rated all the sites we had seen and Petra was the most consistent choice.  It was everyone’s number 2 but we all had a different number 1 and mostly different third preferences.  On this basis I think that we can say that it was the consensus favourite.

For the record here is the list of each of our top three sites.

OLIVIA

Yad Vashem, Petra and Jaffa

DALE

Hisham’s Palace, Petra and Masada

DOMINIE (was the most specific about her choices)

The light coming through the dome in The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Petra and the Tree of Life mosaic in Hisham’s Palace.

DAVID

Jerusalem Old City, Petra and Caesarea

Our final two nights were spent at the wonderful Kempinski Hotel on the Dead Sea with its 9 swimming pools to choose from, plus a lovely clear water beach.

We had lovely dinners on grand terraces looking over the Dead Sea and across to Israel on the other side of the Jordan Valley.  

 THE END!

Israel - Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

 Tel Aviv, Ceserea, Tzfat and the Sea of Galilee

Our last 13 days started with 5 nights in Tel Aviv at a ritzy beach side hotel.  Tel Aviv is an amazing, cosmopolitan, beautiful and cultural city.  We also loved how much of Tel Aviv and Jaffa runs along the Mediterranean beach front.

We arrived at the beginning of Shabbat so most Jewish restaurants were closed but Jaffa, with a large Arabic population, was hopping.  Olivia had already arrived and had found us a restaurant in Jaffa.  Its wonderful schtick, was that the moment we sat down we were served up 20 different salads, dips, sauces plus bread.  Our only job was to choose our meat or fish.

After dinner we walked through ancient Jaffa including the market area that was bustling with restaurants and bars.

On Saturday morning we did a walking tour of the Tel Aviv white city.  We learned that Tel Aviv was only established in the 1920s when Jewish settlers in Jaffa decided to build a suburb in the sand dunes north of Jaffa. A number of Jewish immigrants were German and were followers of the Bauhaus design movement.  As a result, Tel Aviv has one of the largest numbers of Bauhaus buildings in the world, many of which are painted white.  Hence the White City.

Our tour guide explained that although many original buildings have been preserved, it has been because the owners have been allowed to sell off land and air rights to developers.  He was very progressive and bemoaned the corruption and divisiveness of the Netanyahu government.  He finished by inviting us to the regular Saturday night demonstrations, which he believes are having an impact.

Dominie arrived at lunchtime and after a quick lunch in the Carmel Market, we went to the Tel Aviv Art Gallery.

We had a number of excellent dinners sitting outside in the balmy evenings.  We ate in a courtyard, in the streets of the Jaffa Flea Market and on the beach front.

We were surprised by how safe we felt in Tel Aviv and also how it has the same feel as other European cities that are close to the Mediterranean.  Noting that only a week or so later there was a car ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, in response to the Israeli Defence Forces bombing and raiding Jenin in the West Bank.

On Monday we met our Israeli guide, Ash.  He would be our guide and driver for 5 days whilst in Israel.   He was young and passionate about history, archaeology and politics.  He was Arabic, Muslim and very secular.  He lives in Jerusalem and had studied in both Israel and Jordan.  He was able to provide an interesting and valuable perspective as an Arabic Israeli.  He was inclined to conspiracy theories but was knowledgeable and good company.

For our first excursion we went to Caesarea, Tzfat and the Sea of Galilee. I loved Caesarea, where we were able to see the splendid town, palace, fort and port built by Herod the Great in the first century BCE.  It was inhabited by the Romans, Byzantines, the early Muslim conquerors, the crusaders and the Ottomans and all left their mark.

After Caesarea we drove on to Tzfat, the home of Kabala Judaism.  It is also known for its art galleries and old covered streets (but we did not rate these at all).  We stopped and had magnificent Yemeni food for lunch.

In the afternoon we drove first to the Mount of Beatitudes (the sermon on the mount) and took in beautiful views of the Sea of Galilee. Then we drove down to Capernaum where Jesus is supposed to have preached and performed miracles.  Nearby is the amusingly named Church of Multiplication, named after the miracle, where Jesus multiplied loaves and fishes to feed thousands.  There’s also a funny new UFO like Catholic Church above the ruins of a house that was, maybe, supposed to be that of St. Peter or his mother or his mother in-law.   

This was the start of a number of days of listening to bible stories, which I understand are very interesting to many tourists.  However, I find the interest (obsession) with where bible stories did or didn’t take place, perplexing.  I did appreciate that one of the great world religions almost certainly emerged hereabouts, but I have always treated bible stories as moral messages and not intended to be taken literally.  And even if you take them literally, where they did or didn’t take place is highly speculative.  And after the recent pandemic, it was surprising/horrifying to see throngs of people touching and kissing walls and rocks etc in these places.

We spent our final day in Tel Aviv trawling through the Jaffa Flea Markets, and Dale found a fantastic ceramics gallery.

Jerusalem

On Wednesday Ash picked us up and drove us to Jerusalem.  He stopped and showed us an abandoned Palestine village that had been taken by the Israelis in 1948 and where they massacred the inhabitants.

We then spent several hours at the astonishing and moving Yad Vashem holocaust museum. The building itself is awesome and we were so impressed with the way the museum discussed the history of antisemitism, the rise of the Nazi party, the holocaust itself and then the aftermath. One of the stories that I found incredibly touching, among many, was about a young woman who survived a Holocaust death march and wrote down her concerns about how such awful experiences would affect their future lives and community.  Unfortunately, she died a few days after liberation.  How inspiring that someone who had been through so much could be so concerned and prescient about the future.

On Thursday we toured the Old City, which was a highlight of the holiday.  I’ll start with our impressions of the physical aspects of the city.  It is much more beautiful than we’d expected.  There is a cohesiveness to the look of Jerusalem, in general, that comes from the use of white limestone.  The old city is built on rock and I had not anticipated the number of streets that tunnel through rock.

The Western Wall and the Temple Mount are big.  We couldn’t go up to the Temple Mount due to an Islamic religious holiday so it remained mysterious.  But you can see the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Asqua Mosque from many vantage points.

The history seems to be endless.  Twice, Ash showed us places where you can look down holes that go 10 metres below the street where archaeologists have found evidence of ancient Jerusalem.  The Western Wall was originally built in the 2nd century BC and added to by Herod the Great.  The Dome of the Rock and the Al-Asqua Mosque are over 1300 years old.  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is over 1000 years old and it’s been an important Christian pilgrimage site for 1600 years.  The Crusaders and the Ottomans have also left their marks all around the city.

And then there’s religion. It’s perhaps the most religiously important place on the planet because of its importance to three major religions.  You see evidence of faith in the Jews praying at the Wailing Wall and David’s Tomb and the Christian pilgrims kissing and touching places in the church of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus is supposed to have been crucified.  There were also the Muslims streaming onto the Temple Mount on Friday lunch time.  But it’s not about contemplation, reflection and good works.  It’s way too chaotic for that.  I’m sure that these aspects are very much present in Jerusalem but they are not immediately obvious.  This is all about ritual performance and religious fervour.

The men's end of the western (wailing) wall

The women's end

And everything is divided along sectarian lines.  The Temple Mount is for Muslims, and the western wall is for Jews

There is a long route covering the station of the cross, with the 2nd station being the Monastery of flagellation

The crown of thorns worked into the gold leaf ceiling is a nice touch

no words

But the craziest place is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  It’s divided up between the Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Armenians (plus Ethiopians Coptics and Syriacs).  And there’s no real sense of one church – but many different churches that inhabit an awkward semi-contiguous space. 

We thought the Armenians had the biggest bling factor

Everyone seems to bumble along, with some regular outbreaks of inter-faith violence.

The old city itself is divided into Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Armenian quarters.

The whole place made a massive impression but the most amazing sites for me were:

·       -- Watching the devout Jews praying at the Western/Wailing Wall and David’s tomb;

·       -- The Dome of the Rock and Al-Asqua Mosque on the Temple Mount;

·       -- The Church of the Holy Sepulchre; and

·       --  The tunnel like streetscapes in the heart of the old city. 

 

That night Dom found us a great wine and negroni bar, where they also provided us with wonderful tasting plates to share.  We sat outside on a balmy evening in a space that is a little car park during the day.  After dinner we walked back up to the old city to have a look at it at night.

4 very different negronis - all decicious

The next day we went to the Mount of Olives, which was a great spot from which to look back at the old city.  We sat down in the shade for an hour and chatted with Ash about the layout and history of Jerusalem.  As it approached midday, we could see the Muslim faithful streaming on to the Temple Mount.  The only annoyance was the large group of Hungarian Christians sitting near us, who wouldn’t stop singing and playing loud music during the whole time we were there.

Dome of the rock on the Temple Mount

Al-Asqua Mosque on the Temple Mount

Jewish cemetery across from the Old City walls

We also went down to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations.

The Dome of the rock from the Garden of Gethsemane

The church of all nations had a beautiful mosaic fresco on its facade

Ancient tombs

On Friday night we had Shabbat dinner with a local family.  Our hosts were Uri and Rivka and two of their children.  Uri is a rabbi and Rivka is a teacher. Their eldest daughter is completing her compulsory service in the Israeli Defence Force.  As she is an officer she needs to complete three years, one year more than most people.  Neither she or her younger brother spoke much English but both Uri and Rivka speak English fluently.  Rivka was born in the USA and Uri in Argentina.  They both moved to Israel when they were about 10 years old.

They were pretty progressive.  Uri was prepared to use his phone to make sure that our taxi was on the way.  We of course were very diligent about not touching our phones.  We listened while they prayed and sang a few Shabbat prayers.  Rivka said, very poetically, that this is all part of inviting in the Shabbat, which is a happy time when families are together and modern technology is ignored.

We had fascinating conversations about the state of Israeli politics.  They are very upset and worried about the direction of the current Israeli government.  They said that even though Netanyahu is corrupt, what is worse is the way the nationalists and ultra-orthodox parties are forcing Netanyahu to do their bidding.  They also managed to explain some of the complexities of the Israeli political system.  They said that Israeli people are also increasingly worried about the economy, which has been Netanyahu’s strong point up until now.

We asked why they like hosting foreigners like us for dinner and they said that they like to share their love of Jerusalem and to give us the opportunity to meet local people.

We had a lovely conversation with their young son about Australian animals.  He is fascinated by animals, is very knowledgeable and loves visiting the Jerusalem Zoo.  He and Uri even do a weekly podcast about animals. 

They were a lovely family and we had a wonderful, warm and interesting evening.

Our interactions with Uri and Rivka, Ash and the other guides we met along the way suggest that many ordinary Israelis deplore the Netanyahu government and long for peaceful co-existence.  That said it doesn’t seem like this is a place where there will be genuine integration between different faiths and ethnic groups.  At best they will live peacefully together in their separate communities.  This may not lead to any material improvement in living standards for the residents of the West Bank and Gaza, but perhaps it would be something.

One last comment about staying in hotels during shabbat.  The workarounds were fascinating.  Both hotels had dedicated shabbat lifts.  In one, the lift stopped at every even numbered floor going up and down.  If you are Jewish you are allocated the even numbered floors so that you can use the lift without pushing any buttons.  The other hotel had the shabbat lifts stopping at every floor.  One of the hotels had a special switch in the rooms that seemed to turn lights on and off automatically for the 24 hour period.