But the really interesting scoop was the security at the airport here in Eilat. I have to go post more later.
Let you know how it goes later!
The bus ride was pretty uneventful I'd say. I guess I'm just used to seeing IDF soldiers carrying machine guns everywhere. We had three or four on the bus, headed for Eilat like us I suppose. It took about four and a half hours including a short pit stop at a gas station.
Once we were here we walked around the promenade for a bit and the other four took a quick dip into the water at the beach. We ended up at Aroma, a coffee shop, and I had iced chocolate, which was quite delicious and definitely hit the spot on this hot day.
For dinner we went to this Asian restaurant called Ginger. I had the yakisoba, which I found just ok. For dessert we had a "banana republic" which is bananas sautéed in caramel poured over a small cake with some ice cream on top. Sounds great right? Unfortunately, I'd have to give it just a 7/10. For some reason the flavors didn't really meld all that well. Or maybe I was still enjoying that iced chocolate from earlier that really hit the spot perfectly. In any case, I'm just at our hotel now heading to bed soon. Gotta wake up extra early to chat with Esther and then we head off to Petra at 7.25. Hopefully by this time tomorrow I'll be at the hotel in Tel Aviv (it's a day trip and we fly out of Eilat on a short domestic flight to Tel Aviv tomorrow night).
After that we drove into the West Bank again to go visit Jericho. It was very striking how poor the Palestinian territories are compared to the Israeli parts. Interestingly, we had to drive through another checkpoint before entering the city of Jericho, this one manned by the Palestinian police. Pointedly, after approving us, he distinctly said "welcome to Palestine".
We drove around for a little while looking for a place to eat and ended up at this restaurant called something like "The Jericho Hill Restaurant". It seemed kinda awkward to me because we were the only ones there and there was only one waiter and he didn't speak English very well. He gave all is us menus, but when we were trying to start ordering, he had to consult with the chef, after which we were informed that the only thing available to eat entree wise was chicken shwarma. So we got some small salad type things and some pitas and then shwarma, which was actually quite good. I'm sure they appreciated the business and afterward I was glad we gave it to them. They seemed to all be in it together, for when we ordered some fresh juice, the waiter went outside to tell his buddy to start squeezing us some juice, which was delivered in cups with some ice that was frozen into the bottom AND a bendy straw that had a little glitter streamer thing on it (picture to follow eventually if I got one of that). But overall, still an awkward meal in my mind.
Going into Jericho, it was really really hot (the irony will be evident later) and so we stayed long enough to look at the oldest discovered building in the world (pre pottery era I believe) and then we left and headed for Jerusalem. We got into Jerusalem with plenty of light left and time to walk around a bit, but also hungry. So Ariel and I went out to go to the ATM to get some money for dinner. What we didn't realize was that apparently Wednesday was the anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem and there were throngs of people. Literally throngs. And they were all moving the opposite direction that we were trying to go. Plus there were police and Israeli Defense Forces out everywhere (more than a few on every block of the Muslim Quarter and additional ones in all the alleyways). And then we saw that every Arab shop we saw (basically the whole area) was closed, including the money changer and ATM. So we had to push through the crowds and walk out to the New City to get funds. It was still crazy when we went back to get the others for dinner. Sometimes the throngs would stop in the middle of the street, all waving flags, and start jumping and chanting things in Hebrew. We saw a fair amount of news media people there, so you could probably easily find some pictures in news articles, and I can upload some when I get a chance.
Had dinner in the New City at Cafe Hillel and I got the foccacia, which wad pretty good. The ironic part I mentioned earlier was that after we were all so hot we couldn't stand in the direct sun for more than a few minutes at a time, it started getting colder and colder in Jerusalem until during dinner we were all shivering in our light layers (we ate outside; why, I don't know). So after dinner we went to the same hot chocolate and waffles place I mentioned last week, Babette's. Still really good, I appreciated the warmth of the hot chocolate way more. I also got a waffle with cinnamon and cream cheese this time. Extra tasty.
Thursday
Thursday was a free day in Jerusalem and pretty relaxed for me. I didn't really want to do much, so after I woke up extra early to talk to Esther (6.30ish? But WELL worth it in my opinion =] ), I ate breakfast and then took a short nap. Then I went out and walked around the city for a while trying to get some souvenirs.
I had a couple bad experiences haggling to get the prices down (it's nothing like haggling in China...) and had a much better experience when I used what Aaron had told us (things are much more relational here, so you should chat with the shopkeepers) and just talked to one of the guys for a while. His name was Mohammed and he had gone to college at Hebrew University and studied engineering but had come back to sell goods at the stall because he enjoyed working for himself and wants to someday have his own business (I assume something trade-based related to his engineering background). It also helped that he had pretty good English.
After that while walking back to the hostel I ran into some others from our group who were headed to the best falafel place we had been to by the Damascus Gate in the Old City, so I went with them to grab a late lunch. So delicious!
After I got back I did some laundry and hung the clothes out on the clothesline they have at the hostel. I wasn't really expecting it, but the clothesline out in the sun with the breeze makes a huge difference. The clothes smell much more fresh and dry so much faster. While waiting for them to dry and waiting for dinner I took another nap and caught up on some emails and stuff. Then we went off to dinner.
Always an adventure, we headed into the New City for our last dinner as a big group. The place Aaron wanted to take us (which looked pretty high class) couldn't seat all of us for hours, so we went to a different place called Spaghettim. Once again we started out sitting outside but it was just too cold for everyone to handle so we ended up moving inside. I had a four cheese (goat, fresh feta, mozzarella, and gorgonzola!) pizza which was quite delicious (especially after I made it five cheese by adding parmesan). Walking home to the hostel afterwards was a bittersweet time - sweet because we were all together enjoying each others company and having fun but bitter because it was our last night together and our last night in Jerusalem.
I was also feeling kinda homesick after being away for two whole weeks from home and a big part of me wanted to come back with the others today. But here I sit in Eilat preparing to go see Petra in Jordan tomorrow.
After that we walked around and saw the harbor and where they had chariot races and stuff. Must have been the premiere resort destination way back in the first century day!
Then we drove up the coastline and through this one mountain pass and visited Tel Megiddo, where the ancient town of Megiddo once stood. Megiddo is a pretty cool place because of it's unique location. It's situated at the crossroads on the Carmel mountain range and multiple ancient highways pass through there. It's also the place mentioned in Revelation 16:16 when it says Armageddon. My understanding is that Armageddon comes from Khar Megiddo, or Mount Megiddo. So theoretically (with a literal interpretation) the armies of the world would gather where we were. Megiddo also had a cool tunnel that was carved for water storage that we walked through. There were 78 steps at the end of that tunnel even though the sign said there would be 80 steps (the sign was trying to help people determine if they should turn around or keep going). I remember that it was 78 because I counted it twice. After I reached the top someone dared me to go run back down to count them so I counted once on the way down and again on the way back up, running the whole time. Pretty good workout that was =].
After that we drove up to Mount Precipice, which is very close to Nazereth and overlooks the Jezreel Valley. We read Luke 4:14-21 where Jesus is in his hometown of Nazereth and they chase him up a cliff, possibly the very one we were on, or similar. The views up there were very striking, you could see all the way across the valley to Tel Megiddo. We also read Judges 4-5, where the Israelites gathered on Mount Tabor on one side of the valley and fought the Canaanited who were gathered on the other side. It was cool to overlook everything and think about the battle playing out in the valley. We also saw and talked to a Korean tour group up on the mountain.
Later that evening we went to our hostel in Tiberias which is on the Sea of Galilee and had dinner at a place that was only memorable to me for the really tasty roasted, pureed eggplant that I ate like hummus and the mint lemonade, which was very refreshing.
