The Land Of Milk & Honey
The plan was to leave Jordan this morning and travel by bus to Israel, so we were up with the sparrows. The wake up call voice recording is beginning to feel like an old friend. Deb and I share so many things in common; we joke that we are twins separated at birth. Our lack of organisational skills is a bit of a common thread so our last minute packing was nothing short of a frenzy. Things were being shoved into bags left, right and centre and just as Deb had sat on her bag to get it zipped up, the clock chimed 7am - our deadline. We made it to breakfast just by the seat of our pants.
With our hotel situated right on the shores of the Dead Sea, there is a plethora of roadside shops in its vicinity selling beachy souvenirs and things you might need at the beach. Their biggest draw card, however, seems to be inflatables - from blow-up rings to lilos and pool noodles and floating swans - we had never seen such an extensive collection of floatation devices in all our lives.. and this in the place that’s famous for bodies being able to float all on their own. These salesmen must be pros. Maybe in the off-season they head north to sell ice to Eskimos.
The scenery from Jordan to the Israeli border was so dry and barren. With bulging bald mountains on either side of the plains and only the occasional tuft of greenery, it’s a colourless, arid desert landscape for miles.
Our trusty guide, Rami, accompanied us on our bus all the way to the border and spent a great deal of time prepping us for the notoriously difficult crossing. We were warned not to be over-friendly, frivolous or fun. Jokes of any sort were off the menu, especially jokes about terrorists, guns or things that explode - they’d be especially un-funny. Don’t laugh, don’t draw attention to yourself, don’t take photos under any circumstance and above all, don’t be a smarty pants. It was a little daunting. One wrong move from one individual could result in lengthy delays for our whole crew.
A far cry from most of Europe, where you drive from one country to another so fluidly, you may not even realise you’ve crossed a border until you see a street sign in a new language, this was a border with attitude. The Allenby Bridge marks the spot with surveillance cameras, barbed wire and an armed guard on patrol. We and our obediently straight-faced friends sat in silence as we waited for the boom gate to rise. Without warning a surly, uniformed woman (she was small in stature but we could tell she was tough) and a uniformed man with a big, black GUN (!) took a walk up the aisle of the bus. At first I didn’t realise who she was and began to greet her with a smile but halfway through forming my grin, realised suddenly the error of my ways. Doh! Don’t smile, you imbecile, what was I doing?! I tried with all my might to keep a straight face but somehow when you know you can’t laugh, it’s so much harder not to. (Obviously I suck at poker). My phone was also in my hand and I dropped it like a hot potato in case she thought I was taking a photo. Yikes, this was nerve-wracking.
Ushered off the bus, we farewelled Rami and were instructed to line up for customs. Ten from our group were singled out and their bags were scanned. None of us dared ask questions. Our poor leaders Dean & Denise were keeping tabs on everyone and making sure all were present and accounted for. The whole process took around 3 hours. Dean hadn’t returned yet and no-one knew where he was. Just as Denise suggested we pray Dean popped out the door! Thanks God! When he finally returned to the bus, we greeted him with a hearty round of applause and let out a collective sigh of relief. Phew.
Now in Israel (well in Palestinian territory to be exact), we had a new bus, a new, appropriately named driver, Moses, and a new guide, Fadi, who assured us wholeheartedly his name contained no letter ‘t’s. Fadi hails from the Old City of Jerusalem and is a Christian man - a minority in these parts- they call themselves the “living stones”.
Our first stop over the border was in the West Bank and famous biblical town of Jericho, where we took a cable car up to the Mount of Temptation for an incredible view out over the city. The houses here were just like the ones you’d see in a Bible story colouring book Rectangular-shaped boxes with arched doorways, neat square windows, flat rooves and floor-to-roof steps up one side. The mountainside was dotted with caves, said to have housed monks in days gone by.
‘Jericho’ literally means ‘city of palms’ and date palms are absolutely everywhere; plantations lining the streets and the highway. Palm branches laden with plump, ripening dates are covered with bags to await their picking.
As we headed to our lunch spot, Fadi warned us that scams are rife in Israel. Though shekels are the local currency, most tourists are advised to pay in American dollars. This seems so odd. Why would you use another country’s currency when you have your own? We were warned to specify which currency the prices were in before committing to buy, and to vigilantly check no extra zeros have been slyly added to your bill.
Our Palestinian BBQ lunch was delicious, with warm home-made flat bread, hummus to die for and baclava for dessert.
After lunch, we wandered through an excavation site - the Mound of Tel Jericho, where the walls of Jericho once famously fell - (that dates back to 8000 BC!!) It was a scorching 38 degrees today so we found some shade where Dean gave a little talk from the bible that took place in the very town we were in. Incredible.
We had a look at Elisha’s spring of Jericho (from 2 Kings 2) and even saw the sycamore tree Zaccheus climbed. So much history in this town!
Beit She'an was next on our list of must-sees: an ancient town once inhabited by the Canaanites, and also formerly an administrative centre of the Egyptian Pharaohs. The Bible alludes to Beit She'an as having been controlled by the Philistines at one stage and its other claim to fame is that it’s where they hung the bodies of King Saul and his sons.
We made it to the site right on the bell but the lovely ranger let us in regardless and it meant we had the place pretty much to ourselves. A scale model of the ancient walled town gives some perspective of what it once would have looked like and the sheer amount of intact ruins, including columns, stair cases, a seated theatre with stunning mosaic floors, is phenomenal. Molly found a secret spiral staircase and climbed to the top. It was only in the photos that we noticed a giant surveillance camera right next to where she was standing. We’re hoping the surly young woman and her gun-toting companion don’t come looking for her.
A long, marble-column-lined roadway courses through the centre of the town, leading up to the foot of an imposing mountain . A big yellow and red banner stretches across the mountain and looks out of place against the marble ruins. We were pondering what such a large message in Hebrew might say and Will suggested it probably says “half-price drinks after 5 on Mondays”.
Our hotel is in Tiberius, overlooking the Sea Of Galilee! Molly and Maisy, along with a few others, took a dip in the sea to cool off and as they stood on the steps leading to the water, discovered little black fish were taking a shine to their feet. Deb and I joined the line-up. Denise suggested they were nibbling the dead skin off our tootsies. Either that, or they were injecting us with poison. Who knew? It’s not every day you get to have your toes tickled in the Sea of Galilee.
