Into the Desert: Petra, Jordan & The Negev

The Negev

{---Desert

Dessert---}

Just to make sure that we're on the same page :-)

Many people think that the south of Israel is a lot of desert. And they would be right. But there are also farms and cities, and also sand. An awful lot of sand. Did I mention sand?

The Negev is a desert which covers the entire southern half of Israel. We took a bus (four hours) through the Negev from Tel Aviv to Eilat, Israel's southern tip, and took lots of photos along the way.

I have many more desert photos than you want to see.

As Israel's cities along the Mediterranean became destinations for immigrants, the farms along this fertile coast were turned into housing. The population pressure pushed the agricultural regions further into the Negev.

Israel produces 95% of its own food and exports some products to Europe, the US and other countries. Research is underway to develop crops which use less water and/or can do well with the mineral-rich (not good) water of the Negev.

Some crops, such as the dates, are obvious to us; some, such as those in open fields, are obvious to those who know what those little green things are; and some unknown things are in enclosures and are either being protected from the sun or are some secret military project.

Eilat

Eilat is Israel's port on the Red Sea. We had hoped to go scuba diving in the Red Sea; that's why we shlepped our equipment from NYC. The best diving is just over the border in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. As it happened, just as we got to Eilat, Hosni Mubarak and his family moved to Sharm el-Sheikh and we did not want to be there at that time.

We did get a chance to swim in the Red Sea.

Eilat is a beach resort town. There are a lot of hotels and a lot of activities and shops similar to beach resort communities in the U.S. The choice of foods is different.

Eilat seems to have missed an opportunity in hotel development. Instead of going for the Bauhaus/modern style, they could have opted more for desert classic as some did.


Take a look as some of the newer Eilat hotels:

{---Modern

Desert
Classic---}

{---Modern

Desert
Classic---}

And look at all of the new construction: 'Miami East'



Petra, Jordan

This is not a bad photo: It's a brief sandstorm. Even though Sarah was wearing a scarf over her face,
she was blowing gritty mucus from her nose for three days.

While we were staying in Eilat, we took an overnight trip to Petra, Jordan. Petra is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a site such as we have never seen.

Built about 2500 years ago as the capital city of the Nabataeans, a group little know outside of this region, and not too well known there, either. Popularized by the film Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade, the Petra valley is Jordan's number one tourist attraction and the Jordanians are using people's interest in it to develop greater tourism.

Instituted just last year, the cost of a one day pass to Petra for those who come to Petra from outside of Jordan on a day-trip costs much more than a one day pass for someone who came from inside Jordan. The difference in price is almost enough to cover the admission + staying overnight in a Jordanian hotel with meals included.

Not much of a decision.

We left our luggage in storage at our friendly hotel in Eilat (no cost) and only took backpacks to Jordan and stayed in a very modern and well-kept hotel a short walk from the Petra entrance.

Not many people seemed to be going for this option. We believe that we were the only guests at the hotel that day. When we came down for dinner in the large dining room, there were no other diners and one table was set for two people; the same for breakfast. At no time did we see other guests in the hotel, but it was the offseason. And there was regional unrest.

As a result of the decline in tourism to Petra at this time, we got a private car & driver, private guided tour and a private hotel at the regular group-tour price. If there had been a larger group, we would have been in a mini-van or bus.

Little Petra

Another advantage of going to Petra the day before our visit to the historic area was the opportunity to visit "Little Petra." Similar to Petra, but on a smaller scale, Little Petra has no fee; it's just there. (Photo right)

We spent the afternoon of our first day visiting 'Little Petra' and part of the evening walking through the town of Wadi Musa and did some shopping. We chatted with some people on the street as well as with several of the merchants in the few shops. Everyone was friendly, even those who were not trying to sell us anything.

Allen (above) and Sarah (below) in 'Little Petra'

I don't know how Sarah got up there, but I do know how she got down.

Carefully

Petra: The historic area

There is a half mile plus walk from the Petra entrance to the ancient city. We decided to let the horse do the walking through the 'siq', a narrow defile, into the city.

There were things to see along the way and our driver spent the time giving us a history lesson of the area.

Once inside the city, we rejoined our guide, who walked the siq. He took us through the city and gave us in-depth information for several hours.

Once inside of the city, we saw 'the treasury,' a misnomer. Most of the buildings, which have been carved into the pink rock were tombs, although Bedouins had taken up residence in some of them.

Other Petra Scenes:




























It may seem difficult to carve structures such as these into the pink sandstone of Petra, but basically, all one has to do is cut away anything that doesn't look like a building.

Columns from the Roman period.

The Dead Sea

In the Negev, about 30 miles south of Jerusalem is the Dead Sea, the lowest place on Earth. And you thought that the lowest place that you can get a hamburger was at The Little Tavern.

Unlike Eilat, the Dead Sea resort areas have few amenities other than the hotels. This is one of the few restaurants in the Dead Sea area that is not part of a hotel. No carnival rides or much shopping, either.



But we were not there to eat (although our hotel had a great buffet dinner & breakfast): We were there to float in the brine.

And float we did:

Floating was easy; standing up again was not. The buoyancy was so great that we had a difficult time getting our feet down so that we could stand up. There is a rail in the water to assist in such a maneuver.

Masada

Overlooking the Dead Sea is the plateau known as Masada (fortress).

Fortified by Herod the Great c. 30 BCE as a refuge for himself in the event of a rebellion, Masada became the last stronghold of Jewish rebels in the revolt of 66 CE against the Roman Empire. After a lengthy and costly siege, three years after the fall of Jerusalem (70 CE), Masada fell to the Romans and the revolt was over.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Masada holds great significance for Israelis. Israeli soldiers are sworn in atop the plateau saying, "Masada shall not fall again."

From the Dead Sea, we went to Jerusalem.


Jerusalem: The New City
The Knesset
It wasn't visiting day, so we were not able to see the Israeli government inaction at their parliament building.

Think of the Israel Museum as Israel's version of the Smithsonian Institution. I'd like to show you photos of the of the great things that we saw there, but inside photos were not permitted. [The above photo is of terracotta sarcophagi similar to the ones which we saw at the Israel Museum, but was taken at the archeological museum at Haifa University where photos WERE permitted.]

Like the Smithsonian, there were exhibits of classical and contemporary arts and archeological finds, lots of archeological finds. After all, the history in Israel goes back a long way. Not surprising, the Israel Museum has the world's largest collection of Israeli artifacts.

We got there early and stayed until they kicked us out.

Art

Archeology

Also at the museum complex was the Shrine of the Book, a museum devoted to the Dead Sea Scrolls which were discovered by a shepherd in the late 1940s. The roof of the building was designed to resemble the lid of a clay jar like some of those in which the scrolls were found. We had previously seen some of the scrolls on display in an exhibit at the Exploreum in Mobile, Alabama. We saw more here. Again, no indoor photos.

They were originally thought to be the product of the Essenes, a Jewish sect living in the Dead Sea area about 2000 BP. Because research showed that the scrolls were written between 130 BCE and 70 CE, some now think that the scrolls were smuggled out of the Great Temple in Jerusalem for safety when the city was under siege by the Romans in 70 CE.

I have my own ideas about the nature of the scrolls and why much of the information that they contain has NOT been made public. If you're interested, ask me. [Conspiracy theory alert!!!]

They also have a really big model of Jerusalem during the
Second Temple period of Herod the Great.
Click on this photo to enlarge it and see the detail.

The Great Temple of Jerusalem

Since time was tight and we've already been to several major art museums during previous trips and seen top European paintings, we briskly walked through the European art collections. As for Modern Art: We have grandchildren who produce it for us on an almost daily basis.

Yad VaShem

Entrance to the 45-acre complex

Yad VaShem is Israel's Holocaust museum describing the extermination of 6 million European Jews and the murder of many other people that the Germans considered undesirable such as Gypsies, homosexuals and political activists. It is the largest museum of its kind in the world and the second most visited site in Israel after the Western Wall. Needless to say, the exhibits, often graphic, were very moving.

Children under ten are not permitted into the history building. No photography there, either.









Right: Entrance to the memorial building dedicated to the 1.5 million murdered children.

Memorial to those killed in the concentration camps.






Sarah's father was fortunate to have survived long enough to be liberated.


Valley of the Communities

Five thousand destroyed Jewish communities are represented on these walls.

Sarah stands by the wall that has the names of both her father and mother's communities.













Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations

This section has the names of those righteous people who risked their lives, without compensation, to save Jewish people from the Nazis.

It was of special importance for Sarah to be here and see the names of the couple who hid her mother, grandparents, two aunts and a great uncle during the war. Their son, who was a teen during the war and assisted his parents, was able to come to Israel to participate in the induction ceremony.






Between Sarah's parents, more than 100 close relatives were killed. Their experiences were typical of Jews in Poland where 90% were murdered.


There are several thousand of names, but Sarah found what she was looking for.

The City of Jerusalem

Much of the City of Jerusalem is just that, a city. People live, shop, and carry on their daily activities just as we do, except that they have to go through scanners when entering a shopping center, bus station or museum.

There is a large open-air shuk (marketplace) in Jerusalem not too far from the Jaffa Gate (the location of our hotel). On the way back to the hotel from the museum, we hopped off of the bus to catch a quick falafel at a stand which we had passed several times on our trips from & to the Central Bus Station when we were traveling between Jerusalem and other cities.

The stand said that they had the best falafel in Jerusalem and we had to check it out. It was good, but it wasn't the best falafel in Israel. As far as we were able to determine, that award goes to Sarah's cousin's friend who owns '4 Flavors Falafel' in Rishon Le Zion.


After getting back to our cousin's home in Rishon Le Zion, we packed our bags, got together with our family and friends one last time, and headed for the airport and İstanbul.

We are very grateful to our cousins and friends for all of the time and effort that they put in hosting us in their homes, providing us with such delicious meals and driving us to so many fascinating places.

Goodbye at Ben Gurion Airport

Cousin Haim met us when we landed at Ben Gurion Airport the month before and helped us to swiftly get through the government procedures. The government agents all speak English, but not as well as Haim speaks Hebrew; then he brought us back and did it again.

This is the last post of the Israel part of our trip. I don't know if you've lasted this long in reading the blog, but if you have, I hoped that you've enjoyed it. I tried to be thorough and accurate.

Thank you for your patience.

Coming attraction:

İstanbul