Cruise Days 6 to 8

Cruise days 6 to 8

Pt Said (Egypt):
A couple of photos here of Port Said. This is the entrance to the Suez Canal and a Muslim area, no tours this day just a bit of walking around and seeing the shops and of course buying something, a necklace. We spent a bit of time in recovery mode from all the walking the day before at Cairo/Giza.

Jerusalem:
This was a really our most expectant day of things to see, we were pretty excited as we got up ad boarded the coach. The first glimpses beyond the port of Ashdod were amazing, as they have turned desert into greenery. Lots of citrus and eucalyptus.. yes Aussie trees. (A failed attempt to dry out swampy areas by importing them in the 60's)
The main road in to Jerusalem, is steeped in history of the fighting, in 1948 for independence, and then the 6 day war. We stopped at the Allied war memorial for WW2, lots of Tanks, heaps, a real boy stop, set in the hills with Tel Aviv as a backdrop. The drive from here into town, is on very well constructed highways viaducts and tunnels, with settlements doted along the way, then over the mountains and there it is .... Jerusalem. A beautiful mix of old ad new. All the buildings are all made of stone, and white and and shades thereof. We went to Mt Scopus to get the best view of the old city, (unfortunately a hazy shot was the best I could do).
Its extremely hilly country, and as you can see, it gets arid and dry really quickly, as the photo of the Judean Desert shows, which was just over the hill that we were at.
We went into the Old City, within the Walls, but you cat can't get into the Temple Mount as it's off limits to all but Muslims. As it was a Monday, there was a lot of activity in the old city, as there were many celebrations of Weddings and Bar-mitzvahs, of which there were a few. This is done in the courtyard at the Western Wall, (known as the Wailing Wall). We also saw the Rabbi singing the Tora from the scrolls. Pretty wild scenes, its all happening around you. It was really hot as well, and we spent a long time in the open, and we then found ourselves in tunnels in the Jewish Quarter, where the After parties were going on, it was packed.

Unfortunately, as a tour it really went downhill quickly from here. It was all through the many little side streets and alleys all through the area up to all supposed sites and stations where Jesus went, up the Via Dolorasa, up to where they say he was tried, crucified and buried,(all these within spitting distance of each other), and coverend in buildings and shrines and churches.
All the way it's crap souvenir shops every step you go up. They had a station for everything Jesus supposedly did, even one for a hanky wipe from some woman on Jesus sweaty brow. Absolutely ridiculous, we were getting really ticked as this went on for nearly two hours, and is all in the name of religion and its all about building a shine to everything and anything they "imagined" may have happened, morbid really. I won't get wound up here, cause we are on holidays.

Then we went to Bethlehem, and the best part of this was the Wall you have between Jerusalem and Palestine, lots of security here everyone has a machine gun. Bethlehem is a real let down, outside of the actual history of the Church building where (once again) all the "supposed" birth places and manger etc are enshrined in a church building. This is the only remaining Church building left from the 300 AD, after the Persians swept through and destroyed them all later on.

I think we needed to do our own thing here, but you don't have much choice, as the tours are limited, and the security is high, so you just can't go anywhere.

Haifa: Mt Carmel
No tours for us this day, though there were many, this was a great day. We got to just walk around, savour the culture. We went to the Bahi gardens. these were immaculately manicured all the way up to the top of Mt Carmel, as the picture show.
Then we took the underground cable up to the top of Mt Carmel. Beautiful location lots of authentic artisans selling in the shops here, and of course Sharon had to buy some Israeli jewellery. Actually it is stunning stuff and views to match. The Israeli people are wonderful and friendly. The moment we went into the downtown area of Haifa which is the Muslim part, its back to a grotty feel, and the men start being sleezy.

Plenty to talk about here, Israel was great. Today is "At Sea" day, more eating and washing clothes. Tomorrow is Kusadasi in Turkey, the fake everything capital of the world apparently.