Sarah and I spent about 10 days in Israel. We had a rough start since our Tel Aviv hotel was closed when we arrived at 4 am. Eventually we we decided to just walk to the Central Bus Station–the largest in the world until 2010. It was closed and there were sketchy people around. They opened at 5 am and we quickly made it to terminal 607 for the bus to Jerusalem. We were glad to have AC, wifi, and electricity. And to be out of Tel Aviv. We arrived at 6:45 at the Jerusalem Central bus station then walked to the hotel. No one was at the front desk until 7:30. We sat on the street until someone let us into the courtyard. The manager finally came. He let us leave our luggage but we couldn’t check in early.

We walked, then took the tram from Ha-Davidka station to Damascus Gate.

 We walked through the Old City Muslim quarter. There was a thief who ran through the market–immediately the police (and their machine guns) caught and cuffed him. They had their weapons drawn in all directions (including at us) for several minutes.

We walked to the Western Wall (with our scarves on) and actually touched the wall in the women’s section. We wanted to visit the Temple Mount and Al Aqsa Mosque /Dome of the Rock but it was closed for security reasons. Ramadan ends on Friday night.

We went into the Church of All Nations.

Walked walked down the up the steep hill to the Jerusalem Center and got a tour and organ concert. Nice to cool down and have a decent bathroom and water fountain.

We took Bus 275–driver stops randomly for people he thinks would like a ride, back to Damascus Gate.

We walked the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Under construction and very crowded to see the tomb. Theoretically Jesus was crucified in the deep basement area and buried nearby in the tomb shown here.

We walked to the Garden Tomb. It was so peaceful. We were glad to have beaten the big rush of tourists.

We saw Golgotha from inside the garden.

Tram back to hotel but still not able to check in so we took a brief nap in the courtyard while waiting. Finally able to check in (30 hrs of no sleep). After a nap, shower, dinner, and grocery shopping we called it a day.

6/22 Thurs
We took an Arab bus from Damascus Gate to get to Bethlehem. It is in a Palestinian Authority area, so Israeli citizens aren’t allowed in.

It was worse than airport security getting out again. We hiked through the Arab old city markets to get to Manger Square. We visited the Church of the Nativity. It was super crowded with Brazilian tourists and under renovation. We were approached by a tour guide who promised to help us skip the lines. We saw other groups do exactly that–it seems they bribe the guards to cut lines or go in the back way.

We walked over to the Church of the Milk Grotto.

We walked and walked to get to the bus stop past the checkpoint. We saw the Banksy graffiti on the wall at Rachel’s tomb.

We had to go through the checkpoint with our passports, then through this big warehouse if security and passport screenings again. Then onto bus 234 straight to Damascus Gate.

We took the Light Rail to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. Very detailed descriptions, items , videos, etc of the Shoah or Holocaust. Very sobering. Wall of names of all 6 million victims. Also saw the Hall of Remembrance with its eternal flame and names of concentration camps and the pillar of heroes.

6/23–Friday–We went with a group to tour the south. We stopped at the Sea Level sign on the way down to the Jordan River, and saw Jericho but we didn’t get to go there.

Sarah and I noticed how dry and hilly it was–a miserable journey for sure in olden times. We saw Bedouin camps with shacks instead of tents. There were some goats–hard to see how they can survive in the a bleak Judean Desert. We arrived at a spot on the Jordan River theoretically where Jesus was baptized.

In a heavily secured area with land mines just outside a fence.

At the En Gedi nature reserve we hiked up the mountainside about 25 minutes and cooled off in several of the pools from waterfalls–we counted 10 waterfalls at least. We saw cute little hyrax that looked kind of like a cat and lots of ibex. At the bottom we bought watermelon ice pops.

We had a long drive to Masada the ruins of a mountaintop fortress. We took the cable car to the top because they closed the trail–too hot to hike safely. Sarah was already tired so we don’t hike around tons. We saw some of the key places like the quarry, the storehouse, commandants quarters, the 3 level Northern palace, the bathhouse, another palace, synagogue, and Byzantine church.

Long drive along Dead Sea to the private beach where we got to swim. The water was bath water warm. We floated and it didn’t sting too much. We covered our legs in mud and then rinsed off thoroughly.

Everything was closing because it was almost Shabbat. We had to get a few things in the market and also convenience store. Everyone in a mad rush before 7 pm Sabbath.

6/24 Saturday–the Sabbath. After breakfast we caught a cab to the BYU Jerusalem Center for church (no public transit on the Sabbath). For Sacrament meeting it was great to overlook the Old City.

After church we walked around the building and took a few more pics. Score leaving. We ended up getting a ride from Jimmy (Jimmy’s Bazaar olive wood carvings) and his son. He’s been connected to the JC since before the building was built. He’s even been to Lehi. He really remembers people and geography. We made spaghetti for lunch then read and napped for several hours. A nice relaxing Sabbath.

6/25–Sun, We took the tram then walked to Jaffa gate. We got tickets and walked the ramparts (city walls) from Jaffa to New Gate. We saw interesting gardens and buildings. We walked through the Muslim Quarter to get out Lion’s Gate.

We walked down into the Kidron Valley to see the Gihon Spring but There wasn’t really anything to see. We got directions and found out we had to climb a ton of stairs to get to Hezekiah’s Tunnel. We finally got to the entrance and found out that tickets were sold at the visitors center at the top of the mountain. We followed a big group of screaming school kids. The water was 28 inches deep at points and very narrow (with a low ceiling). Sarah didn’t really like it. We ended at the Pool of Siloam and ate our melted protein bars.

We went through the Jewish and Armenian quarters. We toured the Citadel and Tower of David Museum.

Some great views of the city and interesting history of the area. We got to the tram and determined to ride it until we saw Domino’s Pizza again. Sarah spotted it so we got off the tram and bought a large cheese pizza. It was a packed tram heading back (and we’re holding a piping hot pizza box)–we enjoyed the food. We did 16,000 steps and 51 flights of stairs!

6/26–Mon. After breakfast we took the tram to Damascus Gate. Old city was very quiet this morning–Arabs still celebrating the end of Ramadan, the Dome of the Rock plaza was closed again today–we tried 4 days (W, T, S, M) but closed for security reasons around Ramadan. The Western Wall was really busy this morning with bat mitzvah groups. We walked the Via Dolorosa and got some souvenirs.

We walked along Yafo (Jaffa) street and then Ben Yehuda. Lots of American brand and English.

We walked through Sachar Park to get to the Knesset Parliament building and huge menorah. Nice area. 

6/27 Tuesday–We rented a little Gray Fiat with sort of manual transmission. Sarah and Google maps were great navigators. We drove out of Jerusalem and down by Jericho and the Dead Sea on Highway 90 for about two hours to get to The Sea of Galilee. Tiberias was a crowded resort town. We got sidetracked but figured out the way to Capernaum. We tour the church and ruins from Jesus’ time. Also climbed down to touch the water.

Next drive to Mt Tabor. Tons of speed bumps and switchbacks to the top of the mountain and the Church of the Transfiguration. Pretty cool to see and nice acoustics. Wound our way back down tiny steep roads with tons more speed bumps.

Getting off highway to Nazareth we got a flat tire and pulled over. I called the emergency number and they said I had to change it to the spare and get the flat fixed. I put on the required safety vest and Sarah and I got the gear and spare out. A nice man pulled over and helped us. His jack was better than ours and he was stronger.

We tried to find the tire repair shop recommended by Thrifty but couldn’t find it. We drove up lots of narrow windy to a police station to ask for help. They tried and eventually gave some vague directions. We stopped later to ask for more help. Man and son gave a little more specific directions. We finally found it. 200 shekels for a new tire. They were pretty fast with the repair and replacement. We drove to the Church of the Annunciation and St. Joseph’s Church.

Drove to Caesarea. The national park was closed but we could still see lots of the ruins.

The Herods Hotel had overbooked so they sent us in a cab to another hotel–Leonardo Suites Bet Yam about 25 minutes away. Definitely a few steps down in quality and at the far south end of town. Apparently like getting moved to Oakland from SF.

6/28–Wed–I earned my trip by presenting at Cyber Week, hosted by Tel Aviv University. Afterwards we were able to move back to the nice hotel and have McDonalds for dinner. It’s right by the American Embassy. We walked back along the beach.

6/29–Thursday–Jordan trip

The shelters are for missile attacks. Found in most buildings. They were used two years ago when Hamas started firing missiles from the Gaza Strip.

6/30–Friday. Last day in Tel Aviv.

Gorgeous Mediterranean Sea. Too many jellyfish (medusas) to swim.

We stayed at the Marriott Zamelek on Gezira Island in the Nile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Marriott_Hotel It used to be a palace.

We went to Giza to see the pyramids and the Sphinx.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza

Inside the pyramid of Henutsen

We got a tour of Smart Village,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Village_Egypt Lots of high-tech companies in this modern business park in reclaimed desert. Also a tour of a call center, and the cultural panorama http://cultnat.org/General/Cultnat.aspx.

We went https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_Cairo to see some of the oldest Christian churches in the world. We several churches, and then went to the Coptic Museum (Nag Hammadi gnostic manuscript http://gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl.html), “Hanging Church”  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hanging_Church,

Ebony and ivory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Barbara_Church_in_Coptic_Cairo,  also Jewish synagogue in former Islamic building.

The American University in Cairo

We drove to New Cairo to visit the American University of Cairo. We had a walking tour of the new campus (built in 2008—the old one downtown was built in 1919) and even picked grapefruits and oranges off the trees, listened to presentations by the dean of the business school, a few professors including one who runs the 10,000 women initiative by Goldman Sachs training women who own small businesses, also a professor who runs the startup training.

The Mosque of Ibn Tulun, the oldest Mosque in Egypt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque_of_Ibn_Tulun  It has a famous spiral minaret. There was a padlock on the door to the minaret, but it wasn’t locked, so I opened it and we climbed up—spectacular views. Also visited the Gayer Anderson museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayer-Anderson_Museum (kind of a mansion built in the 1800s), traffic back to the hotel was terrible as usual, but this time our police escort had their sirens on to try to get traffic moving for us—kind of funny.

On January 12th we visited the American Embassy and heard from deputies over commerce, economic development, politics, and USAID. Later we went to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Museum —all sorts of artifacts, upstairs was the King Tut exhibit including his famous mask and golden tombs—very cool, some of us paid an extra 75 LE to view the Royal Mummies exhibit http://www.egyptiansidekick.com/royal-mummies-hall/. They had Rameses II, III, Amenhotep, Hatshepsut, others—amazing to see the real deal, also saw mummified animals including two huge crocodiles, spent a few minutes at Tahir Square before returning home (site of 2011, 2012 revolutions).

Tahrir Square

Wednesday (1/13)—We drove to the Suez Canal. We had a police escort from the hotel, then different security team once we got to the Ismaili Governance. The Suez Canal Authority gave us a presentation including two videos, a tour of the Canal (mother channel and new channel) for about 1 hr on the same yacht that the Egyptian presidents use.    

On January 14th We drove out into the Western Desert (area called 6th of October) to visit Wadi Foods—an agriculture business specializing in olive products and poultry. We got into lab coats and hair nets to tour the olive pressing plant. They fed us lunch (sample products) at a summer home/oasis. To see the poultry and olive production we had to go into a room for an air blast/cleaning, then white jump suits, shoes washed, and hair nets. The bus had to go through a sanitizing car wash.

We had a river boat dinner cruise on the Nile Maxim. Live entertainment included a whirling dervish and a belly dancer.

Whirling Dervish

The crescent moon on its back

January 15th we went to Saqqara to see the step pyramid–the oldest in Egypt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Djoser, oldest pyramid. We were able to see the Bent pyramid and the Red pyramid. We also visited the Pyramid of Teti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Teti The temple outside has lots of hieroglyphics that still have full color. We were able to go into the pyramid.

Trash in the streets

Shopping with Phebe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_el-Khalili market.

Security: Egypt is serious about protecting its tourists. We always had an armed guard on our bus, police escort for our bus, bomb sniffing dogs at the hotel, airport like security for the hotel, universities, embassy, churches, museums, etc.