Nov 22, 2019 - Jericho • Mount of Temptation

Jericho is a surprisingly small town considering how well-known it is thanks to the song of “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho.” It calls itself the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city. Who am I to argue? Archeologists have found evidence of settlements here dating back more than 10,000 years. We saw ample evidence of this at our stop at the Tel Al Sultan. Locals were aware of pottery shards and fragments on a substantial hillside, but when serious archeological digging commenced they ended up digging to the bottom, uncovering...

Nov 21, 2019 - Bethlehem

Even if you are not a religious person, you have heard of Bethlehem and if you are a religious person, being here is the experience of a life time. The primary site to see is the Church of the Nativity, built on the spot where Jesus was born in a stable and visited by shepherds and wisemen. Every Christian denomination is represented here; Christmas is celebrated here at three different times on the calendar by the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. Christmas decorations are already being put up around the town....

Nov 19, 2019 - Sabastia • Nablus

From our tour today, I am left with the impression that you don't really come here to sight see. We saw no other tourists the entire day. We came here to understand what it is like to hang on to the little silver of land that has been left to the Palestinians, making the best of adverse living conditions and animosity from the Israelis who would like nothing more than that all of you would leave. It didn't take long for our guide Mustafa to teach us how to tell a Palestinian town from an illegal Israeli community that has planted itself...

Nov 18, 2019 - the pre-trip begins

We awoke at 3:30am not because we felt well rested, but because our jet lagged bodies determined this was not the time of day we should be sleeping. The hotel has been very quiet since we arrived here, so when it was finally time to have breakfast, we were shocked to see the breakfast room buzzing with people. From what our inquiring ears could hear, none of them spoke English as a first language. A huge tour group looked Filippino or maybe Indonesian and smaller clusters of people looked and dressed European, but spoke no language I could...

Oct 9, 2018 - Side trip to Bethlehem from Jerusalem

In the afternoon on October 9 we took the bus into the West Bank to the town of Bethlehem. Our guide, George, is a Christian of some sort of Syrian church; he took us to Shepherds' Field and also the Church of the Nativity. Bethlehem was a madhouse! It is not even high season yet, but every place was packed. It is still hot here, getting up in the 90s range, and there are tons of tourists. Exhausting day shuffling around through churches with casts of thousands, but interesting nonetheless. I can't imagine what it will be like in the "high...

Feb 10, 2018 - Jericho

Jericho and Mount of Temptation Just five minutes from our hotel, we took the Jericho Cable Car up the Mount of Temptation and then walked 140 steps to the Christian Orthodox Monastery where there are two priests in residence. The monastery built in 1895 is on a cliff overlooking Jericho and the Jordan Valley. The monastery sits atop the cave where supposedly Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting and meditating during the temptation of Satan. Other highlights of Jericho tour were: (1) a 7th century mosaic floor discovered under a...

Feb 9, 2018 - Israeli Settlement and Bethlehem

Today we are going to meet with a resident at the Jewish settlement of Efrat that was established in 1983 and is 7 miles south of Jerusalem in the West Bank (Palestinian land). The international community considers these settlements illegal but the Israeli government disputes this. These settlements are considered Area "C" so they are controlled by Israeli troops. Hence we went thru several check points again today. Ardie spoke to us for about an hour and we were able to ask lots of questions. When asked if we were in Israel or Palestine,...

Feb 8, 2018 - Hebron and Battir

Departing the Millennium Hotel at 8:00 am, we did a walking tour of Ramallah city center and the vegetable market - a beautiful and somewhat chaotic market of local products including some of the largest cabbage and cauliflower I have ever seen. Then it was time for our promised treat - the best ice cream in Israel - at 10 am! I enjoyed pistachio and cro-nut (walnut)! Then it was on to Battir (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), a Palestinian settlement renowned for its 4,000 year old Roman stone terraces utilizing a cleverly designed...

Feb 7, 2018 - A Day of History

Our first stop for the day was Mt. Gerizim outside of Nablus, one of the largest Palestine cities. Nablus is in a valley surrounded by steep hills and the homes built of those hills are pretty amazing. Plus there is a real building boom going on where it seemed every other building was a new home or apartment building in process. It was about an hour drive from Ramallah using back roads which is shorter and less traffic. The terrain is so rocky it is amazing anything grows here but the hillsides were dotted with villages and some Israeli...

Feb 6, 2018 - Exploring Ramallah

After a leisurely breakfast, we decided to go exploring. Getting a map in the lobby, we ran into some fellow travelers and our tour leader, Abed. Getting our general bearings, we left the hotel towards the ‘old city’. Exiting the hotel, we noticed lots of security, Palestinian police, buses and many, many government/state cars at our hotel . Today and tomorrow at our hotel there is a conference of 23 to 26 Muslim countries representing Muslim youth to establish Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. Just a side note - there have been 24...

Mar 12, 2016 - Bethlehem

Our final day in Jerusalem and we didn't think it could top the previous day; maybe not but but it came very close. We were off to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a mountain village about 10 miles south of Jerusalem. It is located in the West Bank, so it's under Palestinian control. If you are an Israeli citizen, you cannot enter this area. And the area is primarily Muslem. Our first stop was The Shepherd's Fields, the traditional site where the Angels announced to the shepherds about the birth of Jesus. There's a nice church with colorful...

Mar 8, 2016 - Jericho and the Dead Sea

Jericho is a small city near the Northern end of the Dead Sea that has a great biblical story. Joshua brought the Jews across the Jordan and then conquered and destroyed Jericho by using trumpets to knock down the walls. What's near Jericho now is a monastery built into the actual side of the cliff facing the valley. It's called Temptation Monastery and overlooks the part of the desert people believe Jesus spent his 40 days of fasting and afterwards being tempted by the devil. We didn't go up to the monastery, but went part way for a nice...