That's a nice euphemism for this massive wall that divides much of the West Bank. It is about 20 feet high and divides neighborhoods. If you click on this photo you can see interesting grafitti. Some people compare it to the Berlin wall and others to the Great Wall of China. Israeli's say the number of suicide bombers have declined since its construction.
The journey to Hebron was rather circuitous because I had to change vehicles a few times. Just outside of Bethlehem, I changed taxis and walked across this mound to get to another taxi. I think these short cuts are set up to avoid certain bottlenecks and IDF checkpoints that would otherwise lengthen the journey. On the way back we had to make some detours to avoid the long traffic lines at the checkpoints, but finally hit one as we approached Jerusalem, waiting about 45 minutes.
I had to cross through IDF checkpoints to get here, and I was quickly ushered away and told not to take any photos. While in most countries, the police are especially polite to tourists, in Israel, they mean nothing but business. It was a bit tense here, I must admit, so I got out of there.
I arrived on Friday, just after lunch, and within an hour, the busy souq emptied and closed up. Very eerie. On the right is a security fence to protect a Jewish settlement, but I think this one has been abandoned. A fence had to be placed over the souq area next to the settlement because bottles and bricks would shower down on the Palestinian shoppers. That's nice.
I took a bus from the Arab bus station just outside Damascus gate to visit the West Bank. I had to take three different vehicles to get there, crossing from Palestinian areas to Israeli-controlled areas, and back again. A lot of short cuts. Hebron is where there is a mosque built on the site of Abraham's cave, and, possibly, Adam and Eve's tombs. It is also a place of tension with Israel settlers that moved into the area and a strong IDF presence.
The new city is modern and fashionable, and there's a lot of security too. Lots of automatic weapons, bag checks, plainsclothes officers, rooftop spotters...it's interesting. This is a segregated city, with the Israelis and Palestinians rarely, if ever, crossing into other parts. As neither, I feel very fortunate being able to ride to Israeli buses one day to Masada and then take the Palestinian buses to visit the West Bank on the next.
King Herod had planned to use this as a hideout, and kept loads of stores in case of a siege. He never had to, but the Jews used this for months waiting for the Romans.
I took a bus to visit the desert fortress of Masada. It is about 400 metres above the Dead Sea on a high plateau. It was one of the last outposts of Jews during their revolt against the Romans, and marks the end of the Second Temple period. Apparently, around 960 rebels hid at this old fortress while 8000 Roman soldiers camped far below. The Romans built a ramp and brought in a siege tower to knock down the walls, and when they broke through, they discovered all the inhabitants (except for seven) had commit suicide rather than be taken prisoners.
It took about 30 minutes to climb up to the fortress on this snake path.
There is an interesting museum on the history of Jerusalem at the Tower of David near that Jaffa Gate.
I've seen these in a few places -- I think they're for blowing things up, or for things that might blow up.
The gilded dome of the Haram ash Sharif, or Dome of the Rock, marks the site where God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son and where the Prophet Mohammed ascended to Heaven. It is also next to the site of the Temple of Solomon and the second temple. It is the western retaining wall of the second temple that is the famed Western or Wailing wall, that is a holy site in Judaism.
Outside the Lion's Gate is a Muslim cemetery and a good view of the Mount of Olives, where Jesus was arrested and later ascended to Heaven. You can see a Russian Orthodox domed church in the back and the right side of the hill is covered with a Jewish cemetery.
A bunch of pilgrims were lined up to see this place that was in a big box. It is the tomb of Jesus.
The "Sorrowful Way", is the supposed path that Jesus took while carrying the cross to his crucifixion. There are 13 stations along the way that pilgrims stop and pray.
The Jewish quarter was flattened during the war of independence in 1948, and when it was rebuilt, they discovered several layers of previous cities, including the Cardo, the main street, during Roman times when the city was known as Aelia Capitolina. The Jewish Quarter has wider walkways and is much cleaner and less claustrophobic than the other quarters.
The bus brought me to Damascus Gate, which a northern gate to the Old walled City of Jerusalem. My hostel is in the Muslim quarter, into which Damascus Gate leads. The Muslim quarter is filled with narrow alleys that are reminescent of souqs and bazaars.
I spent five hours waiting for the Israelis to let me through. They had problems with my Pakistani visa. Most of the people coming through went the passprot control without a problem. The passport control personnel were all Israel Defense Force (IDF) women, and I've gotta admit a few of them were very beautiful, so I really didn't mind the air-conditioned wait. Interestingly, there are quite a few Russians that have immigrated to Israel in the past ten years. The ladies performing custodial duties all appeared to be from Russia.
From the border crossing, I caught a bus to Jerusalem that only cost 30 NIS (New Israeli Shekels). $1=4.5 NIS
This goes over the almost dried up Jordan River, the border between Jordan and the occupied territories in Israel.
I took the local bus to Rama today, then I got a ride to Amman Beach, at the Dead Sea. There, they had showers and a "beach" where you could walk into the water and float. It's actually quite amazing; I enjoyed it much more than I expected. I could float in a standing position with the water up to my chest. It was very easy to paddle out; it was like paddling out on a board. The water was nice and warm where I was at. I spent about an hour there, then had to hitchhike back to the bus stop.
I met some Westerners there who were teaching English on the "Peace Boat" out of Japan. They get to go around the world in 3.5 months for free room and board if they teach and help out. Check 'em out.
They put on a show at the Hippodrome, and these guys looked the part. For added effect, they played the soundtrack to Gladiator. No, I actually didn't watch the show, as you had to buy tickets, and I enjoying being a cheapass.
From the Temple of Zeus, you can look over the Oval Plaza down the Colonnaded road.
An ornamental fountain from 191 AD and dedicated to, er, the Nymphs.
There are loads of columns in Jerash. There are ruts still visible in the original road from the wheelcarts.
St. Peter's Square at the Vatican was actually based on this Oval Plaza. Okay, that was a blatant lie. This place is 90 by 80 meters.
Independent travel in Jordan is deceiving. For the past couple days in Amman, I came to the conclusion there were hardly any tourists here. Even the public bus to Jerash, only 50 km north, had only four other tourists. But as soon as we arrived in Jerash, we noted a bunch of tour buses unloading the hordes.
Jerash is an old Roman city that is still being excavated. It only takes about an hour to walk around there, so it actually isn't that large. It is interesting being in the middle east and seeing examples of European and Roman architecture.
Sweet mint tea is available everywhere in Jordan. It ranges from 15 cents to 30 cents a cup.
This mosque is close to my hotel in downtown Amman.
There are great desserts here in Jordan. The far dish has filo pastry topped with pistachio nuts and drizzled (no, drowned) in a corn syrup. The middle pan has pistachio nut on top of something orange, but the bottom layer is like mozzerella cheese. It is actually wonderful, but equally drowned in corn syrup. I don't know what the bottom dish is but it has very delicate strands of filo dough.
