Shalom, Israel!

I’m convinced; cruising is the best way to travel. There is so much included for the money- food, entertainment, pools, games and events- and you get to enjoy the ports of call when you reach the shore. We departed from Venice Sunday evening, and sailed for 2 more full days before we reached Haifa, Israel. Like I said, there was plenty to do and plenty to eat, but when you’re stuck on board a ship for almost 3 full days in the middle of the ocean, you kind of get cabin fever. And for me, I was sharing a suite with my parents- I haven’t lived in their house in 4 years let alone shared a room with them- I was ready to swim to shore by the end of day two! Parents are parents; they’re going to drive you crazy no matter how close with them you are after a while. And when we got to shore, I wasn’t used to having people tell me where to go and what to do when I travel. Ever since I got to Rome I’ve always enjoyed wandering and discovering on my own and it got really annoying always having to be in their sight. But regardless, I just have to suck it up for the remainder of the cruise and just enjoy where I am. We arrived in Haifa on Wednesday the 3rd. From there we took a train to Tel Aviv and took a bus tour around the city. It was a beautiful, clean and modern city; not like the desserts of the Middle East you would expect. Tel Aviv has beautiful beaches and resorts as well as high rise buildings that you would find in any city. All the big technology companies were there- Microsoft, Google, IBM, etc… After our bus tour (similar to the open air busses you would take around NYC) my parents and I met some family for lunch. It’s been a few years since we’ve seen our family from Israel so it was good to see them again. We had a nice lunch and then our cousin drove us back to Haifa, we took the scenic route and by the time we reached the port it was night time. However, the city at night was beautiful and we drove down a road where there were coffee shops and restaurants and stopped on a hill where we got a great view of the city. We were back on board ship for dinner and over night we sailed to Ashdod, our second port in Israel.
From Ashdod, we met a tour guide at the port who took us to Jerusalem. We first stopped on a hill where you can see the entire old and new city of Jerusalem below us. After some pictures, we walked through the streets of the old city. It was filled with shops and bazaars and it was really what I expected Israel to look like. Sort of the old mixed with the new. It wasn’t so modern like Tel Aviv. People were traditionally dressed, the Jews mixed with the Arabs in the colorful street markets. We walked through the Jewish Quarter and the Arabic quarter and found our way to the church that now stands over the spot of Jesus’ crucifixion. Our tour guide walked us through the stations of the cross, showed us the rock that held the cross and Jesus’ tomb (all in the church, except for the stations that occurred on Via Della Rosa)- we walked down through there too. We visited the wailing wall, and I left a wish in the cracks, as tradition. After lunch in the old city, we drove though some parts of the new city where our guide pointed out some government buildings, etc, on our way to the Dead Sea. To get there, we drove though the desert- Barron land that extends for miles with nothing on it but the bushwins (spelling?) living in their tents. That’s when I could really notice that we were in the Middle East. There was just nothing around but sand. It seemed so strange that huge cities like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are able to thrive in the desert. Anyway, we made it to the Dead Sea and were able to experience floating around without even trying. As soon as you sit down (the water was shallow) you are immediately lifted due to all the salt in the water and float. It was like having a raft under you, except there wasn’t. It was very cool to experience that, and apparently the muddy shores are good for your skin. After floating around for a while, we cleaned up and headed back to the ship; another long drive through the desert. My mom, who was in Israel 30 years ago, pointed out some towns we could see in the distance. Those towns actually belong to Jordan now, but when she was here they were part of Israel. For the many wars that are fought in Israel over land, the country needs to hold on to what it has. We made it back to the ship in time for dinner and then departed for our next port of call, Egypt.