In the interest of time and my sleep-deprived body, I'll sum this up as quickly and tightly as humanly possible. Good 'ol Hebrew University gave us two weeks off for Passover so me and most of my friends decided to emulate the ancient Hebrews by wandering around as much of Israel as we could.
3/29/07 'till 4/1/07: Yam l'Yam
A yearly rite of passage for many Israelis is the gorgeous springtime hike in northern Israel called Yam l'Yam, or Sea to Sea, because it starts on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and ends in Tiberias on the Kinneret (or Sea of Galilee...where the New Testament says Jesus walked on water). We did the 55 km-hike, which was a combination of difficult and stunningly beautiful, in about three days. Not bad. My legs, of course, were a mess by the end. But camping out, sleeping in tents, playing guitar by the fire, and eating canned tuna was well worth it.
6 a.m. wake up call for the first day of the hike
The necessary equipment
First stop: the shores of the Mediterranean in northern Israel
Me and Naty
The Yam l'Yam Gang
Mapping out the 4-day hike
...and we're off. Jason being a tourist.
Ancient Crusader castle in the background
Same castle...closer view
Jessica, Naty, and me
This is most beautiful time of year in Israel
Rest stop...this water was NOT warm
Naty flexing on Zack...who happens to be in the U.S. Army.
Those steroids are clearly really helping Naty.
Naty (btw, how French does he look in that buttoned shirt???),
Adam, me, Jason, Dan.
Sunset over Galilee
Sharing a tent with Naty. I won't tell you how I woke
up the next morning to find Naty snuggling in my armpit. Weird kid.
Nice view on Day 2 of the hike. Mt. Hermon is in the distance
Naty being "rugged"
Scenic stuff
The Francophiles: Swiss Gabriel, French Naty, Franco-American Erik
The Jordan River
Jordan River Valley
Fields of gold
I love this picture...even though that tree looked so lonely.
Finally...after three days of hiking...the shores of the Kinneret!
4/4/07 'till 4/8/07 - Eilat and Petra, Jordan
After being virtually as far north in Israel as possible, Naty and I decided that it only made sense to go as far south as possible. So after a brief two-day pit stop in Bersheva to visit my family for the Passover "seder" (or festive meal...more on that in a coming post), we decided to head to Israel's version of Las Vegas...Eilat.
Now I've been to Eilat a few times already, so there wasn't much to surprise me there. It's basically a resort town on the Red Sea where all the Israeli THs come to get hit on by "arsim" (Israel's version of the "guido"). The cool thing about Eilat, though, is that you can see Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia from the same beach. I went to Eilat back in the fall in order to go to Egypt on my scuba diving safari. This time we decided to cross the border to Jordan and go on a day trip through the desert to Petra. Very wise decision.
Petra is a 2,200 year old city which really should be one of the seven wonders of the world. The Nabataeans who built the joint chose not to build free-standing buildings. Instead, they built their fortresses INTO the sandstone mountains. Amazing. Seriously, it's one of the most unreal things I've ever seen. This is where they shot Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Next time you're in Jordan, you MUST check it out.
What? You weren't planning on making any trips to Jordan in the near future? Fine...here are some pictures to tide you over.
At the Aqaba border crossing
King Abdullah and his old man King Hussein were ALL over the place
Picture time in the Jordanian desert
Jordanian schoolchildren walking into Petra
The entrance to the series of canyons that lead into Petra
You can either walk through the canyon or hitch a ride...
The end of the main canyon eventually leads to...
Al-Khazneh (the Treasury)...simply stunning
That's a biiiiig door
The funny thing about this Jordanian royal guard is that
he has a ton of bullets...but no gun.
Camels are just funny-looking aren't they?
Bedouin man smokin' a heat stick
Me on the Street of Facades
Me and Naty. He wants everyone to know that he really
IS this tall in real life
Solitary tree from high above a valley
Stunning shot of the Petra valley
Another ancient palace dug into the mountain
Bedouin children who live in Petra
Yes, it's gum. No, I don't want your's
Doesn't it look like this donkey should be riding ME?
Ancient Roman-style amphitheatre...I'm in between the two pillars
Later, Jordan
God welcoming us back? Happy to be back home...
Some highlights from the last week:
-Wine Time: Walking into bars all over Israel and seeing almost the entire clientel drinking wine. Why wine? Cause beer, like bread, is not kosher for passover. I can't tell you all how cool that is to see. In the last few weeks, I went to a bunch of bars and clubs, and a lot of them weren't even serving beer. And people didn't mind. No apologizing or explanations needed. That's standard operating procedure in Israel. May we all be so proud when going out in NYC or LA or wherever.
-Israel Is Still Israel: Of course, this is far from the most kosher country in the world. I was watching the news on TV and this woman was being interviewed while she was eating shrimp (clearly not kosher) in a restaurant in Tel Aviv. The reporter asked her why she wasn't eating bread with her shrimp. Her answer: "cause it's Passover." Amazing.
-Hi Egypt, Have a Nice F'n Day: One of the shorter yet most powerful moments while I was in Eilat: Going to the Egyptian border and giving the country the "finger." No pictures to document this - don't wanna disturb the fragile peace - but as we celebrated our emancipation from Egyptian slavery, I couldn't help but think: the Pharaohs tried to keep us as slaves and now they're extinct. And we Jews now have our own country right where they used to whip us and keep us in chains. To be in Israel, looking into Egypt, on Passover...pretty deep stuff for me.
Anyways, that's been the last week or so. Pretty average I guess.
-E
1 comment:
That was a long blog entry. I didn't read it. Enlaaabananya.
Post a Comment