Syria and Israel

Friday 10 October
Found a cyber cafe in Amman, Books@cafe and uploaded the diary. When I returned to the hotel many hours later it had been a lazy day, and it continued so. We phoned home and got an update on the Presidential situation and goings-on in Ireland...among other gossip.

Saturday 11 October
As Israel was celebrating Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) we had another easy day in Amman.

Sunday 12 October
Ooops - slept late again - becoming a habit. Got to the Abdali bus station at 1.30pm to found out that the buses only went to the King Hussein Border crossing in the mornings. So after refusing exorbitant taxi offers for about 5 JD each we finally found the service taxi area and got into a hugely overcrowded white taxi which raced us over the steep mountain roads to the border for 1.5 JD. Getting the actual stamp out of Jordan on our passports took a while as the security guy decided that since the bus was waiting for us it would be an opportune time to phone a friend and gossip, sit back in the seat grinning your white teeth at the 3 girls, the passports queuing themselves to the side. So the bus pulled off without us. We eventually got a stamp out after having to go to the bank to get change. NOTE: Everywhere in the Middle East shops etc. do NOT have change. They are of the mentality that if you don’t have change then it is your tough luck, you should take your money and business elsewhere - bizarre. So we got the bus through no-mans-land in the Jordanian Valley which is just as you would imagine. The barren desert stretches out on either side and if you strain hard enough you can make out the little huts with the soldiers on guard on either side of the straight road. On the other side you immediately see the different culture and lifestyle of the Israelis. There are women workers everywhere (probably a relative observation considering it has been a rare sight in the last month). We got a taxi in to Jerusalem with a friend whose flat we are staying in. That evening we all went to the local supermarket and generally acted like kids let loose with a shopping trolley - so many things to choose from!

Monday 13 October
1 Sterling pound = approx. 5.3 Israeli sheqel
$1 US Dollar = approx 3.42 Israeli sheqel
We entered the Old City through the Jaffa Gate. We exchanged money after discovering that even in the Tourist Office they were on the brink of charging tourists to breathe, visited the Christian Information Centre and bought water and a roll and settled ourselves down in the Jewish Quarter. Many tour groups passed, mainly American Jews and the sounds of same trying out blowing the horns to announce the beginning of the Sabbath on a Friday night began to annoy us. We then strolled through the tourist souqs trying to find the famous buildings in between stalls and robes and jewelry etc. Eventually ending up at Damascus Gate - the most elaborate entrance to the Old City. Having seen a figure walking on high on the ramparts we decided that this would be the perfect way to oversee the city as we were getting lost all the time in the mazes of the souqs and the map in our guide book was not very reliable. Needless to say it took us 30 minutes to find the entrance - outside the gate - to the left - down to the gardens, under a suspicious looking bridge and down a narrow path. After paying for student price and Aisling squealing softly over the scuttling of a rat across her path - we made our way up to the high rampart walk along the top of the wall. From here one could see over the rooftops but it was still difficult and we had not enough knowledge of the area to recognize significant buildings - but the experience and view was fantastic. We walked around the Christian Quarter to the New Gate and then the Jaffa Gate. Descending and ascending again we passed the Armenian Quarter and ended up past the Jewish Quarter at the Zion Gate where the ramparts ended for tourists the rest is ‘under reconstruction” at the moment. We descended into another tour group of New York Jews, bought some postcards and discovered the Western or Wailing Wall about 100 metres in front of us. Many Jews were congregated and praying, swaying too and fro and we took the opportunity to go up to the wall in the women’s area and see the letters stuck into the wall. The section of wall is the only area that remains of the Jewish Temple originally built by Herod in 20BC, the area since has been conquered by the Christians and was built over by the Muslims. Now on top of the old Jewish Temple stands 3 mosques, 3rd only in importance to the Muslims to Mecca and Medina. The Dome of the Rock has a magnificent Gold dome which can be seen for miles around. the stone altar at which Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his only son is also at this site.
In the early afternoon we went outside the walls and overlooked the City of David, walked on by the Kidron Valley with the old tombs and started the hard trek up the Mount of Olives from where the sunset overlooking the walled Old City of Jerusalem is unmissable. We panted past and visited the All Nations Church and the Garden of Gethsemane (where Judas betrayed Jesus), passed the domed Church of Mary Magdelene, Pater Noster and Dominos Flevit. To the right stretching for ages is the desecrated Jewish cemetery (ruined by the Jordanians between the 1940s and 60s) where Rupert Murdoch is buried and also as seen in the end scene from the Shindler's List movie. We reached the top in a bad condition and plonked ourselves down on a wall above the tourist buses afraid of the effect of gravity on our light heads. It was cloudy which made the redness of the sunset over the rooftops amazing.

Tuesday 14 October
Got up late again! Found a baked potato place (hung over from drinking game the night before). Visited the Great Synagogue and on to the Monastery of the Cross and then through the parks to the Israel Museum. In this magnificent museum we saw the Dead Sea Scrolls, on which is written the Judaism Torah which were uncovered in caves above the dead sea in 1948? We then got a guided tour around the Jewish area, learning the traditions, dress, manuscripts, culture etc. and on to the archeological area of the museum which was fascinating. Result, sore heads from trying to intake so much history in such a short time.

Wednesday 15 October
Today is the first day of the Festival of Sukkot (or shelters), so the city closes at 2pm (like Christmas at home). We learned in the tour last night that this is to celebrate the harvest. In their nomadic days the Jews were able to pack up their homes which were made out of planks of wood and covered with palm leaves of some other natural substance and never totally blocked out the sky reminding the occupants that God is always above them (handy when they were being moved on from place to place by the Germans also). Replicas of these shelters are constructed all over the city for the festivities. As I type I can hear the groups clapping and singing and celebrating. In the Old City we wandered through the Christian Quarter. At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is where we saw the Tomb of Jesus Christ. However, this honorable visit was made humorous by a crazy woman who must have what is known as the ‘Jerusalem syndrome'. In times gone by people have been known to be so overawed with finally being in Jerusalem that they think themselves the Holy Virgin Mary, the next Messiah etc.. and camp up in the Mount of Olives and wait to have a tea party with God. Anyway this woman approached Andrea just as we were about to enter the tomb of Christ and planted a kiss on her cheek the stared at Aisling close up to her face. So the giggling began as she made her way down the queue kissing and hugging men and women with a happy smile on her face and sporadically raising her arms to heaven. She entered the tomb before us but did not go past the priest on the door, instead kissed his embarrassed face and tried to touch him all over. Kneeling dramatically before the shrine and wailed her prayers, as the 3 of us looked on in the cramped area (only fits 4 at a time). The she embarrassed and shocked more holy visitors. The church is an amazing array of shrines and stairways... most of what I saw I do not know the significance of; must get a book on the church alone/go to a library if we had paid for a guide it may have helped). Secreted in one corner behind a gate was an icon of the Virgin Mary. The whole area was dark though and we stood wondering what the Italian tour guide was saying and why all the elderly tourists were holding candles up to the icon. He told us and we experimented. We peered into the space, blocked only by the grille, and sure enough in the candlelight - the Virgin Mary was blinking!!! all I can say is we all saw it with our own eyes - at the same time we were seeing her blink over and over again - I will offer no explanations in case people start to get worried about us. Then we walked through the Via Dolorosa (the stations of the cross!)
After spending some time watching not-so-good busking actors doing James Bond at Damascus Gate we wandered to the rooftops over the Dome of the Rock and overlooking the Jewish Wailing Wall where the ringletted and black-robed orthodox Jews were preparing for Yom Kippur. We tried Knaffel - a sweet sugary substance and pistachios on melted cheese (which is not to my taste) and returned home - ready for the 12 hour bus trip from Jerusalem to Cairo beginning at 7 am and costing, with visas, exit taxes, border taxes, entry visas etc. a whopping $107. Oh well, Israel is extremely expensive compared to the rest of the Middle East (on a par with Ireland) but is certainly worth it.

Thursday 16 October
Got up early and got the bus to Cairo - FUN!

Friday 15 October
Today Andrea and myself got up early from a restless and multi-bitten night and went to the amazing Egyptian museum in Cairo. We saw tombs, mummies, masks, statues............... WOW - what a rich past! Then the 3 of us got 3 local buses - for a 40km journey (costing 30p altogether - the joys of being mushed in between Egyptians on the minibus (BO heaven)) to Saqqara - where the step pyramids are resting - the precursors to the famous Giza pyramids. Got a few great snaps of village life - farmers, camels hauling palm leaves, cattle and little boys on donkeys! We're off to India, Bombay tonight - so 'stay tuned' as they say - elsewhere in the world!

On to India

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