Friday - preparing to go home

It is time to go home.  Debbie, who lives in Colorado, was following the progress of a blizzard that threatened to close Denver Airport.   She changed her flight plans to leave as soon as possible, so she left late on Thursday night to catch a flight to Frankfurt, and from there to Denver or San Francisco (she was hoping for one or the other last I heard).   I hope that she was able to leave Frankfort and get back to Denver before the blizzard hit!

The rest of us had breakfast together and had some good-bye hugs.   Rita left for the airport, and then Ron.  Michael is staying for an extra day, as his nephew is getting married today and he will spend a day with his family before flying home on Saturday.

Penelope and Rose had flight plans for Saturday that could not easily be changed, so they rented a room in a bed-and-breakfast and I (Bob) spent part of the day with them.   We went to the flea market in Jaffa which was nearly empty when we went there two weeks ago - but was very crowded today.  Then we walked along the Jaffa beach and waded in the Mediterranean Sea.  Finally, we walked past the hotel.   Here are some of the sights we encountered:

Catholic Church in
Northern Jaffa

Coins for sale.
These are 50-year-old Israeli coins
from before the currency reform.
About as valuable as Confederate
money after the Civil War - but I'm
sure someone will pay for them!

 

This "flower" is made out of
lemon and grapefruit rinds

Our Rose with a beautiful  Jaffa rose

 

Rose and Penelope at the Mediterranean Sea in Jaffa

We walked into the Old City of Jaffa (Ottoman period, on the site of much older cities), and found a wonderful ice cream parlor! This is now largely an artists colony.

We then walked back to the bed-and-breakfast, where I took a shower and used Uber (my first time ever) to call for a ride to the airport.

And so the trip is ending.   I am writing this at Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.  I have learned plenty about the man after whom this is named during this trip.  In a few hours, a plane will take me to New York, and then another back to Cleveland.  

Thanks to Ron who was the Cleveland Hiking Cub organizer for this trip.

Thanks to Keshet Tours who really know how to put together a wonderful event like this.

Thanks to Asaf and Hani, who led us through the wonderful adventures described in these posts.

Thanks to Debbie, Mike, Penelope, Rita, Ron, and Rose, we were delightful companions on this trip.

When I return, I plan to write a final posting summarizing my thoughts.  Until then, shalom aleichem (peace to you) and  l'hitra'ot (until we meet again)

Bob

Thursday - our last day together - in Northern Negev Desert, past the Gaza Strip, and back to Tel Aviv

On Thursday morning, we left Mizpeh Ramon to begin our last day together.  It began with a drive to Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Negev which was home to David Ben-Gurion for the latter part of his life.  Although the great leader in the War of Independence and Israel's first Prime Minister could have chosen an easy retirement in Jerusalem, he held the dream of taming the desert and chose to live in this kibbutz in the desert, and was buried there next to his wife.  His gravestone is simple, giving his name, his years of birth and death, and the year he moved to Israel.


Our next stop was a village about an hour north of Sde Boker.  Its Police Station holds an interesting collection - dozens or hundreds of rocket shells which exploded nearby.  As it is well known, when Israel pulled its military and its settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, it was not long before the terrorist group Hamas won an election to take charge of the area.   Since then, they have often shot rockets loaded with explosives into Israel.  Here are some of them:

 

Our next stop was more low-key.  We went into an area with old pottery shards scattered everywhere.  It was also the scene of significant military action in World War II.   Here are some signs describing the area.  

  

 

As we continued along, we saw some beautiful plant life:

  

At the beginning of the hike, we met a group of teenagers who were doing the same hike that we were.  They were all from the same village and have known each other for most of their  lives.  With the Passover break coming up, they were given permission to do something special today - and their choice was a hike to honor fallen Israeli soldiers.  Most of them spoke English very well, and they were an absolutely delightful group.  After a while, we gave one of the friendliest of them an extra Cleveland Hiking Club shirt.  He quickly noticed that the shirt was several sizes too big for him, and immediately gave it to a larger friend.  It was interesting to note that these young people had a strong religious background - all of the girls wore skirts, and some of the boys wore tzitzit (the fringes that are commanded by God to be worn to remind us of His commandments).  I wish I had more and better pictures of them - here are a few:
 

We continued north and west.  At several points, we were able to see Gaza City and the border.  There were bomb shelters everywhere - near every bus stop, near most playgrounds, and in most neighborhoods.  The sirens go off when a rocket has been detected (probably by radar), and residents have between 15 and 30 seconds to reach a bomb shelter.  Fortunately, the rockets are not aimed well, but none can be sure that the next one will not hit them.  It is a sobering thought to see people living that way.

We returned to Tel Aviv, and stayed in the same hotel in adjacent Jaffa that we stayed in two weeks ago.   What a busy two weeks it has been!

We all had dinner together in an excellent restaurant.   We ate well during the whole trip, but for the final evening, our good food came in a more elegant restaurant!

After being driven back to the hotel, we bade goodbye to Asaf, our guide, and Hani, our driver.  One Jewish, one Moslem, both wonderful people who took the best of care of us for two weeks.

Wednesday - at Mizpeh Ramon in the middle of the Negev desert

On Wednesday morning, we woke up at our youth hostel in Mizpeh Ramon to a light drizzle which later turned into a significant rain.   More on this later.  The most important relevant fact is that most of the region was rained on yesterday and this morning, causing many of the best hiking trails to be slippery and dangerous.  So we greatly reduced our hiking today, and after breakfast, left for the Visitors' Center.

Mizpeh Ramon has a Visitors' Center which focuses on two important themes.

The first is the late astronaut Ilan Ramon.  I have been unable to establish any relationship between the city of Mizpeh Ramon, and the astronaut Ilan Ramon, other than their name.  Ilan Ramon grew up near Tel Aviv with a different last name; when he joined the Israeli Air Force, he changed his name to sound more Israeli.   That said, the people of Mizpeh Ramon appear to have adopted him as a native son.

Ilan Ramon is important because he was the first Israeli astronaut.  While he was not an observant Jew, he chose to become observant while on the Space Shuttle Columbia.  He ate kosher food  and observed the Sabbath (not easy when sundown happens every hour and a half rather than once per day).  He died with six other astronauts when the Columbia burned up in re-entry.



We then learned about the Makhtesh Ramon.  Like the Large Makhtesh which we saw yesterday as we hiked up and down the Big Fin, it was created in a unique geological way over a period of about 200 million years.  The result is an exposed wall of sedimentary rock of different types from different eras.  We can see green layers which clearly contain copper, red layers which probably contain iron, and others.  The geologic movements of continental plates pushed the layers up, down, and sideways.  Over time, erosion washed out some of soft sandstone containing the bottom layer, causing a collapse in the middle of the mountain and exposing its walls.

 

Having seen several presentations about the geologic formations, we set out to explore Makhtesh Ramon the best that we could.   Here are some pictures showing the beautiful sights:

Our driver Hani

 


Having explored the parts of the Makhtesh nearby we continued through the desert.  And it started raining again.   Then it REALLY started raining again.  We came to a place where a few other cars had stopped.  A waterfall was developing.   While we were there, it became more powerful.  Look at the pictures below - and consider that the average YEARLY rainfall for this area is somewhere around 3-6 inches.  Several of us hiked a few dozen meters up to get closer to the waterfall.  The selfie is not a great picture - but I can't resist sharing it.

  






There were Israeli soldiers and tour guides also stopped along with us.  Many of them used the same words - "this is the opportunity of a lifetime".

We left the waterfall and continued into the desert.   At one point, a local ranger advised us that the road was closed ahead due to expected flooding.   We continued on a different route, and found the flooding anyway.   Hani was awesome in driving around and through puddles and getting us back onto a main road.

We got out of the rain and back into the real desert.   Our next stop as a wall with Ammonite fossils.  Ammonites were a marine life form that existed some time during the Devonian and Cretaceous eras (thanks Wikipedia!) ending 66 million years ago.  So the Negev hasn't always been a desert!  The name is because the horn-shaped fossils somewhat resemble the rams' horns worn by the Egyptian god Ammon.  The visible fossils are embedded in a cliff.  Our guide Asaf told us that there used to be more fossils in the wall; but tourists may have taken some home.
 

Our hikers had fun also, inspecting the local plant life:
  

Our last stop was an unusual rock formation called "HaMinsara", or "the Carpentry Shop".  Near the top of a hill are numerous rocks that look like they were created in a carpentry shop.   Some are in the shape of a brick or a piece of lumber.   Others look like tiling on a mosaic floor - except that at the edge of the "mosaic" you can see that the tiles are many inches or even feet tall.  The rocks are sandstone which melted and then cooled during geologic processes forming the quartzite prisms which can be seen today.
 

 



Other than touring Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, this was our first day without a difficult hike.  The rain made it far too treacherous to try hiking up or down the steep trails we've done for most of the trip.   However, seeing this rain in the Negev Desert made it well worth it!  We have seen a phenomenon which may not be repeated for many years, even decades.

Tuesday - climbing up Masada and much, much more!

Tuesday morning, our we left our hotel and set off for Masada.
(note:  more technical problems.   Pictures will be added later.  Come  back to the blog to see them - there are some amazing things!)

On most occasions, a visit to Masada would be the high point of a day's touring.   After all, what could possibly top it?  This post will contain all of Thursday's activity, since breaking it into smaller pieces would not do justice to what a remarkable day it was!

For those unfamiliar with the remarkable story of Masada, here is the slimmed down version:  It is a mountain in the Negev Desert, a most inhospitable location about a day's donkey ride from Jerusalem.  King Herod - the Jew who cooperated with Marc Antony and Augustus Caesar who made him the king, and who oversaw the construction of Caesaria (see earlier post), and a massive reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem - chose this location for his winter palace.  Like his other projects, this one spared no expense to be as magnificent as a Roman building could be - including baths, storehouses, several cisterns and ingenious channels to collect the rain into them, and others.

Herod died in 4 BCE, and Masada was largely unoccupied for many years.  In the year 66 CE, a large group of Jews began rebelling against Roman rule.  The rebellion started in the north, and spread south.  While the Jews had some successes, the mighty Roman Empire had vast resources, and deployed them in putting down the rebellion.  They defeated Jews in the north and headed south.   In 70 CE, they surrounded Jerusalem and ultimately destroyed it, including the Temple.  They continued south, defeating pockets of insurrection, and finally reached the southernmost point of the rebellion, in Masada.   There, about a thousand Jews defended the fortress built generations earlier by Herod.  They found the storehouses to be full, with enough food to feed them for many years.   They found the water collection system working and the cisterns full.  Thus equipped, they held out against a Roman siege for three years.   The Romans built a ramp to bring their equipment to the top and finally breached the defenses.   When they did, they found that the Jews had killed themselves the night before, rather than surrender and become Roman slaves - or worse.

The Snake Path at the eastern foot of Masada has been a "must do" for visitors since the 1960s.  On my previous two visits, I did not have that opportunity; we took the cable car to the top.   On Tuesday, we climbed up.   It is not an easy climb, but it is manageable for hundreds of tourists (mostly young ones) every day and we made it to the top in about 45 minutes.

  

Rose is most of the way up

Rita is near the top

Once there, our guide Asaf showed us the wonders of 2000 years ago.  The magnificent 3-level palace for Herod (a lot of slaves must have died building it for him).  The bath-houses - turned into mikvahs (Jewish ritual baths) by the Jewish defenders.  The walls defending Masada from above - and the Roman encampments below.  And the Roman road which finally made the difference.   The road was made largely of dirt and sand piled so as to enable the Romans and their equipment to reach the top.  Much of it has been blown away by the wind over the years, so archaeologists have built much of it back together and the current ramp, also used by tourists, may be an easier climb than the original!  The Snake Path, which we climbed, is probably much closer to the original one - although 700 steps and a few railings have been added for our convenience!

Facing the upper palace

In one of the 16 storerooms

 
After taking the cable car down, we were greeted by an ibex in the Visitor Center!

We left Masada before noon.   For most tour groups, this would have been the highlight of their day and possibly of their whole trip.   However, we were just getting started!

We drove deep into the Negev, over to the Makhtesh craters which are a unique geological formation found only a few places in the world.   There are layers of sedimentary rock of different types, which were pushed up in the formation of mountains,, and then much of it was washed away - so the layers of sediment have been exposed.  The "fins" at the top of the mountain resemble fish fins - so the hikes go along the narrow part both coming up and coming down!   Don't look to closely to the right or to the left!
  
The climbs and descents were both quite challenging.   We saw two groups of high schoolers while we were there - probably a hundred in each group!  I doubt that American high-schoolers would have done this - the American legal system would make it cost-prohibitive, and all too many would not be in physical shape to do it.   These children are facing army service in a few years, and were reasonably fit.

Ron, Michael, Rita, Debbie,
and Asaf at the top.  Bob is
behind the camera

Better than a classroom!

Someone's home

Beauty in the desert

The climb and descent were both very difficult - but the rain started on the way down.  Fortunately for us, it was not a heavy rain at first.  However, the rocks became more slippery, and part of our descent was done crabwalking or sliding down on our rear ends, since the footing was treacherous.  The descent was much steeper than the climb - the schoolchildren we saw must have had quite a time getting up!

If you have ever been in the Negev or any other desert - rain is the last thing you expect.  When we began our hike, it looked like the last rain in the neighborhood floated Noah's ark.  Although this is the end of the "rainy" season, that is a term more often applied to the North or to Jerusalem than to the arid Negev!

 When we reached the bottom, we made a brief detour to a nearby spring.  It was well-hidden, and the kind of place that probably only the Bedouins knew about until Israeli hikers and tour guides stumbled upon it and put it on the map.   Upon returning to the bus, we had our next major surprise:  an ice cream truck that makes the rounds of the hiking sites.   Cool and refreshing!



But the biggest surprise was yet to come.   As we drove to our hotel - another hundred kilometers or more - the rain got harder.   And we saw a road that was flooded - with a car trapped in it - and we had to turn around!  Our intrepid driver Hani was able to negotiate the puddles, and we got out at one time to take pictures of what was usually a dry stream bed, and was now a raging river!   By this time next week, it may be a dry stream bed again, but for now, it was quite a site!


 

There are passages in the Bible that make reference to the floods in the desert.   On my other trips to Israel, the idea looked laughable.   They no longer do!