Category: Travel

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Virginia: Alexandria, Mount Vernon, Yorktown, Jamestown & Williamsburg

Alexandria, Virginia – now basically a DC suburb – was a major slave trading port with one of the largest slave markets in the country. The building that housed the offices of a slave trading company is now a museum called Freedom House. Some of the auctions were held in front of the Town Hall. Our stop in Alexandria was brief — just long enough to see the Town Hall and a little of the Old Town.

The land on which Mount Vernon stands was acquired by George Washington’s great-grandfather in the 1600s. The view from the house across the Potomac River is gorgeous. What a lovely place to live! No wonder Washington was anxious to get home after he was President. We were able to tour most of the house (though not allowed to take photos other than in the kitchen). I walked around the property, looking at everything. Once I paid my respects at George and Martha’s graves, I went back to the porch and sat in one of the rocking chairs, taking in the views until it was time to leave.

We had lunch at Spotsylvania Courthouse, location of a Civil War battle in 1864. The 20 hour battle ended in a stalemate and three cemeteries full of bodies.

Our afternoon was spent at Yorktown. Founded in 1691 as a port town, Yorktown was the site of British General Cornwallis’ surrender to George Washington during the American Revolution in 1781. This was also the battle when Washington finally caved in to Alexander Hamilton and let him take command. One of the photos I have from there is of a redoubt where Hamilton fearlessly led the charge. In town were several buildings that were there at the time of the Revolution, including a house (the Nelson house) with a cannonball still imbedded in the wall. Down below the town, is a cave that Cornwallis used as his headquarters.

We spent the night in Williamsburg, not too far from the historic part of town. We could actually walk there. It would have been a long walk, but we could still walk there. Since I had walked all over Mount Vernon and Yorktown (I covered the entire battlefield as well as the town), I didn’t feel the need to walk all the way into town that evening. So I grabbed some food near the hotel and watched a movie in my room.

Jamestown was our first stop for the day. The first settlement there was begun in 1607 when the ships Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed arrived in what later became Virginia. The settlement had a pretty rocky time. Its location was swampy with loads of mosquitos and brackish water. The settlers arrived in the middle of a major drought and too late in the year to plant anything. Most of the group were gentlemen and their servants, none of whom were used to manual labor. Seems that this idea was not too well thought out. In a few months, roughly 80% of the group was dead.

Although another group arrived in 1608, many of them ran off to join the Powhatan tribes, so the settlers were in dire straights by 1609. This was when the Sea Venture led several other ships to rescue Jamestown. Unfortunately, they encountered a hurricane and ended up stranded in Bermuda for nearly a year while they built new ships. They finally arrived at Jamestown in 1610.

1609 and 1610 are remembered as the Starving Time. There wasn’t much left of the settlement by the time the people from the Sea Venture finally arrived. But their arrival saved what was left of the colony. There is an interesting book about it titled The Shipwreck That Saved Jamestown. This story is also considered to have been the basis for Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”.

My first ancestor to arrive in what eventually became the US (and my 11th great grandfather on my paternal grandmother’s side) was on the Sea Venture, survived the hurricane, and arrived in Jamestown on the Deliverance in 1610. He stuck around for a couple years and headed back to London in 1612. In 1620, he decided to give it another try and sailed across again with his second wife and children from both his first and second wives. I’m descended from a daughter by his first wife.

I would have really liked to have seen the remains of the original settlement that is known as Historic Jamestown, but we were taken to the recreation of the colony known as Jamestown Settlement. A Powhatan village was been reconstructed just outside of the settlement. They also have replicas of the three original ships and of the settlement itself as it would have been in 1610 through 1614. It was very interesting to see. Sometime, though, I would still like to visit the actual settlement.

After spending the morning at Jamestown, we returned to Williamsburg for the remainder of the day. I had been to Williamsburg before on an earlier trip, but we ran out of time before we could tour the Governor’s Palace. So this time, immediately after lunch (which was at the same end of town as the Governor’s Palace) I made my way there first.

To try to keep from having too many people in the building at the same time, they gather groups in the courtyard. Then, when one group has pretty much exited, they let another in. Fortunately we did not need to stay with our group and gather around a tour guide. We could wander through at our own pace. There were placards to read and costumed guides who could answer question and would bring our attention to something they especially thought we should see or learn about. Since we had all afternoon, I took my time.

Making several stops along the way, I walked from the Governor’s Palace to the House of Burgesses at the other end of town and back again. I stopped in at the Brickyard (brick making), the Blacksmith shop and Armory (making horseshoes, tools, weapons and nails), the Joinery (finishing work on doors, windows, fireplace mantels), the Gunsmith shop (gun making), the Apothecary (pharmacy), the Bindery (book binding), the Coopers (barrel making), the cabinetmakers (furniture making), the Wheelwright (wheel making), the Foundry (creating objects in brass, bronze, pewter and silver), and a Shoemakers (making shoes and boots). I also visited some of the houses that were open to the public, such as the Everard House, the Geddy House, the Wythe House, and the Peyton Randolph House.

There were also several costumed interpreters portraying historical figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and George Washington, and others playing various townspeople, soldiers, and slaves. Had a nice chat with a housemaid at the Governor’s Palace, a soldier at the parade ground, a free black woman, and Thomas Jefferson, in addition to some of the people at the different shops and workshops. All in all, a fun day.

That evening, we went back into town to have dinner at the Shields Tavern, where we had an 18th century style southern dinner accompanied by 18th century music. We also had a few actors playing patriots who were doing a little rebel-rousing. After breakfast at the hotel, we had an interpreter give us information on the life of a slave at that time.

Next time – Richmond, Monticello and the Shenandoah National Park.

  • Alexandria Town Hall
  • Freedom House
  • Mount Vernon
  • Graves of George & Martha Washington
  • Yorktown Battlefield
  • British Redoubt at Yorktown
  • Canon ball in wall of house
  • Powhatan Lodge
  • Inside of Powhatan Lodge
  • Replica of Susan Constant at Jamestown
  • Interior of Susan Constant
  • Jamestown Settlement
  • Jamestown Settlement
  • Governor’s Palace at Williamsburg
  • Bedroom in Governor’s Palace
  • Williamsburg
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Washington, DC Revisited

For a fall 2010 tour of the US Historic East, including Colonial, Revolutionary, and Civil War sites, I had an early morning flight from Minneapolis to Chicago. I do dislike early morning flights. But I would rather take one when going to a domestic destination and have a decent amount of time on my first day than taking a late flight and not getting to see anything before the tour begins. This tour, the flight from Chicago to Washington’s Reagan National was delayed by a thunderstorm. After getting a good late lunch at the hotel, I set off to explore the area around it.

I was upgraded to a suite on a special floor where you had to use your room card on the elevator when selecting the floor in order to get there. Unlike Amman, Jordan where I had a suite but couldn’t use it, I had two full nights at this hotel. After getting back to the hotel from my exploration of the neighborhood (the hotel was roughly a block from the White House), I checked out the VIP room for the people on my floor. I found bottled water, fruit, pastries and small bottles of sparkling wine. Trying not to be too much of a pig, I hauled a few items back to my room. I wasn’t going to need to go anywhere for dinner that night.

We had about 45 people on the tour. Since it had to do with US history, there were several Americans. We also had a few Canadians and a couple of Brits. Our Tour Director was named Scott. At our meet and greet that evening, I met a couple of ladies (Judy & Gaye) from Louisville, Kentucky with whom I often sat for dinner or lunch.

The following morning, we began our tour with a walk to Lafayette Park and the White House. However, we were fairly quickly asked to leave as the President and his family were walking from the White House to the church on the other side of the park (St Johns) to attend Sunday morning service. So we walked back to the hotel, jumped on our tour coach and made our way to Arlington National Cemetery.

The first thing we did was to visit the graves of President Kennedy, Jackie, Bobby & Ted. Then we looked at some of the Civil War graves before heading to the Iwo Jima Memorial. The land upon which the cemetery stands was originally owned by the Custis family. These were the descendants of George Washington’s wife, Martha and her children by her first husband. Martha’s great-granddaughter married a fella named Robert E. Lee.

When he resigned his commission in the US military and took the reins of the Confederate army (actually the Army of Northern Virginia at that time), Lee stationed his army on his property. This was way too dangerous for the Union. So once the Union managed to remove Lee and his forces, they took over the property. It wasn’t widely used as a cemetery until after the war ended, although a couple bodies were buried on the outskirts once the other cemeteries in the DC area filled up.

The Iwo Jima Memorial is actually dedicated to the US Marines. This was not a memorial that I saw on my first trip to DC back in 1999, so I was glad to see it. We then visited the Korean War Memorial, which I find to be very haunting. Next came the Lincoln Memorial (one of my favorites) and the Vietnam War Memorial. The son of one of our neighbors back in Dallas, where I grew up, died in the Vietnam War. We had enough time there for me to look up his name and find it on the memorial.

We drove by the Capitol, only stopping for a photo from across the lawn. That was okay since I had been able to go inside on my last tour to DC. I had other plans for my free time in the afternoon. We were dropped off at the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art to get lunch and set off on our free time. We could either return there later in the afternoon for a pickup or make our own way back to the hotel. I chose to make my own way back.

After lunch, I walked to Ford’s Theatre. During my last trip, I had been able to see the museum in the basement of the theatre, but not the theatre itself. It had been closed due to a performance of a play. After paying for my admission, I walked up the stairs and entered the theatre at the balcony level. I was retracing John Wilkes Booth’s footprints at that point, but then I departed the path he took to walk down to the front row of the balcony and sit down to soak it all in.

When I was in college, I had designed the costumes for a play which ended up traveling to Ford’s Theatre as part of a competition for play productions from universities around the US. Since I wasn’t actually in the play that time, I didn’t get to go. Just my costumes. I stared at the stage for a while, imagining my costumes moving about down there.

Although you can’t get into the Presidential box itself, you can see right into it from the same perspective that John Wilkes Booth had in the small hallway right behind the presidential box. I managed to get a pretty decent photo from there without reflections. After spending as much time in the theatre itself as I wanted to, I went downstairs to the museum and explored that again.

I had been pretty much all by myself in the theatre and had purchased the ticket to see both the theatre and the Peterson House across the street. Back out in the street, there wasn’t any line in front of the Peterson House at all. I went in and found that I had it pretty much to myself too. The challenge with photographing the bed on which Lincoln died, is that it is completely surrounded by glass. So getting a photo without reflections is difficult. But I don’t think I did too badly. He was too tall for the bed and had to lie diagonally across it.

On my way back to the hotel, I went by Madame Tussaud’s, so I decided to stop in. In addition to the usual actors, singers, etcetera, this one had several historical figures and presidents. Not all of the wax figures are great likenesses of their subjects, but they can give you a good general idea of what someone looks like – especially height and build. Since you can walk around among them, you can stand toe to toe.

That night, we went to Georgetown for a delicious seafood dinner, followed by a visit to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. I sat with Judy and Gaye at dinner. They were delightful company.

A World War II Memorial had been built in 2004. We visited it too and took photos from there of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial and Capitol. The WWII Memorial was quite beautiful at night. It has memorials for both the European theatre and the Pacific.

Next time – we set off for Alexandria, Mount Vernon, Yorktown, Jamestown, and Williamsburg.

  • The White House
  • Arlington Cemetery
  • Iwo Jima Memorial
  • Korean War Memorial
  • Lincoln Memorial
  • Statue of Lincoln
  • Capitol Building
  • Vietnam War Memorial
  • Ford’s Theatre
  • Presidental Balcony
  • Interior of Presidential Balcony
  • Pistol used to assassinate Lincoln
  • Peterson House
  • Bed on which Lincoln died
  • Kennedy Center for Performing Arts
  • World War II Memorial
  • Lincoln Memorial
  • Washington Memorial
  • Capitol Building
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Amman

Evidence of habitation in Jordan’s capitol city dates as early as 7250 BC when it was called Ain Ghazal. During the Iron Age, it was called Ammon and was the capitol of the Kingdom of the Ammonites. During its Greek and Roman periods, the city was called Philadelphia, becoming Amman once it became part of the Ottoman Empire.

We were given an overall tour of the city prior to visiting the Citadel, which mirrors the city in the number of ruins and artifacts from different historic periods. The oldest site on the Citadel that I saw was a Bronze Age cave dating to sometime between 1650 and 1550 BC. No Greek buildings remain, just pieces of pottery.

The Temple of Hercules is the main structure from the Roman period on the Citadel. It was built in roughly 162 to 166. Much of the marble used for the temple was reused for the later Byzantine Church.

A colossal statue of Hercules was once part of the temple. All that is left of it are three fingers and an elbow. It was likely destroyed during an earthquake. Just below the Citadel is a large Roman Theatre.

The Byzantine Church is all that remains from that period, but the early Islamic Umayyad Palace is thought to have been built over another Byzantine building in the beginning of the 8th century. The palace is mainly in ruins, but the entrance chamber has been restored. Near the palace is a cistern from the same period. The remains of a mosque are also nearby.

In the Archaeological Museum are artifacts from all over Jordan, dating from prehistoric times to the 15th century. At the time of my visit in 2010, the museum was located at the Citadel. In 2014, a new museum was opened not far from the Citadel (near the Roman Theatre). The new museum was built because the old one had become too small and they couldn’t expand on the Citadel.

In addition to some of the Dead Sea Scrolls (including the only copper versions yet found), the museum also has some of the oldest statues of human figures in the world, dating from when Amman was Ain Ghazal (roughly 7250 BC). Not only could we see these items, but we could photograph them as well.

When we checked into the hotel, we found that we had been upgraded to suites. However, since I had a 2:50am flight from Amman to Frankfurt, it was pretty much useless to me. I did take advantage of the large, jetted tub before dinner. But one of the couples and I were leaving the hotel at midnight. So only two hours between dinner and our pickup time.

Once we arrived in Frankfurt, we found we were grounded. The Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull (don’t ask me to pronounce it), after a pause of a few weeks, had started erupting again. Fortunately, our delay was only for about three hours and not overnight. The couple was heading to Toronto and I was flying to Chicago. Upon arrival in Chicago, I needed to re-book my flight to Minneapolis as I had missed the one I was supposed to have been on. By the time I got home, I had been up for nearly 48 hours.

Next time — the start of a tour of the Historic Eastern US.

  • An Amman mansion
  • Amman from the Citadel
  • Bronze Age cave
  • Temple of Hercules
  • Hand of Hercules
  • Roman Theatre
  • Byzantine Church
  • Umayyad Palace
  • Palace entrance hall
  • Cistern
  • Mosque
  • Ain Ghazal Statue
  • Dead Sea scroll
  • Copper Dead Sea scroll
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Petra & Little Petra

Indiana Jones has got nothing on me. He traveled through the Siq in Petra, Jordan to find the Holy Grail. I traveled through the same Siq to see the Treasury (the building used in the movie as the location of the Holy Grail) and the rest of the ancient city of Petra. It is a two hour walk into Petra and two ½ hours uphill back out again.

Petra is believed to have been settled as early as 9,000 BC with the Nabateans settling in and expanding the city in the 4th century BC. The Nabateans grew wealthy through trade in frankincense, myrrh and spices, and are considered to possibly be the “wise men from the east” who traveled to Bethlehem shortly after the birth of the baby Jesus.

On the way to the ancient city, we passed the mountain (Mount Hor) where Moses’ brother, Aaron, is buried. The photo is a little fuzzy, but you can see a white building at the top of the mountain.

We were at Petra (which had been known as Raqmu by the Nabateans) when they opened. We weren’t the only people there or the first people there, but it wasn’t nearly as crowded as it would be later in the day. It also wasn’t as hot as it would be later.

The first structure encountered, once entering the area, is the Obelisk Tomb. It definitely has strong Egyptian influences. Shortly after passing this building, the Siq begins. It is a very deep and narrow gorge. Here and there it widens a bit and Roman paving can still be seen in places. The Roman eventually took over the city. Then earthquakes in 363 AD destroyed much of the city. Changes in the trade routes also meant that the city declined until the middle 7th century, by which time it was finally abandoned. That’s when the Bedouins moved in.

At the end of the Siq is a very tantalizing glimpse of the Treasury (Al-Khazneh) shortly before emerging from the Siq to fully see the building. The Treasury was built in the beginning of the 1st century AD as a mausoleum. The name “the Treasury” came later when people thought that pirates had hidden some treasure in the urn on the façade. Significant damage can be seen on the urn from when the Bedouins shot at it.

There isn’t anything inside the Treasury and you can’t go in it either (at least we couldn’t in 2010). But I went up the steps and took a photo inside through the opening.

Veering to the right of the building and along the road there, it doesn’t take long to get to the Street of Facades. This has loads of buildings carved into the rock on numerous levels. We took a lunch break there. The dog of the owner of the café where we stopped for lunch decided that I was his buddy and he lied down with his head on my foot to take a nap. Fortunately he did decide to get up and go about his business before we needed to leave.

From the Street of Facades, we continued on to the Theatre and the Royal Tombs (the Urn Tomb, the Silk Tomb, the Corinthian Tomb, and the Palace Tomb). Then we had the Nymphaeum (fountain), the Colonnaded Street (the central market of Petra), the Great Temple, and another temple called Qasr al-Bint.

It would have been a long, steep climb to the Monastery and would have taken me too long (I can do mountainous climbs just fine when I have time, but not too well in a hurry). So I chose not to make the climb. Nobody else in my group did it either. I spent my time exploring the main part of Petra. I visited the restroom and bought a couple more bottles of water before beginning the 2 ½ hour uphill trek back through the Siq. It was pretty warm by then. I downed 3 ½ bottles of water along the way (and sweated it all out again).

I had noticed several people with donkeys or camels for rent on the way down into Petra, but not on the way back. I had my collapsible cane with me, so I used it much like a staff. It really does help to have a cane or a walking pole of some kind during these types of hikes. I usually take the cane since it is light weight and folds up to fit in my camera bag when I don’t need it. I have taken walking poles on other trips when the hiking has been pretty extensive.

Emerging from the Siq and looking for a restroom and a place to get some ice cream or fresh-squeezed orange juice, a young Jordanian engaged me in conversation. To make a long story short, he wanted me to adopt him and take him to the US. It wasn’t that many years earlier that I would have had a proposal of marriage. But then, I wasn’t in my twenties or even my thirties any more.

The next morning, we got up at 5am and left the hotel at 7am. This was for an extra visit that wasn’t on the itinerary – Little Petra. At the time we were there, it was thought to be roughly 400 years older than the larger city and had been where the Nabateans lived before creating Petra. But current archeologists feel that it was created about the same time as the larger city as a type of suburb, possibly for travelers to Petra.

On our way to Little Petra, we could see part of the larger Petra from above. We also saw the “back door” to Petra for supplies and staff. Nobody was at Little Petra when we arrived. We were able to enter the buildings there. We spent about an hour exploring and then set off to return to Amman. On our way, we stopped off at a place with a lot of antiques. I bought a curved dagger.

We also stopped for lunch at an authentic Jordanian restaurant. We didn’t encounter any other tourists. Several people were smoking from large water pipes. The first course was a variety of of dishes, most of which I had no idea what they were. What I could identify included humus, babaganush, sausagues, veggies, pita, and olives. The main course included lamb cooked with rice and yogurt plus a mixed grill with lamb and chicken. Dessert was watermelon. This was all washed down with a lemon mint drink.

Next time — we finish our time in Jordan at Amman.

  • Aaron’s Tomb (white building at top left)
  • Obelisk Tomb
  • Along the Siq
  • A wider area of the Siq
  • End of the Siq
  • The Treasury
  • Treasury interior
  • Another view of the Treasury
  • The Street of Facades
  • The Theatre
  • The Urn Tomb
  • More Royal Tombs
  • Another view of Petra
  • Little Petra
  • Another building in Little Petra
  • Entrance of a building
  • Inside of a building
  • More buildings in Little Petra
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Introduction to Jordan

We arrived at Queen Alia Airport in Amman via Royal Jordanian Air quite early in the morning and were met by our Tour Director, Rabbi, and our driver, Samla. The tour coach was not quite large enough to comfortably hold 16 people plus all of our luggage (which was piled rather precariously on the back seats of the vehicle instead of inside of a luggage compartment in the rear or underneath). There weren’t any overhead bins either. So Rabbi arranged for a larger coach to meet us at Madaba. Then he threw out the planned itinerary for the day, which was to have included Um Quais (ancient Greek ruins), Bethany (supposed to be the actual site where John the Baptist baptized Jesus), and Lot’s Cave (where Lot and his daughters lived after fleeing Sodom) as we made our way to Petra.

I have had tour directors on other tours switch a schedule around or add something in as an extra treat. I have also had them substitute something when we couldn’t go to what had been planned. But I’ve never had anyone just throw out the entire schedule. Instead we headed for Mount Nebo (which was on the schedule for our return to Amman after visiting Petra). Since Madaba was also on the original schedule for when we came back up to Amman, it appeared at first that we were just traveling in reverse. But that proved not to be the case as we never did see the first day’s sites and also didn’t see a few that we should have seen coming back up either.

I am awfully glad we went to Mount Nebo. This was the mountain where Moses was shown the Holy Land and then died before he could enter it. Jericho can be seen straight out from the point where Moses supposedly stood. They say that Jerusalem can also be seen on a clear day. I could see Jericho, which already existed at the time that Moses was up there. Joshua and the Israelites had an adventure there not too much later. On Mount Nebo, there were some churches, a museum and a memorial to Moses. The memorial was closed due to renovations when I was there in 2010 and was reopened in 2016. We spent some time in the museum before heading on to Madaba.

We rendezvoused with our new transportation shortly after having lunch. Then set off for the church that has a 6th century Byzantine mosaic map of the Holy Land on its floor. The church is dedicated to Saint George and has a very large painting of him slaying a dragon on its wall. The painting is similar to the hand-painted icon I had purchased in Bulgaria in 2009. Madaba is known for its mosaics and the map is quite famous as it is the only surviving 6th century map of its kind. Scholars worldwide refer to it when studying that era. I managed to get a couple fairly decent photos of it.

Since we weren’t going to the Kerak Crusader Fortress, Rabbi said he would take us to the Shobak Crusader Fortress instead. It was built in 1115 by Baldwin I of Jerusalem and was captured by Saladin in 1189 after a long siege.

We began climbing in the mountains on a very narrow road with nothing to stop anyone from flying off of the mountain. As we rounded one “corner” where the fortress came into sight, a car came zipping around from the other direction. Our driver veered quickly to keep from a collision and we ended up quite perilously on the edge. One of the wheels was barely still on terra firma. This scared the portion of the group that wasn’t already scared quite thoroughly. Then we found that we weren’t actually going to visit the fortress. This look across from the mountain we were on to the mountain it was on was as close as we were going to get.

We continued on our way down to Petra and checked into our hotel. For maximum time at the ancient Nabatean site the next day, we were going to have an early start. We would be one of the first groups there in the morning when they opened. We would be spending the entire day in a very beautiful and mysterious place.

  • Mount Nebo
  • On Mount Nebo
  • View from Mount Nebo towards Jericho
  • Church at Madaba
  • Interior of church
  • Mosaic map on floor
  • More of the mosaic map
  • Wall painting of St George & the dragon
  • Shobak Crusader Fortress
  • Bedouin tent
  • Cave dwelling
  • Hotel at Petra
  • View from hotel room at Petra
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Latrun, Emmaus, Valley of Elah & Jaffa

The last day of the Israel portion of the tour I took in 2010 to Israel & Jordan was spent taking our time to return to Tel Aviv by visiting some additional interesting locations. The first one was Latrun (Latroun), which is on a hilltop in the Valley of Ayalon, where Joshua commanded the sun to be still so they could complete the battle against the Amorites before dark. Samson was also born in the area. Our visit was to the 1890 Trappist Monastery, set in a beautiful garden.

 I would have loved to have purchased a bottle of the wine they produce at the monastery, but I was going to be picked up at 4:30am the next day to catch the flight to Jordan. No time to drink it all and couldn’t take it on the plane. Too bad we didn’t stop off there when we started the trip.

Our next stop was Emmaus. We visited the remains of a 2nd century basilica that had been built on what was assumed to be the site where Jesus manifested himself to a couple of the disciples after He arose following the crucifixion. This basilica was rebuilt first by the Byzantines and later by the Crusaders. Near the basilica are a few 1st century tombs. It was great to see one “in the wild”.

The Valley of Elah was where the story of David and Goliath took place. Tol pointed out the one hill where the Israelites were hanging out and the other hill where the Phillistines were encamped. Not much imagination was needed here as the two hills and the area between them didn’t seem to be much altered. Tol then described how Goliath came down from the hill to our right and challenged the Israelites. David then came down from the hill to our left to face him.

A couple of posts ago, I described how I tripped and fell at David’s tomb, smacked against the gate separating the women’s section from the tomb itself and the dollar bill in my hand flew into the tomb area, landing in front of the sarcophagus. Tol had been teasing me about it for the remainder of the trip. So, when he described David facing Goliath and asked what we might say to David at that moment, I responded, “you owe me a dollar.” It was a laugh that was well worth the two-day wait.

We went into Tel Aviv for lunch and then back-tracked to Jaffa for some sightseeing in Old Jaffa. Archeological evidence shows that Jaffa has been in existence at least as far back as 7500 BC. Whenever anything is excavated, they find evidence of nearly every period of history all mixed together. I really enjoyed Jaffa with its narrow cobbled streets and thousands of years of history.

When we got to Tel Aviv, those of us who were headed to Jordan (16 out of 26), would have preferred to dine fairly early to get some rest before our flight to Amman. Since we weren’t dining until 8:00pm, I got everything ready to go so I didn’t have much to do when I returned to my room. It was a farewell dinner for everyone who was leaving the tour that night, but the group going to Jordan all bailed a little past 9:00pm.

Next time – arriving bleary-eyed but excited for new adventures in Jordan.

  • Latroun Monastery
  • Latroun Monastery Interior
  • Emmaus Basilica Ruins
  • 1st Century Tomb at Emmaus
  • Valley of Elah
  • Tel Aviv
  • Jaffa
  • Old Jaffa Harbor
  • Jaffa Street
  • Old Jaffa
  • Old Jaffa Street
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More Adventures in Jerusalem

At the Israel Museum, we visited a large “to scale” replica of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period. It represents what Jerusalem looked like before it was destroyed in 66 AD by the Romans. I thought it was really cool. It was designed by a historian in the 1960s, based on the writings of the Roman historian Flavius Josephus and other sources from the 1st century. The version of the Temple is the one constructed by Herod.

Next to this model is the Shrine of the Book, which contains the collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls held in Israel (there are others in Amman, Jordan). They rotate which scrolls are on display, so that they can keep them safe, as they are quite fragile.

Our next visit was to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. The initial part of the museum we came to was a series of memorials consisting of trees planted and dedicated to people who had saved Jews from the Nazis during World War II. These included memorials to Raoul Wallenberg, Irena Sendler, Oskar Schindler, Corrie ten Boom, Princess Alice of Battenberg, the People of Denmark, and King Christian X of Denmark. This is called the Garden of the Righteous among the Nations.

The Children’s Memorial was breathtaking. It consisted of a single candle reflected 1.5 million times to represent the children who lost their lives during the Holocaust. It was difficult to get a decent photo, but I explored the different angles and waited until I was alone.

I visited several exhibits in the galleries of the Holocaust History Museum as well as the Hall of Names. Another outdoor memorial was to the people who had been deported from their homes to distant concentration camps by train.

After lunch, we returned to the Dung Gate in Old Jerusalem where we entered and headed for the Davidson Center Archeological dig. This was along part of the Western Wall and the Southern Wall of Temple Mount at the time (2010). It may have expanded since then. The first area was near the southwest corner which contains the remnants of a 1st century street, the traces of Robinson’s Arch (a massive bridge up to the mount), and a reproduction of a block that fell from the wall above and is engraved with a message saying it was where the trumpeter stood to announce the beginning or end of the Sabbath.

There have been some scholars who believe that the Temple Mount was not really where the Temple was. They say it was located in the part of Jerusalem known as the City of David and that the Temple Mount was really just the Antonia Fortress. Sorry, I don’t buy it. I subscribe to both Biblical Archeology Review and Archeology Magazine (is it obvious I love Archeology?) as well as having studied some of the history (yeah, I really like history too) and I think they have the right place. Besides which, why would the trumpeter stand at a corner of the Antonia Fortress to announce the beginning and end of Sabbath?

I have heard rumors that non-Muslims have been allowed up on the Temple Mount from time to time. But this was one of those times when they weren’t. So we just kept touching the wall surrounding the Temple Mount and exploring the excavations that had been done up to that point.

Along the Southern Wall was a 1st century toilet of the public variety. It seemed to be very public as Tol did not indicate that there had ever been any type of enclosure around it. Further along the Southern Wall was a crusader structure. There were some steps added to allow us to climb through part of it to get to the other side where we could see the outlines of former gates and stand on the steps associated with those gates.

Back during what was known as the Baron’s Crusade (1234 – 1241), which was led by Richard of Cornwall (a son of King John of England), one of those knight ancestors of mine, Sir Hugh Wake (a 23rd great grandfather), landed at Akko (Acre) and proceeded to Ascalon (Ashkelon) where he was involved in rebuilding the Crusader fortress there. Not too many years ago his Coat of Arms was found carved in a piece of stone in the moat near the northern Jaffa gate of Ascalon. I bring this up as he was killed December 18, 1241 in battle in Jerusalem. I don’t have a clue as to where, but could it have been somewhere near the Temple Mount? Maybe near that Crusader fortress?

Because we had been unable to take photos the day before, Tol took us back to the Wailing Wall just for a photo op. Several soldiers were there, armed. So I got a photo of them as well as of the wall.

On our way to our hotel, Tol pointed out Oskar Schindler’s grave. I managed a rather lop-sided photo of the entrance to the grave, which I have included here.

We had one more day in Israel before flying to Amman, Jordan. So, next time will be our visits to Latrun (Latroun), Emmaus, the Valley of Elah, and Jaffa as we returned to Tel Aviv.

  • Miniature version of Second Temple period
  • Shrine of the Book
  • Garden of the Righteous among the Nations
  • Children’s Memorial
  • Children’s Memorial Interior
  • Deportees Memorial
  • Excavations at the Western Wall
  • Remains of Robinson’s Arch
  • 1st century street
  • Stone indicating where the trumpeter stood
  • Along the Southern Wall
  • Just past the Crusader Fortress
  • Israeli Soldiers at the Wailing Wall
  • Entrance to Oskar Schindler’s grave
  • Coat of Arms of Sir Hugh Wake
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Old Jerusalem

We entered the walls of Old Jerusalem through the Dung Gate. Not sure how it got its name, but the gate was built in the 16th century. In the 20th century it was enlarged to allow vehicular traffic. The plaza for the western wall is a short distance inside of the gate. We were visiting the portion of the western wall known as the Wailing Wall. It was the Sabbath, however, so no photography was allowed. We also needed to write down any prayers on slips of paper in advance. Men and women were in separate sections.

One of the other women in my group and I walked over to the wall and placed our hands on it while praying. We both swore afterwards that we could feel a vibration coming from the wall. We asked a few others if they felt it, but they said they didn’t. Tol said that he has had others say they have experienced the same thing. Usually just a few within the group.

We walked from there up El Wad Road to the Third Station of the Cross. We were unable to gain entry to where the first two stations were located, so we started with #3. Although I did take photos at each station, there really wasn’t much there other than a disc marking the location. Can’t say that they make for fascinating photography, but I have included one of them here with the Via Dolorosa street sign. The Ninth Station is just outside of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with stations 10 through 14 inside of the church.

As we progressed through the stations, we seemed to pick up a few more people here and there along the way. By the time we reached the church, we had a pretty good crowd. Inside of the church, it was once again supremely crowded. After Bethlehem, I was prepared for that and knew I needed to concentrate on what I was doing in order to keep safe. I don’t recommend this for children. As a short adult, it was very easy to get shoved around. Staying on my feet and being able to breathe when sandwiched between two much larger people were my goals. For the most part, people were fairly respectful of where we were. But then there were those who definitely were not. These were the ones doing most of the pushing and shoving as opposed to just quietly waiting their turn as the crowd inched along.

As we climbed up towards the summit of what is believed to be Golgotha, we could see the actual rock through the glass, including the split, which took place at the moment of Jesus’ death. Despite the reflection, I did get a photo. At the top was another star that we needed to crawl to and place our hand inside. After that point, the crowd eased up a bit until the tomb. Then it became crushing again.

A project to refurbish the tomb took place a few years after my visit in 2010. During that refurbishment, the archeologists involved found that there was a second marble slab beneath the one that had been visible since about the 1100s. The mortar for this slab was dated to the 4th century. Beneath it was the original limestone slab upon which the body would have been laid out. This slab and the remnants of the rock-hewn cave around it (which remains enclosed within the shrine, but with the top sheared off) were dated to the 1st century. So this means that the dates are correct. It seems that Hadrian built a pagan shrine over this too, which was there when Constantine’s mom, Helen, arrived to try to find it. The location of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was outside of the city in the 1st century.

After leaving the church, we walked through the Jewish Quarter to the Armenian Quarter. Then we went through the Zion Gate to Mount Zion where we visited the Upper Room. Unfortunately this location has been found to not be old enough (12th century) to have existed at the time of the Last Supper. However, it is likely near the original site and it is above what is considered to be King David’s Tomb (although it is hotly debated by some as to whether the tomb is here or in Bethlehem).

I have always liked David. He made a lot of mistakes and was far from perfect, yet he loved God and God loved him. I was really looking forward to seeing the tomb. But, there were separate sections for men and women. The men could view the tomb head on, while the women were to the side of the tomb and gated off from it. I wanted to get as close to the gate as I could and didn’t notice the step just in front of the gate. I fell off the step and smacked into the gate, bruising my hand. I had a dollar bill in that hand to buy a bottle of water when we returned to our coach, which shot from my hand and landed on the floor just in front of the sarcophagus.

Once Tol determined that I hadn’t seriously injured myself, he began to tease me about it. For the rest of the time we were in Israel, whenever the subject of David came up, he would say something like, “Trisha tried to join David in the tomb,” or “when David wakes up (when the Messiah comes), he’ll have a dollar for a bottle of water,” or “now other tourists will think you’re supposed to toss money into the tomb.”

Because of the Sabbath, we had lunch at a kibbutz just outside of Jerusalem. Then we visited the Mount of Olives to get a panoramic view of the city. There was a camel hanging out there who was relatively friendly. I did not try to pet him, however. Although I was tempted, I restrained myself. We could look across the Kidron Valley and see where David’s son, Absalom’s tomb was located.

When we came down from the Mount of Olives, we visited the Garden of Gethsemane. I was glad to see that part of it was still a garden with olive trees. Some of the trees were really old too, which added to the atmosphere. Inside of the church is what is called the “Rock of the Agony”. This is the rock upon which it is believed that Jesus prayed on the night of His betrayal.

The House of Caiaphas is an ongoing archeological dig that is located partially under the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu, which was built where Peter denied Jesus three times. The House of Caiaphas was where Jesus was imprisoned before standing trial. We were able to go down into the dungeon and to the cell where Jesus was reportedly held. We were also able to walk on some 1st century steps outside of the house where Jesus most likely walked when he was brought there and taken away later.

Next time – more of our adventures in Jerusalem.

  • Inside the Dung Gate
  • Old Jerusalem
  • Along the Stations of the Cross
  • Church of the Holy Sepulchre
  • Rock of Golgotha
  • Location of Cross
  • The Shrine of the Tomb
  • Inside the Tomb
  • King David’s Tomb
  • Camel
  • Kidron Valley
  • Absalom’s Tomb
  • Garden of Gethsemane
  • Rock of the Agony
  • Cell in which Jesus was imprisoned
  • 1st Century steps to Caiaphas’ House
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Masada

The rocky plateau near the Dead Sea known as Masada was initially fortified by King Herod in 37 to 31 BC. He built two palaces there, parts of which can still be seen. In 70 AD, after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, several members of a Jewish sect called the Sicarii joined a settlement that had begun roughly four years earlier at the top of the plateau.

In roughly 73 AD, Lucius Flavia Silva, the Roman Governor of Judea, launched a siege against the Sicarii at Masada. Jewish prisoners of war were used by the Romans to build a siege ramp to allow the Romans access to the fortress. Because the Sicarii did not want to kill their Jewish brothers who were building the ramp, they did not stop them. Once the ramp was completed, a siege tower was pulled up the ramp and a battering ram and fire were used to breach the wall.

This was when the decision was made not to be captured and enslaved by the Romans. Suicide is very much against Jewish religious beliefs. All of the men were to kill their own families, while ten men were selected to kill all of the other men. Those ten men drew lots as to who would be the last man standing. He would then need to kill himself. Archeologists have discovered what they believe are the lots within the synagogue. Roughly 960 people ended up being killed. The story is known because two women and their children hid in one of the cisterns and survived.

Upon arriving at the visitor center for the site, we watched a short film before taking the cable car to the top. It is possible to take the Snake Path up instead, which was the path that the Sicarii used. Or one can go around to the other side of the mountain and walk up the siege ramp. I chose the cable car. I wanted to spend as much time as possible actually on the plateau as opposed to getting there. Otherwise, I might have tried the Snake Path.

At the end of the film, the narrator said, “We invite you to climb the mountain.” That got to me. I had watched a TV movie about Masada as a child and have long been fascinated by the story. On the way up, I stood at the front of the cable car with my video camera in hand filming. At the top, the presence of Masada’s prior residents was palpable. I was in awe.

Some parts have been restored and some have been left as they were found. I walked around, took photos and videos, and looked at everything. I stood and stared at the Upper and Lower Palace, the Synagogue, the cisterns, the Roman Army camps, the Bath House, and the ramp, as well as the remains of all of the other buildings.

It was possible to explore much of the remains of the Upper and Lower Palace. They had steps between the levels so getting up and down wasn’t too difficult. The Synagogue still had some of its walls as well as seating. The cisterns were in pretty good shape in addition to a couple of pools. The Bath House had enough of it remaining that I could get a good idea of what it was like when it was in use. Some of the paint was still on the walls. But the parts I found absolutely chilling were the remains of the Roman Army camps down below (roughly 10,000 troops compared to less than a thousand Sicarii) and the ramp. Looking over the wall and down the ramp was memorable and the pile of rocks that were not used against the builders of the ramp was poignant.

Sitting on the rock pile was a bird called a Tristran’s Raven, which is found only in the Dead Sea area and is quite prevalent at Masada. Another unique animal in the Dead Sea area is an Ibex (sort of like an antelope). We encountered several of them in Ein Gedi, where we had lunch. Ein Gedi was where David went to hide from King Saul in order to escape his wrath.

On the way to Masada, we had passed by Qumran, where many of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. But not all of the scrolls were discovered at Qumran. They were found all over the Dead Sea area, including in a small room in the synagogue at Masada.

After lunch, we went to a private beach and waded into the Dead Sea. The water felt very slimy to me. Although I could get it washed off of me pretty well, I thought my suit would never recover.

A few years back, I saw an episode of the television series “Ghost Hunters” in which they were investigating Masada. They captured a very haunting image of what appeared to be a lone, robe-clothed man next to one of the small buildings that had been there at the time and is still intact. Could he have been the “last man standing”?

  • Qumran
  • Cable car to the top of Masada
  • Masada
  • More of Masada
  • Still more of the excavations
  • Roman Army Camp
  • The Upper Palace
  • Looking down at the Lower Palace
  • The Lower Palace
  • The Lower Palace from the side
  • Part of the Bath House
  • A cistern
  • At the Synagogue
  • The siege ramp looking down from the breach in the wall
  • A Tristran’s Raven on the pile of stones that wasn’t used
  • Some Ibex at Ein Gedi
  • The Dead Sea at a private beach
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Bethlehem

Our morning visit was to the Garden Tomb. Although it gives a pretty good idea of what a tomb of a well-to-do person (Joseph of Arimethea) in the 1st century would have looked like, it only dates to the 4th century. It is in a beautiful setting.

Next we headed for Ein Karem (an ancient town roughly five miles outside of Jerusalem in the 1st century) and visited the Church of Saint John the Baptist. It was necessary to make our way slowly down several steep stairs to a grotto. This was supposed to be the exact spot where Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, gave birth to John the Baptist.

On our way from the Church of Saint John the Baptist to the Church of the Visitation, we encountered what is known as Mary’s Well. This was where Mary is said to have stopped for a drink of water before making her way up the very steep, long road to visit Elizabeth. Both women were quite pregnant at the time. They don’t let anyone drink there anymore. So it was a good thing I had a bottle of water with me.

The Church of the Visitation had a grotto where the meeting is reported to have taken place. This church (probably because of the long, steep climb to get there) was much less crowded than the Church of Saint John the Baptist had been. It also had a beautiful garden.

Bethlehem was in the control of the Palestinians. To go there, we needed to enter a secured area with walls, barbed wire and armed guards. There we left our coach, tour director, and driver to get on a different bus with a new driver and tour guide. Then, after we showed our passports and our hosts were satisfied, we drove into Bethlehem and had lunch at a place that overlooked Shepherd’s Field.

After lunch, Esau (our guide) took us to a gift shop which had several figures carved from olive wood. Then we were taken to the Church of the Nativity. At 5’3” I don’t usually have to duck when going through a doorway. But I did need to duck a little at the doorway to this church as it is less than five feet in height. Originally the door was much larger. But it was reduced in size initially to prevent theft and again to require people to bend down as they enter. It is called the Door of Humility.

The church was commissioned in 327 AD by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine. Back in 135 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian had a temple to Adonis built over the site because he wanted to obliterate the place where it was believed the Christ child had been born. Instead of destroying the site, Hadrian’s actions actually preserved it. In the 6th century, the Samaritans destroyed much of Constantine’s church. So Emperor Justinian rebuilt it. Since then, the church has needed various repairs mostly due to earthquakes and the occasional fire.

We needed to wait in line for roughly an hour before we were able to make our way down into the grotto. The church was extremely crowded, but we took turns stepping out from our group to take some photos and explore. There were some doors over the original mosaic floors which were open so that we could see them.

When we finally got to the entrance to the grotto, there were some steps in a semi-circle leading down into it. Fortunately I managed to be right next to the wall and could make sure I kept my balance in the crowd by keeping my hand on the wall. I would have liked to have gotten a photo of the steps down, but I couldn’t even see them until I was on the brink of them. Then, I needed to concentrate on making my way down them before I was pushed or fell. Of course, I might not have been able to fall at all. I might have been simply carried down by the crowd.

At the altar, it was necessary to get on one’s hands and knees and crawl in. I figured out ahead of time what I wanted to do when I reached the spot with the star. That was important as I knew I wouldn’t have much time once I got there. So, the photo shows part of a man’s hand because I took it as he was backing out and before I crawled in. Once I was in there, I thrust my hand through the hole in the center of the star, patted the rock beneath, and prayed. Whether or not it is truly the exact place where Jesus was born, doesn’t really matter to me. It is what the place represents.

Backing out, I found that it was nearly as difficult to get out of the grotto as it was to get in. I definitely had no way of seeing what else was down there. I heard that the Altar of the Three Wise Men was just opposite of the main altar, but it wasn’t possible to get to it. I have heard from others who have traveled to Israel that they did not experience quite the crowds that I did. Apparently I happened to go at a very busy time, even though it was in the spring, not in what was supposed to be the heavy travel season of summer.

I was exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel. As an introvert, I find large crowds to be draining. But I had that whole suite to myself. So I stretched out and relaxed before I needed to get to bed in order to get up early the next day to head to Masada.

  • Garden Tomb
  • Interior of Garden Tomb
  • Church of St John the Baptist
  • Grotto in Church of St John the Baptist
  • Mary’s Well
  • Church of the Visitation
  • Grotto in Church of the Visitation
  • Garden at Church of the Visitation
  • Shepherd’s Field
  • Church of the Nativity
  • Inside Church of the Nativity
  • Original Mosaic Floor
  • Approaching the Grotto in the Church of the Nativity
  • Inside the Grotto of the Church of the Nativity