Tag: personal experience travel

In 2010, I went on a wonderful 14 day tour of Israel and Jordan. To get there, I flew from Minneapolis to Chicago and then to Frankfurt, from where we traveled on Lufthansa to get to Tel Aviv. At the Frankfurt airport, we were segregated into a secure room just for our flight (referred to as a “sterile room”).

For some reason, despite not having any metal, during the x-ray, my money belt caught the attention of security and I was taken aside and searched. They also inspected the contents of my money belt (cash for Israel and Jordan plus some USD and Euros just in case). This sort of negated the purpose of having a money belt. Now everyone else on the flight to Tel Aviv with me knew I had one and that there was a pretty decent amount of money in it (the security folks pulled the money out and flipped through it).

They also rifled through my carryon and purse, then set them aside and wouldn’t let me near them until they were done searching me and my money belt. I was not a happy camper, especially since someone else could have fairly easily picked up my carryon and purse while security had their backs to them concentrating on me. After what seemed like an eternity, they decided I was okay and gave me back my money belt, purse and carryon. Once I was released by security and joined my fellow travelers to wait to get on the plane, I bought a Magnum Gold ice cream bar as comfort food.

 After arriving at the hotel in Tel Aviv, I just had twohours before joining the tour group for a “welcome drink”, so I walked to a nearby grocer, bought a few things for a light supper and then got everything organized for the following day. The hotel was right on the Mediterranean,which I could easily see from my room.

Our tour director’s name was Tol and our driver was Isaac. We had 26 people on the Israel portion of the tour and would have 16 for the Jordan portion. There were three other Americans (a woman from Orange County,California and a couple from Puerto Rico) besides me. Everyone else came from various other countries. The main people I hung out with during the trip included a woman from Toronto (Israel portion only) and the couple from Puerto Rico.

We had a short tour of Tel Aviv before heading to Caesarea. Other than the portion known as Jaffa, which was founded in 7,500 BC (which we toured when we returned to Tel Aviv later in the trip), Tel Aviv is a very modern city.

Caesarea was originally built by Herod the Great in 25 – 13BC, including a deep sea harbor, storerooms, markets, wide roads, baths, temples to Rome and Augustus, and imposing public buildings. We visited the Roman Theatre, Hippodrome, Crusader Fortress and Aquaduct, as well as viewing the portions of Caesarea now under the sea near the shore.

We set off for Megiddo, also known by the Greek name of Armageddon. The Jezreel Valley, in which Megiddo is located, has been a battleground for thousands of years for the Assyrians, Canaanites, Egyptians, Greeks, Israelites, Persians, Philistines, and Romans. Megiddo dates back to the Bronze Age (3500 – 3100 BC). Several excavations have taken place and/or are currently underway.

One of the excavations is of a round altar that was built in about 2700 BC, possibly for sacrifice in the worship of the Canaanite god Baal. There is also a stable with several stone mangers. We were told about the water system and were then led through the underground tunnel.

A very long expanse of the stairs was metal and see-through and scared the crapola out of me. I needed to watch what my feet were doing so I wouldn’t trip and fall. But looking down at my feet meant I was looking through the steps at a very deep drop. This was towards the end of the tunnel, so too late to chicken out and turn back. I was first in line, but after I took a photo, I had everyone else go ahead of me so I could take my time. I was shaking and praying all the way down.

I have to say that it felt a little surreal to be at Armageddon, the location in the Book of Revelations of the final battle at the end of days. Mount Taber, the Mount of Transfiguration, could be seen from everywhere in the Jezreel Valley. It stands alone with no other mountains next to it.

At this point, Tol told us that he was moving our visit to Nazareth up a day. He said that the next three days were pretty full and felt that we would have more quality time in each location if we went to Nazareth that afternoon. We weren’t going to argue. So we headed to Nazareth, which was up in the mountains. For some reason, I had always pictured Nazareth as being in a valley or on a plain. So it surprised me to be winding our way up a mountain road.

We visited the Church of the Annunciation, which was built over the location where an angel told Mary she would give birth to Jesus. In the grotto of the church was the site, so we made our way down there to visit the first of many caves that we would see on this trip. An altar was set up in the cave where the angel appeared to Mary. We needed to keep moving because of the large number of people who were there and wanting to see what we were seeing, but I managed to take a photo.

Nazareth is also the town to which Joseph and Mary returned after the flight to Egypt. It is the town where Jesus grew up and Joseph had a carpenter’s shop. The church (St. Joseph’s) that had been built over the site of the carpenter’s shop was next door to the Church of the Annunciation. So we went over there and looked at the excavations and the rough cut steps down to what was considered to be Joseph’s shop.

After Nazareth, we returned to our original schedule and went to Muhraqa. This was where Elias beat the priests of Baal in a contest of faith. There was a monastery there with a lovely gift shop which had a St George and the Dragon icon that I bought. At this point, I had one from Bulgaria and one from Israel.

On the way from Muhraqa to Haifa, we encountered several Druze Villages. The Druze are a sect of Islam which is only found in Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. The Druze consider Jethro of Midian (Moses’ father-in-law) as their ancestor.

Haifa is more than 3,000 years old and was built on the slopes of Mount Carmel. We spent the night there in a hotel at the top of Mount Carmel with views of the bay on one side and the sea on the other. My room overlooked the bay.

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The first time I was on the island of Mull, Mom and I stayed in Oban and ferried over to Mull to get to Iona. We didn’t get to hang out on Mull at all, just zipped along the road from Craignure to Fionnphort to get the ferry to the tiny island of Iona. This trip, the tour group was staying in a hotel on Mull and we were able to spend some quality time on that island as well as visiting Iona.

We took a ferry from Lochaline on the west coast of mainland Scotland, to Fishnish (love that name) on Mull and then drove to our hotel in Craignure. After taking a little time to get into our rooms (and getting a photo of the view from my window), we left the hotel and took a small gauge train to Torosay Castle.

Torosay is a 60-room Victorian mansion as opposed to an actual castle. We were met at the end of the line by the 5^th Laird of Torosay, Chris Guthrie-James, for a private tour. Tommie joked with the laird that he was there to take our drinks order. Once we were inside of the house, we were indeed each offered a glass of Tobermory Single Malt Scotch. So she wasn’t too far off the mark after all.

We were taken around the rooms of the main portion of the house on the ground floor and the first floor up. Then we went for a walk of the grounds and the gardens, accompanied by the laird and his Labradoodle (more poodle than lab) Cleo. My dog, Nelson, who is a Schnoodle (more poodle than schnauzer of the miniature variety) could have been Cleo’s “mini me”.

The gardens and grounds were exquisite. They were dotted with statues, fountains, and benches for sitting and contemplating it all. The gardens were lush with flowers.

This time we could take photos inside. I was able to get some good ones of both the interior and exterior. As we were leaving, we met the laird’s mom, who ran the gift shop.

The next morning, we set off for Fionnphort. There isn’t a great deal of civilization between Craignure and Fionnphort – mainly very small villages and a lot of highland cattle (hairy coos). The entire human population of the island is roughly 2,800, most of which lives in Mull’s capitol, Tobermory.

Despite its low population, the island has been inhabited since about 6000 BC. There is a lot of evidence of the early habitation that can be seen from the road, such as burial mounds, brochs, a few standing stones, and even some crannogs. Crannogs date back to the Neolithic period and are basically manmade islands upon which wooden dwellings were built. Most often the wooden structures are long gone, but the island is still there. Some of them have narrow causeways that were constructed to allow the residents easy access while still making it difficult for anyone else to get to them.

The ferry ride from Fionnphort to Iona was a short one. I had told Tommie about how Mom and I ran out of time when we were on Iona, so she and I decided that we would trot on down to the Abbey first and then grab a sandwich from one of the shops back near the ferry later. We wanted to make sure we could see everything we wanted to see at the Abbey and not miss out on anything.

Saint Columba founded a monastery with an abbey at Iona in 563 AD. In the early 800s, Vikings raided Iona several times, ultimately killing several of the monks. Some of the remaining monks went to Kells, taking the ornately illustrated gospel they were working on (that became known as the Book of Kells) with them. In 1938, the Abbey was restored. The tiny, little building just to the left of the entrance to the Abbey is St Columba’s shrine – the location where Columba was initially buried back in 597 AD. His body was removed after the Viking raids with relics given to churches in both Scotland and Ireland.

I spent a lot of time walking around the interior of the Abbey, taking photos and exploring. The different parts of the Abbey date back to many different eras, with very large sections being mainly medieval. Some of the grave stones from the cemetery next door have been moved inside to preserve them as have some of the Celtic crosses (with copies taking their places outside). The cemetery has graves dating back to the early days of the monastery and Abbey, but many of the stones on them can no longer be read. Various Dal Riatan kings (Dal Riata being one of the main kingdoms in what is now Scotland back in the heyday of Iona) are among the people who were interred there.

In about 1203, a nunnery was built not too far from the monastery and abbey. The remains make a very pretty set of ruins. After checking that out, we visited a shop with both crafts and food. They had some silly mugs that consisted of kilts standing on little legs that I bought for gifts. We picked up some sandwiches, dessert and something to drink, then sat on some benches overlooking the beach to eat. It was a beautiful day – warm and sunny.

After taking the ferry back to Mull, we drove up to Tobermory, which was founded as a fishing port in 1788. There is a legend that a ship from the Spanish Armada fleeing the English fleet back in 1588 somehow caught fire and blew up in the bay where Tobermory is now located. It was supposedly laden with about £300,000 in gold bullion. Attempts have been made (and so far failed) to find the treasure in the mud beneath the bay.

The part of the town situated on the bay has very colorful houses, mostly with shops and businesses on the ground floor and living quarters above. One of the shops sold chocolates made on the premises. In addition to the usual orange, hazelnut, mint, salted caramel, etcetera, they had several fairly unique flavors of chocolate such as violet cream, rose cream, passion fruit and rum truffle – to name a few. None of the chocolates that either one of us bought survived long enough to get back to the US.

The next day, we took the ferry to Oban, sailing past Duart Castle and Dunollie Castle. Duart Castle was built in the 13^th century by Clan MacDougall and became the property of Clan Maclean in the following century. Dunollie Castle was also built by Clan MacDougall over the remains of some Dal Riatan fortifications. The MacDougalls backed John Balliol instead of Robert the Bruce in the quest to become King of Scotland. They ended up getting stripped of both power and property when Bruce became king. These were some of my ancestors and I am bitter (just kidding — at least we once had castles).

On our way back to Glasgow, we took our lunch break in Inverary, which has a wonderful castle belonging to the Campbells that was used in Downtown Abbey as “Duneagle”. I was very glad that Mom and I had toured this castle on an earlier trip since we didn’t have that kind of time this trip. After taking some photos of the castle, we had lunch in a quaint hotel in town, overlooking the loch, and walked around the town, exploring what we could before we needed to leave. We spent the afternoon and night in Glasgow before flying back home the following day.