Day 70 - We chose...wisely

We woke up early this morning and had the same breakfast in the hotel before going outside to meet Eli by 8:00. Dad had a minor problem checking out, as they wouldn’t let him pay because the cashier wasn’t in yet, but as soon as this was resolved we were on our way. We drove the 5 minutes to the border with Jordan, got all our stuff out of the car, and entered the border crossing station. We paid the fees to exit Israel, presented our passports, and went through all the hoopla to officially exit Israel.

Interestingly enough, when you exit Israel, you aren’t immediately in Jordan. Jordan is about 100 meters away. You have to walk through this nether area before being welcomed to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, where they recheck your passports and such. Eli met and spoke with someone he had hired to expedite our entry into Jordan and hire us a driver. We only waited about 10 minutes before all of the procedures on this side were finished, then took our luggage to the van waiting on this side for us.

Thus began the two-hour drive north towards Petra. The scenery was incredible: the desert stretched in every direction, interrupted by large rocks and mountains and random settlements at times. We stopped at an overlook point and for gas, but nowhere else. As we approached the town near Petra, we were able to see the mountain atop which Aaron is supposedly buried and where there is now a shrine for him.

Finally we reached our hotel, the Movenpick, at around 11 am. After going through security with our bags, we checked in, dropped off all of our luggage, stocked up on water, and walked across the street to the entrance to the Petra preserve. Eli warned us not to let any of the numerous people who would be offering us horse or donkey rides to think we wanted to accept their offers, so we ignored these shouts as we started off. The path was wide and lined with smaller rock formations at first, into some of which gates and facades had been carved. Many of these were small shrines, to which the Nabateans would have prayed as they passed through, but the larger ones were probably tombs.

Soon we found ourselves at a canyon, which was much narrower (maybe 3 meters at the widest) and reasonably deep. A tree stood near the entrance, off to the side, which Eli said had beautiful seeds, so we collected a few of the spiky pods from which he extracted gorgeous brown, hard seeds before moving on. Right away two large facades or shrines appeared, located directly across the canyon from one another. There was also a small groove carved waist deep along both sides of the canyon, which was meant to carry water between floods. As we walked farther and farther, other small and large shrines presented themselves, as well as gorgeous stripes and colorations in the canyon walls.

At one point, Eli told us to walk along the right side, close to the canyon wall. I was puzzled at this, but we all obeyed, and then found out why: our first glimpse of the most famous façade in Petra (the one portrayed in Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade) revealed the complete “palace” all at once, facing out into a large open area which you had to cross to re-enter the narrower canyon and continue along.

It was a sight to see. Much larger than I had imagined, the pillars alone dwarfed everyone around them. The features were carved into the rock, and included a large inner room that you could look into and huge steps leading up to it. We spent some time exploring in and around it, including a few minutes examining various swords and knives in a very extensive souvenir tent across from the formation. Soon, though, we moved on, back into the canyon.

Now there were many tombs, or large facades, along the canyon, and after a bit ancient paving made the walk easier. After about a half an hour, the canyon opened up again, this time to reveal caves to the left at our level and all the way up the mountain, and huge tombs all along the right, above our level. Camels and tents were everywhere. We stopped for a few photos, then made our way up to one of the largest facades, meeting many donkeys and Bedouins along they way, offering to sell us everything from necklaces to rocks, always for one dinar. One vendor, a four-year old boy, followed us along our path on the way up and told me not to take pictures. He caught us on the way down, later, and was just as persistant. The façade we had chosen had a large interior, where we stood and admired the purple, white, and orange ripples in the sandstone.

As we headed back down, we had great views of all of the large tombs, one of which we had just visited, behind us, as well as the mountain full of caves we had passed earlier, between which lay the path that had led us here. Ahead, pillars of various sizes and heights lined a Roman road, which had been a marketplace in a previous age, leading us to where we would stop for lunch. Along the way we were accosted by many offering us goods or camel rides, but we resisted and eventually reached a modern building housing an enormous buffet where we had reserved five meals.

Hungry, thirsty, and ready for a break (by this time it was 2 pm), we sat and took turns grabbing food. Salads, hummus, pita, pastas, rice, barbecued meat, and falafel all tasted delicious, whether due to their own merit or our half-day hike. We took our time and rehydrated, and I think I fell asleep for a few minutes as we discussed the rest of our journey.

When I was awakened, I was informed we’d be hiking up to the “monastery.” The way was steep at times but also had been retrofitted with steps, and we took frequent stops to sip water, take pictures, and discuss exactly how far along we were with regards to the destination. I recall many separate, but consecutive, stops where Eli told Dad we were halfway, or three quarters of the way, and where he asked people heading down how much farther it was, to which they gave answers not consistent with his.

Nonetheless, on we went. At one stop, a seven or eight-year-old girl was very insistent that I should buy a necklace for one dinar. I was firm, but noticed that I was ahead of our pack, so sat to wait. She sat next to me, and at one point switched sides to sit on the other side. I thought this was fine until I felt a spray of something on my leg. I jumped up, my first thought being that she was peeing on me. Luckily, she had only spat pink Fanta on me. When the others caught up and I told Eli about this, he approached the girl, had a momentary discussion with her, then caught back up to us with the news that she had an extensive vocabulary of curse words.

We climbed and climbed. Eventually my lead over the others was large, but once Eli told me I was close by, I shouted down that I would see them there, and set off in earnest. All of a sudden I rounded a corner to see a carved façade that was at least twice as large as the most famous one Eli had surprised us with. I walked away from it to get the full effect, then got closer and climbed up the six or so feet of rocks conveniently piled in front of it serving as impromptu stairs. Finally, I went to sit at a large refreshment and souvenir tent to wait for my family and our guide in the shade.

Within a few minutes they rounded the bend into my view. We took pictures together and Eli explained that while the structure was almost surely a tomb like the others, it had been used centuries later as a monastery by the Byzantines, and thereby had acquired its nickname. We took some more pictures, then purchased some cold drinks (which was not as easy as it sounds, because half of the drinks in the coolers were as warm as our water) and sat in the tent to enjoy them.

Eli wanted to show us a view of the desert beyond where we were, but Dad was wiped and Andrew decided to stay with him, so Mom and I headed off with Eli. A Bedouin boy in a cave pointed us towards a rock-lined dirt path which had hand-painted signs indicating two overlooks: one labeled “spring” and one “sacrificial.” We chose the former, and within five minutes found ourselves on an outcropping of rock from which we could gaze down among the mountains, out to the one where Aaron’s shrine glinted white in the sun, or over in the distance, past another mountain range and a rift back into Israel.

After getting our fill of the view, we turned back and walked to the monastery area, where we met the boys and sat a few minutes before starting back. Since we had seen the surroundings already, and down was slightly easier, we all were able to chat much more readily on the way. Eli asked me what the heck nanotechnology was all about, a question which I happily, and hopefully helpfully, answered (whew, what a tongue-twister!).

In a few hours we were back at the entrance to the reserve, and only had to cross the street to reach the hotel. Tired and dusty, we headed up to change and rinse off, then went down to the pool. The air was already much cooler than it had been during the day, so after a quick dip, I was grateful for the large, thick towels, and wrapped myself in one to lie on a chair. I have to say, it’s surreal to be at a luxurious swimming pool in a Swiss hotel with North African decoration hearing the Muslim call to prayer reverberating through the surrounding mountains.

After real showers, we headed down to dinner in the hotel dining room. We had to weave our way through the lobby and other surrounding rooms, all of which were sumptuously decorated and reminded me intensely of Lawrence of Arabia, to find the dinner buffet, located in a similar room. There was an array of salads, one of which had a name card that amused me, as well as an extensive table of desserts, both generic (truffle cake, etc) and native (a pastry which looked like a bird’s nest and turned out to be the ancestor of baklava). For the main course, there was a delicious lamb stew, but I focused on a native dish called maglouba, consisting of rice, eggplant and some sort of meat.

One we were finished with dinner, we headed up to the fourth floor to the Tea Terrace, an open space where lanterns sat on every corner and carpets covered the floor. We chatted for a bit, and Eli gave Andrew some reflexology on his foot (who knew he was so multi-talented?), but I headed to bed pretty soon due to a slight headache.

Today has a huge number of pictures, so a) be patient! and b) I'm pushing those from the border crossing and hotel to tomorrow.

Some touristy shops by the entrance

The view at the beginning of the trail

Entering the canyon

Mom and a shrine

The dude was selling all those postcards for one dinar, 

and wasn't happy that I was taking a picture of him

Me and Andrew

Look closely to find camels!

First glimpse...

...of this!

The whole facade

A large selection of guide books

Mom and a Jordanian guard

Andrew and some dwellings and caves

Police!

Camels, one of which was rude to Andrew

Andrew wielding some swords

As Andrew says, goats really do eat everything.  Including rugs.

This kid was selling colorful rocks for one dinar.  He didn't 

 want to let us be, and didn't want me to take his picture.

Along the Roman road

The Fanta-spitting girl giving Eli a piece of her mind

The Monastery, with me in the doorway.

The fam, pooped from the climb.

Andrew and Dad

A helpful sign...

...and the view to which it referred.

Day 62 - ...in which we took almost every form of transportation known to man

I woke up very early this morning for a shower, and a knock on my door at around 7:30 revealed that Jordan was the sole person who had expressed interest in our day trip who hadn't backed out (I'm looking at you, Maciej). I told him we'd meet in the lobby in ten minutes, then grabbed some breakfast-type snacks, packed my bag, and headed up.

I was soon joined by Lisa, who also had some food (fruit and yogurt) and Jordan. We started off for the train station, where I got some chocolate milk as we waited for the train to arrive. All of us were very tired, but Lisa was very giggly as a consequence of her exhaustion, which was entertaining to Jordan and me. When we got on the train, Jordan opened up Ulysses, and got a good amount of reading done before eventually falling asleep. I didn't have any delusions; I closed my eyes immediately.

We had to switch trains at Binyamina, so it was necessary to wake up from our naps and cross the platform. The rest of the ride was less easy to sleep through, as it took us alongside the sea until we reached Haifa. We got out at a train station which looked like it belonged in the 70s, and oriented ourselves as we walked. Luckily it was relatively easy to find the sea, which was our first goal. We walked along the Promenade (or Pomenade, as the website Lisa had been consulting last night called it), getting a gorgeous view of the water and mountain, to the foot of the cable car, near which our first stop was supposedly located.

We wandered into a restaurant to ask about the Museum of Clandestine Immigration, but they couldn't help us. It turned out to be right across the highway, with the Maritime Museum, but also happened to be closed (despite what my book says). We therefore crossed back over the highway and found our way into the building which housed the bottom of the cable car. Although it was of course overpriced, we bought one-way tickets and got into our own round car.

The view was incredible, and grates in the car wall gave us an almost cool breeze as we ascended. A few lookout points at the top made the journey even more worth it. The entire city lay sprawled out beneath us, looking, as Jordan put it, as it you could just reach out and move the pieces. The red train wove its way along the coast and towards downtown, where tall buildings partially obscured the port area. Trees coated the mountainside, touching the edge of the developed area, and faded into a haze in the distance.

We got our fill of the view, then crossed the street and covered ourselves before entering the Stella Maris monastery. It was a beautiful building, but we were only permitted in the chapel area, so didn't spend too much time there. After we exited, we caught a cab to take us to the Tikotin Museum, which bills itself as Israel's only museum of Japanese art (as if there would be more than one...?). The exhibits included a gorgeous collection of colorful, painted kites, as well as a room full of drawings, sculptures, and other objects depicting interesting mythical animals (like the shishi, or lion-dog, and the baku, with the head of an elephant and assorted other body parts). The final rooms displayed photographs taken by a Jewish photographer during a trip to Kapan and printed from negatives discovered after his death.

We headed upstairs in hopes of finding more exhibits, but instead found a table full of apple juice and cookies. Being hungry and thirsty and having no shame, we lingered a bit and stealthily helped ourselves. We also sat to consult the tour book for the remainder of our stops and to try to coordinate meeting up with Dan, and called him as we sipped our juice. Having oriented ourselves, we grabbed a last few cookies before heading out.

Outside the museum, we walked a few blocks to our next stop: the Mane-Katz museum. While my book had said the Tikotin had a fee and the Mane-Katz museum would be free, the truth in fact turned out to be the opposite. We paid the small fee and entered what I think is the most interestingly arranged museum I've ever seen. Instead of spreading out the works, having them all at an adult's eye level, and forcing you along a path, this place was more like a collage of his paintings, Judaica collection, and photographs and news clippings detailing events in his life. Two timelines ran along the walls, one at the top (his biography) and another at the bottom (historical events during his lifetime). The place clearly used to be a house, and therefore had interconnected rooms. We wandered about with no semblance of a method to our madness, until we were satisfied and headed out.

The next part of ourday was the sketchiest in terms of planning. We wanted to make our way straight down the mountain to meet Dan in the Arab area known as Wadi Nisnas, but of course the steepness of the terrain meant no roads went straight down. Luckily, instead of following the sidewinding sidewalks available, we stumbled upon a set of stairs with signs that indicated they led straight to the area we wanted to go, and followed them. Aside from a few blocks where they ceased to exist, they took us all the way to the City Hall (in other words, most of the way down). At this point we tried to find a good intersection to meet Dan, and headed there ourselves.

When we found it, Jordan went to scope out lunch possibilities while I conversed with Dan in an effort to lead him to where we were. Soon he found us, and we sat down at the most crowded hummus place I have ever seen. This turned out to be the positive endorsement we had hoped. They brought us rice and falafel and pita, and we ordered one hummus with mushrooms and another with meat. Everything was delicious, and we all drank lots of water. Before leaving, we asked for directions to the Carmelit, Israel's only subway. We were right to think it was nearby; two blocks down the road we found the entrance.

We each paid our 5 shekels for a ticket, inserted it in the machine for validation, and entered the station. A few minutes later, the car arrived. Now, this subway basically goes up and down a mountain, so the tracks are constantly sloped. Therefore the car is built to accomodate this slope. The catch is, though, that the angle of the tracks changes slightly from station to station, so for the first part of our ride, the car's tilt was more than that of the tracks, so we felt very...lopsided. This evened out by the last station or two, but then the steps next to the tracks were not sloped enough when we got out of the car, so the entire journey was, in sum, rather off-putting (but also hilarious and enjoyable).

At the top, we were about 4 blocks from the entrance to the Bahai Gardens. We found a restroom and freshened up, and Lisa and I put on long sleeves (because the gardens are a holy place) before approaching the entrance. We claimed our reservation and went inside, and sat with a couple dozen people to wait for the tour guide. He arrived and began speaking - in Hebrew. I had been warned, but Lisa hadn't. She was able to understand a lot of what he said, though, which made her happy and kept me informed. We learned a bit about the Bahai faith as we descended the mountain, surrounded by perfectly manicured grass, babbling fountains, and beds of flowers separated by sweeping stone stairways. The Shrine of the Bab loomed at the bottom, with its bronze-colored dome, and beyond it, modern Haifa stretched to the port, backed by the turquoise sea. It was an amazing sight.

The tour took about an hour, so as soon as it was over we hailed a cab to the bus station and boarded the second-to-last bus to Tel Aviv. Jordan fell asleep, but Dan, Lisa and I talked about all sorts of topics during the ride. An hour and a half later we found ourselves at the central bus station in Tel Aviv, and headed outside where we found and boarded a sherut which left promptly. Lisa accidentally paid part of her fare to someone sitting in front of her who happened to be begging, instead of to the driver, but she got some chocolate out of it so it was ok.

We were dropped off near Clore house, and I took a shower before sinking into bed for a delicious nap. I awoke an hour or so later and joined Maciej, Zvonimir and Tanmay at Hertzl Bar for coffee. The conversation topic was police forces (present were representatives from India, Poland, and Croatia to provide evidence and opinions), and everyone was swapping stories about traffic stops and other encounters with crooked cops. I had little to contribute but listened with amusement. Eventually we headed back, and I blogged and caught up on things before heading to bed.

Since I took so many pictures today and don't want to overwhelm you all like last Friday (and, since I live in the future, I know tomorrow won't yield many exciting photographic opportunitites), I will post everything but Bahai Gardens pictures today, and the rest tomorrow.

The retro train station

Interesting translation...

Along the P(r)omenade

Old and new

I had to be stealthy to get this one

Too bad it was closed!

Going back up and over the highway

Lisa and Jordan in our cable car View from en route
A marigold at the top
A garden outside the monastery
A kite in the Tikotin museum
Kabbalah and shopping, in one stop
Jordan in the Mane-Katz museum
An amazing garden, visible from the stairs down the mountain
Jordan, unhappy with the architecture of the building in the background
The subway station at the bottom!
A photo of the subway being built
The subway car

Lisa and Dan (and Jordan's reflection)...note the car not being level despite being built to compensate ?
The station at the top
Exiting the subway
View of downtown and the port from the top
Near the Bahai gardens