HOLYLANDS BLOG #2

HOLYLANDS CRUISE/TOUR
NOVEMBER 2010
BLOG #2

As the Pacific Princess sailed away from its Athens moorings, it headed into the Aegean Sea toward the island of Patmos. The Greek Parliament declared Patmos a “sacred island” in 1981 because of the island’s connection with Saint John. In the days of the Roman Empire, humble places like Patmos were often used as places to exile political prisoners which usually meant someone who had stepped on the toes of someone important. Saint John’s activities in Ephesus and elsewhere made him an excellent candidate for exile. In the year 95 AD, Saint John was sent to Patmos for 18 months where he lived in a cave from which he composed the dramatic book of Revelation, a prophetic work that speaks about the final times and encourages believers to hold fast under persecution. Visitors to the island today are taken to see the cave and the Monastery of the Apocalypse which marks the spot where John dictated the Book of Revelation to his disciple Prochkoros. We passed on a bus ride to see the cave and various churches in favor of a brief walk in the village of Scala where our ship was anchored. We window shopped the several jewelry stores and returned to the ship after a leisurely stroll.

Our next stop at the busy port of Kusadasi, Turkey began our visit to yet another of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World”, Ephesus. Ephesus is considered the best preserved Roman city in the world. The Greeks first settled in this part of the world as early as the 10th century BC. The Romans later took over from the Greeks using Ephesus as one of its capital cities. The existing site of Ephesus dates to 600 BC and was once an important sea port. The river flowing into the bay and port silted the harbor in the 3rd century AD creating a large marsh land where the port once flourished. The marshland bred mosquitoes that caused malaria that led to the later abandonment of the city. Ephesus was buried in sand in succeeding centuries and wasn’t discovered until the middle of the 19th century AD. Excavation of the site began in 1869 and continues.
The city that once served approximately 250,000 is now about 80% excavated. The Library of Celsus, the temples of Domitian and Hadrian and the Great Theater (which is still in use) that seats 25,000 and hundreds of other buildings boggle the mind as one tries to imagine what life was all about 3,000 years ago. A sewage system and a public toilet that we visited give the city a touch of modernity that further stretches the imagination. There is good evidence that the Virgin Mary and Saint John lived their final years in Ephesus. We visited a house above the city that has been enshrined as a place where the Virgin Mary lived. Saint John likely wrote the New Testament chapter Ephesians while he was here. Saint John and the Virgin Mary are revered by both Christians and Moslems.
Our next stop at Haifa, Israel provided a jumping off spot for our first visit in the Holylands. Haifa was a fortress city, built by the Crusaders, that nearly vanished following the Crusades. During the 19th century German engineers laid out the port and the city, for their Turkish allies, that have grown steadily as a significant port city. Today, Haifa is Israel’s third largest city.
We took a tour from Haifa that visited the Sea of Galilee, more commonly known and referred to by the locals as Lake Tiberius. We learned quickly that the Sea of Galilee is 200 meters below sea level as our bus went around downward hair pin turns as we headed eastward from the Mediterranean. Our first stop was at the presumed site of the Sermon on the Mount where we visited the beautiful small chapel known as the Church of the Beattitudes. We were privileged to touch a rock that has been accepted as the place where Jesus broke the bread and divided the fishes to feed the 5000 who came to hear him speak. The church on the site was originally built during the 1st century AD with a second church built over the original in the 6th century. The current church was built in the 19th century.
A short drive took us to Capernaum and the remains of the home of Saul, later called Peter. Saul was a well to do fisherman who took Jesus into his home when Jesus left Nazareth to begin his life of preaching. The ruins of the old town are now in the care of the Catholic Church. We drove around the Sea of Galilee under the Golan Heights in Syria. Our path took us to the South end of the Sea of Galilee where the River Jordan drains the Sea of Galilee . We stopped at a place on the River Jordan set aside for baptism, supposedly at the site where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. We dipped our hands in the River Jordan and watched as some other visitors baptized themselves. A grand souvenir shop gave our fellow passengers an opportunity to support the local economy by purchasing greatly over priced treasures.
Our tour for the day ended at Nazareth where we visited a church that featured the home where the Virgin Mary lived as a child and a second church next door that displayed the remains of the home of Joseph where Jesus grew up. The density of the crowds and the length of the lines in these places left us with a less than reverential attitude. We did get a few pictures that don’t really do the experience justice. It was pointed out to us that the majority of Arabs living in Nazareth are Christian.
During this tour, our well informed guide gave us the history of Israel and the current political situation from her position as a Jew who had been born in Palestine. Israel was described as a small country only 350 miles long and less than 70 miles wide at its widest part. Historically, the area was a pass through for various warring countries. The River Jordan provided water and forage through an otherwise desolate area. Following WWI, the United Nations created Palestine (now Israel and Jordan), Egypt, Syria and Lebanon , the latter for Arab Christians. The French were given Syria and Lebanon to govern and the English were given Palestine and Egypt. Following WWII, the Brits drew a line at the Jordan River creating Jordan, east of the river, and Palestine west of the river. Egypt was given the privilege of self governance. In 1947 the UN provided for the creation of Israel in the area formerly known as Palestine and the immigration of Jews to their new home began. In the first year, over two million Jews immigrated to Israel. In 1967 neighboring Syria, Jordan and Egypt went to war against Israel. Within two days the Egyptians gave up turning Sinai Peninsula over to Israel. The Syrians gave up within two more days allowing Israel to occupy the Golan Heights . The Jordanians followed suit soon after but not before moving the border of Jordan well to the west of the Jordan River. Later, Jordan returned to its original border leaving their previously acquired territory to the Palestinians. The area now referred to as the “’West Bank”, provides for continuing concerns by the Arab Palestinians and the Israelis. The West Bank is currently divided into three areas; one area controlled completely by Palestinians, a second where the Israel Army comes and goes at will and a third controlled by the Israeli Army.
Our guide never missed an opportunity to let us know that the Arabs (never referred to as Palestinians) where the problem. To her, the question about Jerusalem was simple. After all, she told us, the Bible refers to Jerusalem as the center of Christian faith hundreds of times while the Koran doesn’t mention the city once. As we drove on a road separating Israel from the Palestinian territory our attention was called to all of the trees planted by Israelis and the desolate hillsides maintained by the Arabs. The Israeli tree planting focused on reforesting hills that had been stripped of all vegetation by firewood gatherers and over grazing. We did see numerous groves of olive trees that had been planted and maintained by Palestinians. We were shown schools and hospitals built by Israel for the Arabs, obviously to demonstrate the generosity of the Israelis, and the sub standard housing of the Arabs. It was easy to conclude, from our guide’s remarks, that the world would be better off if the Arabs would simply disappear.
On the following day, our ship docked at Ashdod, Israel, the port closest to Jerusalem. Our tour took us first to Gethsemane, the olive grove where Jesus spent his last night with the disciples. It was here that Jesus was betrayed and led away by his Roman captors. We were told that the word Gethsemane, which has so much religious connotation for us, actually means olive press in Hebrew.
The Mount of Olives provided a marvelous view of the old walled city of Jerusalem. Our bus quickly took us down the hill and to one of several gates into the old city. It took us an extra ten minutes to get through the gate because a Bar Mizha procession proceded us complete with the honoree covered by a canopy led by drum playing singers. We followed as a part of the family procession that followed. Once inside the gate, we found ourselves at the Western Wall, AKA “Wailing Wall”, where the men in our group donned little white skull caps and walked among men praying at the wall while other locals preyed on tourists offering to pray for them for money. The ladies in our group were allowed to visit the “wall” but in a separate and much smaller space. We found several Bar Mitzha groups, on the men’s side, continuing their celebrations. The smile on the faces of the honorees suggested the end of their ordeal must be near.
In the square near the West Wall we saw several groups of teen age looking soldiers; some carrying rifles. Some were male and some where female. We were reminded of being told that every young person in Israel is conscripted into the army at age 18. Army service can be avoided by volunteering in various ways but most go into the army. Boys serve for three years and girls serve for two. After military service, most young people begin their college studies.
Our tour took us through the winding narrow streets of the old city. We walked through the Jewish Section, The Moslem Section, The Christian Section and the Via Dolorosa on our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the “Site of the Crucifixion” and the “Site of the Tomb”. Our guide explained that these sites may or not be the actual sites but it is generally agreed that each occurred in the vicinity if not the actual spot. In any event, we were assured that the places we visited were high on the popularity list for tourists because we weren’t lonely. It was one of those “hands on your wallet and purse straps around the neck” situations that guide books talk about.
Our tour of the old city was followed by a brief tour of “New Jerusalem” and its sparkling white business and governmental buildings that reflected the presence of a modern western community. On our way out of the city, our guide, a British born transplant, explained that she could not accompany us while we visited Bethlehem. The rationale for her departure was that the Israeli government was trying to help the Arab community grow in its ability to profit from the tourist trade. For that reason, our guide in Bethlehem would be Arab and our shopping experience for the day would be limited to shopping in Arab shops. Our new guide, George, was probably new at the job because his handling of our group lacked the polish expected in such a situation. He began by walking so fast that only a few in our party could keep up. Cries for help from stragglers, including us, finally slowed our procession through the crowded streets. Once inside the venues we visited, George had us seated in restricted areas so that we had to move after being admonished by the priest in charge. Ultimately, at the end of our tour, members of our group had to force George to pass down the aisle of our bus to pick up tips before he departed. At least he left smiling.
In Bethlehem the “biggees” are located at the Church of the Nativity where we were privileged to visit the presumed site of the manger where Jesus was born. The Church of the Nativity, the latest edition of which was built in 1886, was under the control in various parts by Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian church officials all of which suggested to us that even the most precious things in our lives can be the source of the continuing struggle by man for power over others. Since the current church is built over the site of an earlier church built in the 1st century AD, it is fair to assume that this is probably the actual spot. Whether the actual spot or not, it was a moving moment for both of us. The whole experience gave a renewed conviction and understanding of the hundreds of religious objects and crucifixes we saw later when our guide took us to his uncle’s souvenir shop for our promised shopping.
At this point in our travels we have decided that we need to add plaid walking shorts and black ankle socks, to be worn with black dress shoes, to Bill’s travel wear so that he can blend in with our travel companions. Whatever!
Our love to each and everyone………………..
Gram and Grandpa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill