Gardens Ein Bokek

... We arrived back at the ship by 7:30 and were greeted by the ship’s band playing rousing music and senior crew applauding us as we boarded the ship. A banner proclaimed “Welcome back home.” Strangely, the ship feels like home after one week on this incredible journey. It was great to be back after another exhausting but exhilarating day. At 8 p.m. we said goodbye to Israel and were sailing west again, bound for Port Said, Egypt and ultimately Cairo and the Pyramids at Giza. Wow.

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... und eng beieinand** liegenden Felsen. Auch die Struktur d** Felsen ist beeindruckend. Wir laufen ca. 2 Stunden durch den Canyon, was sich** auch daran lag, dass ich nach jed** Kurve wied** Fotos machen musste. Am besten trägt man beim Canyoning Badehosen und Sandalen, da man imm** wied** im Wass** läuft. <br><br>Am Abend sitzen wir auf dem Dach von Williams Haus, essen gemeinsam mit Frau und Kind**n Abendessen (Maccaroni - Maccarona auf arabisch...) und ein Zwiebelsüppchen ...

... Auto zu fahren (z.B. unbeleuchtete Trucks auf den Highways).<br><br>Gegen 17 Uhr erreiche ich Karak. Dort gibt es eine Kreuzritterburg aus dem Jahr 1142. Berühmtester Burgherr war Reynald de Chatillon, ein Mann der berühmt-berüchtigt für seine Grausamkeiten war. Er war so grausam, dass er nach der Schlacht von Hattin (1187) von Saladin persönlich enthauptet wurde. Die Burg habe ich nur im Eingangsbereich besichtigt, es war ja schon spät. <br><br>Dafür wurden alle Touristen ...

... kleine kudde kamelen tegemoet.. Weird! En toen natuurlijk de berg weer op naar Dana: 2 uur recht omhoog in de hitte. Anthony was dr als eerste, ik ging ook maar vooruit om Nona wat water te brengen, want 2 liter bleek veeel te weinig..<br><br>'s Avonds waren er allemaal leuke stellen in het hotel (Frans, Sudtirolerisch, Spaans) dus was de sfeer opeens heel leuk hostellig!<br><br>Ow, voor wie het tot hier heeft gered: Schrijf eens een gezellig mailtje? Ik voel me zo eenzaam!<br><br>xx

... hitting her head every five minutes. When we arrived at the Eco Lodge it was very hot and we were all thirsty. They gave us some tea and then we went to go check out our room. Since it was an Eco Lodge there was no electricity or air conditioning. We were fine without the air conditioning and soon Maia and Hope went to explore the desert. They rock climbed the foot hills to the mountains and Mary said be careful of black cobras and scorpions. <br><br ...

... for a rest! Today (April 29) was a travel day: taxi/bus/taxi and then we picked up a rental car in Amman. Driving in Amman was a bit interesting and we rented a lemon, but it was cheap. We drove from there to Madaba, where we are staying for a few nights. I am almost a pro at driving standard now. We will be taking a day trip to float in the Dead Sea tomorrow and we are very exited to just relax.

... set to begin that night at 10 pm at a nearby kibbutz, a 2-minute bus shuttle ride from where many people were setting up tents. We had expected this to be an all-day thing, a la Bonneroo, so in the meantime, we just sat around in the car for an hour, bored and hungry. Very luckily, as it would turn out, a group of five Israelis set up their tent next to ours, and we hit if off with them right away. They had somewhat recently finished their army service and so had just ...

... of Mont Real Crusader Castle. It is impressive and stately standing on the top of the mountain. We take a quick tour around, we are the only ones here, the sun comes out, but it is terribly windy. It is huge, we see a border with swirls and flowers carved into it, then on the other side we saw a bunch of round catapults ready to be fired! Back to the car to get warm. The drive was glad to have a cigarette while we were gone, we said no smoking ...

... a bit. Then, about an hour after our arrival, we all met in our swim gear and walked down to the Sea we had been observing most of the day. At the beach we walked into the very warm water and had the strange experience of floating very high. One cannot sink in the Dead Sea. The high mineral content makes every nick and cut in the skin sting, and it can actually irritate any sensitive skin, even unbroken. We took some photos and laughed at the sulfury smell, and ...