Golden Crown Nazareth

... op de drie dagen Rosh Hoshana, besloten we dat maar te doen, en dan op vrijdag naar Jordanie te vluchten..

Vanuit Haifa namen we de Arabobus naar Nazareth. "to the church? the big church?" "sure... shukran!". Zo stonden we midden op een marktplein, maar ons hostel was de bekendste van het stadje, dus zo gevonden. Het is inderdaad, zoals aangeprezen, erg mooi, in een oude arabische mansion, met fijne koele binnenplaats en keuken met alles dr in en gratis gebakjes.
Nazareth, Northern District, Israel eyre

... hell I was going! I then walked the further 30 mins and made it to the shops. After asking a load of people for the address (they were all Russian) I finally found Avivs place.


Aviv is a cool girl and I instantly got along with her. We had a drink then she walked me to Idits place who was cooking with her Bro and his friend. We had a really nice Lasagne made with Fetta cheese and I got to meet Idit who is a wonderfully kind and thoughtful person. She is to be married toon to ...

... try. Oh well, at least I got to see the place.
Stopping at an officer's pool on the way, we drove on to Yodfat, where Maria (my friend from high school in Oman) lives. So now I'm staying with her and her husband. Yodfat is a small village, which was initially set up by a group of hippies, of which only one remains. The people who live here now are still quite excentric. A lot of them own goats or chickens, grow their own vegetables.. They have music making ...

... Suedkoreanerin Sue und heute Deutsch-Franzoesin Carry, beide mit gutem Ersteindruck. Ebenso seit heute haben wir vier Volontaere aus den USA, Daenemark und Tschechien fuer zwei Wochen zu Gast, die ein bisschen Arbeit in der Kommune verrichten sollen. Das ist aber einer dieser nutzlosen und unbedeutenden Volontaer-Dienste, fuer die man auch noch hoellisch viel zahlen muss und dafuer jeden einzelnen Tag genau ...

Am Donnerstagmorgen mussten Thomas und ich nochmal die Fuehrung anbieten. Aber dieses Mal war die Qualitaet praktisch wurscht, denn unser einziger Kunde war der am selben Morgen angekommene Neuling in unserem Volontaer-Team: Chris. Chris kommt aus Riverside, Kalifornien und hat gerade sein Studium der Internationalen Beziehungen abgeschlossen. Er ist absoluter Essens-Fanatiker, wird fuer vier Wochen bleiben und ist, nun... ein typischer Amerikaner eben. Er ist recht intelligent, zeigt das aber ...

... Zitadelle, (heutzutage nicht mehr geheime) Tunnel und imposante Hallen unt**halb des Me**esspiegels v**passt haben. Dazu gibt es Ueb**bleibsel eines d** **sten tu**kischen Baed** Palaestinas und eine von den Osmanen **richtete Stadtmau**, die groesstenteils noch **halten geblieben ist. Die Altstadt selb** war ab** nicht besond**s gross und das Hostel - wie gesagt - alles and**e als einladend, deshalb blieb es auch bei ein** Nacht. Bevor am Montag also mein naechst** und letzt ...

... Israel?), the Sea of Galilee in Israel, the Palestinian Territories and the Jordan Valley. Our promised guide didn't eventuate - hummmm - but it was OK as our driver got a tourist policeman to tell him what we needed to look at and our driver then interpreted for us. We also had the good and faithful Lonely Planet and enjoyed discovering the history of the site. Next stop was an Arab castle at Ajlun, built as protection against the crusaders ...

... didn't end there as they whisked us off in their air conditioned mini-bus to the famous grottos Rosh HaNikra bordering Lebanon. Bordering is the word as you can see the fence that separates these two states. It was only about one hundred feet north of us and really brings home just how small a region this land of skirmishes and rocket barrages really is. The grottos are a wonderful natural phenomenon at the base of a cable car ride right on the ocean. The limestone ...

... or if there would just be so many delays and hassles that it wasn't worth it. In any event, we drove north once again along the Dead Sea to the northern tip of the northern lake to the Dead Sea sect site of Qumran. It was here that the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd boy looking for a lost goat. Later during our stay in Israel we plan to visit the Shrine of the Book in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem where the scrolls are displayed, but ...

... Korazim National Park. It's another hot sunny day and we note little shade as we park our car at the entrance to the remains of this Jewish town where Jesus had spoken. We put on our hats, backpack with water bottles, and with cameras dangling from our necks, we approach the park entrance. We use our national park pass and Harvey notes that we have saved 36 NIS; we're still keeping track of our savings with the pass. It's definitely been a good ...