Kedem Towers Jerusalem

... wine courtesy of the ship’s concierge. He gifted it to make up for a problem with the air conditioner unit in our state room (it had woken us up at 3 am due to some vibration and broken part). Our last memories were the port of Haifa’s twinkling lights fading in the distance as we headed west along the Israeli coast bound the for the port of Ashdod where we would depart the next day for the Dead Sea and the incredible isolated mountain-top fortress of Masada.

... grote steden die op fooien-basis tours doen.. We hadden eigenlijk voornamelijk backpackers verwacht, maar er zaten teleurstellend veel bejaarden in onze groep. Toch was de ruim 3 uur durende tour verrassend interessant, hoewel we het meeste wel al gezien hadden. Maar de verhalen kenden we nog niet..<br><br>Na een veel te vullende FroYo (Frozen Yoghurt) gingen we op zoek naar de enge orthodoxe Joden. De wijk Mea She'arim is bevolkt door enge ...

... with chachkes and cheap made-in-China toys. <br><br>Since the boys were in no condition to walk home, we cabbed it back with a personable old Yemenite cab driver whose grandparents walked here from Yemin and settled in Mea Sharim where he grew up. <br><br>After some relaxing at home and Fred crashing on the couch it was off to visit cousin Amy and family in Moshav Aminadav, about 15 minutes outside of Jerusalem. After some parallel play by ...

... 8217;, I think my favourite part of the whole show was Muhammad, a very sweet and hyperactive 6 year old who we got sitting at the front, drumming on a bucket and grinning under the trusty &#8216;Jimmy Hat&#8217; that I never travel without! It was wonderful to see the children singing and dancing so freely and with such confidence in themselves. It was especially poignant as they performed with one of the settlements as a stark backdrop for the theatre. We had everyone on stage for a big ...

... off to attend King of Kings English Messianic service at 5pm. We hailed a taxi&#8230;which is not hard to do at the jaffa gate and for 35 shekels we were delivered to to Claig or Kleug or any spelling close to it building. What was completely ironic was that this was the very building we had ventured into when we had been lost on Thursday at Ben Yehuda. I think a little sign from heaven! We went to the ground floor and found ourselves ...

... es sich logischerweise an, zumindest fuer den Anfang auf die "Free Tour" zurueckzugreifen, nicht zuletzt auch wegen den vielen Hintergrundinfos.<br>So watschelten ich und einige andere Besucher innerhalb von vier Stunden die wichtigsten Adressen Altjerusalems ab: mit dem christlichen, dem juedischen, dem muslimischen und dem armenischen Viertel alle vier Teile der Altstadt; die Grabeskirche, wo laut Katholiken, Griechisch-Orthodoxen, Aethiopiern und Kopten Jesus gekreuzigt, begraben ...

... that was at first a palace for King Herod and then a Jewish rebel stronghold that held out against the Romans for years, ending in a mass suicide in the year 73, which echoes across the centuries into modern Israel ("never again"), making Masada a popular place for bar mitzvahs (in the ancient synagogue) and the location of Israeli army swearing-in ceremonies. It was fascinating to see the ruins of Herod's three-tiered palace on the north face; the ...

I got up and walked a bit in the old city this morning before breakfast. I just wanted to pray and soak in this place. It was very quiet. The only people about were children going to school, all of them unaccompanied by adults, but usually in groups. Our primary visit today was to the Church of the Nativity. It is one of the oldest churches in continuous use. Apparently, there has been little dispute that this is the most likely place where Jesus was born. The ...

... we go to our room. So, the resort isn't as lush as Sharm El Sheikh with plants, trees and flowers, it does have some, maybe similar to Safaga. There are 177 rooms here in about 6 buildings with 3 floors. There are 2 swimming pools, so your room either looks onto a pool or the mountains out back. Our room is really big, it has a sitting area with a settee, which is a fold out bed, fridge, desk and luggage table and 3 huge closets and big bathroom. Twin ...

... experience to bed down with my new friends. The comaraderie was outstanding and not to be forgotton. <br><br>The next day we stopped in Hasan, a small village just east of the 'Green Line', which originally divided Israel from the rest of the West Bank, then Jordan, just after statehood. The roads were ghastly, so we cold only go 10-15 Km per hour, for fear of breaking an axel. Everyone here owns their own house free and clear, if at all. There is no such ...