Destinations

Oh, the People You’ll Meet…

19/10/2015 By Eric H. Doss Leave a Comment

On our first RV trip, we were blown away by the kindness of other RVers. In fact, the opportunity to meet interesting and unique people was one of the influences that lead to us buying an RV. Not only was the RV consistent with our philosophy on travel, but we knew it would give us an opportunity to meet an interesting array of people.

We recently returned from a month-long trip in Harvey the RV, including time visiting family and friends in South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, and New York, before heading to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It will probably take me months to get all the details of that trip written, but I wanted to share the highlights of the trip. Not the highlights of the Cabot Trail, or visiting Cheticamp and Ingonish, or the great seafood, or the amazing hiking, or the visit to the Larch factory, but the highlights of the people you’ll meet.

Fellow South Carolinians:

We arrived at Cheticamp Campground very late on our first day, so it was the next morning before we met any neighbors. Wallace did his part, flying out of the RV first thing in the morning, no leash or collar, and heading to meet another dog a few sites over. Thankfully, the dog was mostly friendly and the owners much more so. Robert and Kathy are probably 60, maybe 65. Both recently retired and from Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, just outside Charleston and close to our (now former) home of Beaufort. In retirement, they have decided to downsize and have sold their house and are moving to Asheville, North Carolina, but not before taking a few months to explore. They have a wonderful A-Frame popup that has a surprising amount of room.

After a day or two, Robert and Kathy departed Cheticamp and we said our goodbyes. They were heading across the island to Ingonish, our next destination, but the timing was off and we knew we wouldn’t see them again. So, goodbyes and best wishes exchanged, they headed out.

Imagine our surprise ten days later when, as we broke camp in Camden, and who do we run into but Robert and Kathy. We had a great chat, found out they didn’t love Ingonish as much as we did, and were having a great time heading south and back to Asheville. Of course, running into them didn’t come as a huge surprise…

Bruce:

We met Bruce on our second or third day in Cheticamp. We headed out to the lighthouse on La Pointe and noticed a VW minibus parked on the side of the road. We stopped and chatted for a few minutes, learned a bit about Bruce, the driver. Bruce is from California and had been traveling for a few months across the US and Canada. We recommended the campground to him and hoped to catch up with him later. Unfortunately, Bruce slipped in and out of the campground pretty quickly, so we never had a chance to chat.

Fast forward another week or so, and Heather and I pulled into the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound to grab lunch after a day in Acadia National Park. As I get the RV parked on the shoulder, I hear a frantic honking and a VW bus swerves to the side of the road and parks in front of us. My first thought was, “Great, now we have some lunatic who doesn’t like my parking…” but I noticed a familiar logo on the spare tire. Of course, it was Bruce… We spent a few minutes chatting on the side of the road, Bruce shared his blog with us so we could follow his trip, and we headed inside for a great meal.

I’ll have to write again later this week with the story of Margie and Larry and Greg and Jackie, two couples that we also met while on the road. Larry and Margie are longtime GMC owners and have an identical coach to ours, while Greg and Jackie are Cape Bretoners who we met in Ingonish. Greg is a commercial fisherman and was camping at Broad Cove with Jackie as a staycation after the fishing season. Look for the updates soon!

Monuments and Memories in Budapest, Hungary

06/07/2015 By Eric H. Doss Leave a Comment

Our full trip to Budapest and the rural areas of Hungary is a story for another time, but I wanted to share some images and thoughts from our trip through Memento Park.

My first recommendation is for you to pick up Rick Steves’ Budapest Guide Book. Steves is a wonderful writer and digs into such depth in his books that you can frequently skip the paid tours and self-guide. We decided to skip the guide and depend instead on Rick’s step-by-step instructions for getting the most from Memento Park.

Memento Park

When the Communist regime began to fall apart in 1989, Budapest officials immediately started to remove the statues and plaques that memorialized Communist leaders such as Lenin and Marx. I’m a bit surprised that the officials had enough foresight to hold on to many of these statues instead of destroying them. These mementos (see what I did there?) were moved to a park above Pest and organized into a moving, awe-inducing statement on communism. I would never do the full tour justice by trying to retell it here, so I won’t, but I will let you know that everything about the park is deliberate. Whatever you are looking at, even if it looks like an afterthought or a mistake, is designed to look exactly as it does and generally has a deeper meaning.

For example, when you arrive at the park, you’ll see a large beautiful entrance made of brick. However, the doors are locked and you must look around for a small side door. Once inside, you will notice that the beautiful entrance is just a facade. The message is that communism was simply a facade and, in spite of the beautiful appeal, the benefits of communism was mostly closed to the average person.

To get to Memento Park, you should take the Number 150 bus to Memento Park. The stop is labeled, but it’s always best to ask the bus driver or another passenger to make sure you don’t go on the Number 150 bus tour of the city. There are also private bus options, but public transit in Budapest is pretty solid, so we never saw the need to use anything else.

One of the first things we saw at the park was a striking example of communist art, a large statue of the idealized Soviet worker. Hindsight being 20/20, I think communist art is almost farcical, but can easily understand the power of these large, imposing statues, especially to a generation of people scarred by war and upheaval.

It is important to have some understanding of what these statues symbolize. If you look at these statues, you will easily understand the power of the art, but you will miss the beauty of the details. For example, the statue below, featuring Bela Kun, is full of motion and urgency. You can easily imagine a voice, calling out over the soldiers, the rattling of shield and sword, or the firm strike of boots on the ground.

Bela Kun was a Hungarian communist leader. This statue shows Kun overseeing the transition of the Magyar people through the decades. You see Kun standing in a podium speaking, but may not immediately notice the lightpost to his right. For many people, the lightpost might just seem like a detail, but in Hungarian symbolism the lightpost symbolizes execution, which was Kun’s fate in 1938.

There are so many intriguing statues that I simply cannot include them all here, but if you’re going to be in Budapest, you should make time to visit the park. Expect to take about 1.5 hours to fully view the entire park.

Other monuments and symbols

While Memento Park is large and moving, the most striking memorial I noticed in Budapest was “Shoes on the Danube Bank”, a memorial created to commemorate the death of Jews shot by the Arrow Cross, a fascist militia, in 1944. The story is as simple as it is horrifying. The Arrow Cross rounded up Jews, took them to the edge of the Danube River, and shot them, their bodies falling a few feet to the water below.

As we wandered around Buda before heading to the Hungarian parliament, we stumbled upon this statue:

Of course, the fall of communism and the retreat of Soviet forces from Hungary are recent and important memories for the average Hungarian, so it’s perhaps unsurprising to find the Reagan statue. Though, admittedly, a bit surreal to happen upon a lifesize statute in a nondescript park.

Terror Museum

We also visited the House of Terror, a museum that commemorates the terror experienced by Hungarians during the fascist and communist governments. The museum was opened in 2000 and is housed in a building used by both fascists and communists to detain, interrogate, and kill opponents of the regimes. Outside the museum, you will find a number of pictures of the victims of each regime.

You could easily spend half a day inside the museum. The floors are well organized and should be visited in the order recommended by the tour booklet. The House of Terror is open everyday, except Monday, from 10am to 6pm and admission is 2000 HUF, or about $9.

All of this heavy history had us a bit depressed, or at least in a solemn mood, so we then headed over to the Great Market Hall to look around and grab a quick meal. In our experience, every country and every culture has a meal based on great fried dough, and the Magyars are no exception. Called langos, this meal is a plate sized portion of yeasty fried dough topped with anything you might imagine. In my case, I chose one with a thin layer of cream cheese and topped with almost every veggie you can imagine, including corn, peppers, onions, olives, and a feta-like cheese.

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Oranienburg, Germany

04/07/2015 By Eric H. Doss Leave a Comment

We left Berlin early in the morning and caught the train up to Oranienburg, a small town about 30 minutes out of Berlin and the home of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. You may be aware that there were numerous types of camps, including forced labor camps, transit camps, and extermination camps. The extermination camps, camps designed purely, or primarily, to murder people were built outside Germany, in occupied Poland. If you’re interested in learning more about the types of camps, the Wikipedia article is very helpful. Now, you shouldn’t be confused about the nature of concentration camps; almost all of them had facilities to kill and dispose of bodies, but the extermination camps were designed primarily to accomplish Hitler’s Final Solution, the complete annihilation of the Jewish People.

Sachsenhausen was located in the same town, Oranienburg, as the headquarters of the Nazi concentration camps and was also used to train SS officers for service in other camps. There were many famous prisoners housed at Sachsenhausen, including Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi theologian who is best known for his work “First they came…”

It seemed fitting that the morning was overcast and a bit rainy as we made our way from the train station to the entrance of the concentration camp. Leaving the train station, you should head towards Bernauer Strasse. Turn right on Bernauer Strasse and walk less than half of a mile to turn left on Strasse der Einheit. This is a neighborhood street, which makes the presence of the concentration camp even more surreal. You’ll walk a bit more than a quarter of a mile before turning right on Strasse der Nationen. The road will wind around to the left, maybe a quarter of a mile down, and before the turn, you’ll see the entrance to Sachsenhausen.

If you want to plan your tour of the camp, you can go to the Sachsenhausen website and select the maps option at the top left. I’d give you a direct link, but the site doesn’t provide direct URLs.

As you’ll find at every concentration and extermination camp, the propaganda slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work makes you free) is prominent on some of the gates around the camp.

The camp had been partially destroyed towards the end of the war, but the camp was later used by Soviets as a special camp for political prisoners during the occupation of post-war Germany. Many of the original structures remain, however, including the barracks seen here that were part of the Sonderlager, a special camp for trouble prisoners or prisoners who attempted to escape from here or other camps.

The barracks for prisoners were made of wood and were less protective from the elements. Inside one of the open prisoner barracks, we discovered Martin Niemöller’s cell:

Continuing to wander around the grounds without a guide, we found a watchtower used to supervise the prisoners:

As we continued our tour, I was unnerved by the lack of evidence of the horrors of the camp. Coming through the gate and wandering around, it was clear this was a prison camp, but the true horrors of the camp were not immediately visible. However, as we continued away from the entrance, we soon discovered the darker history of the camp.

Sachsenhausen was not, as I mentioned earlier, a death camp. However, the camp was used for killing prisoners, first in an execution trench where prisoners were shot or hanged. It is estimated that over 30,000 prisoners were murdered here, including 100 Dutch resistance fighters.

Leaving the execution trench and walking back towards the entrance of the camp, we discovered the remains of the crematory and gas chambers. Originally installed in 1943, the chambers and crematory is largely gone, but enough of the structures remain to understand the horrible nature of this camp.

As we prepared to leave to catch our train back to Berlin and on to Nuremberg, we passed a moving tribute to the murdered prisoners.

Day Hike in the Cinque Terre

30/06/2014 By Eric H. Doss Leave a Comment

Sometimes, less is more. In 2013, we visited Italy for about two weeks, part of the time in Verona and part of the time in the Italian Alps. One day, we drove down to the Cinque Terre to visit some family and decided to take a quick hike from Vernazza to Monterosso. Of course, the hike was a bit longer than we expected, and I probably wouldn’t recommend wearing Rainbow Sandals, but whatever. The trail between Monterosso and Vernazza is the hardest of them all, but rewards hikers with a spectacular view that is certainly worth your efforts.

If you’re interested in hiking in the Cinque Terre, you should make sure to check out the trail status before you plan your hike. The Italian government is making many updates and restorations to the trails and it’s possible that the trails between cities may be closed. I recommend checking WikiTravel’s page on hiking in the Cinque Terre, but you may want to check with the government too.

We had a great lunch in Levanto and grabbed a train in to Vernazza. The summer is the busiest time of the year, so the trains were packed. And, of course, the train station was being renovated, so there were only a few egress options. Instead of getting bent out of shape, we hung out for a bit and let the crowds die down.

Now, it’s important to know that the Cinque Terre towns are really small. They’re generally only one street, maybe a couple, but when the trains arrive, you’re dealing with crowded streets. No need to rush, everyone is going the same place, everyone is hot, and everyone wants to see everything, so just relax and enjoy the trip.

We headed down the main street in Vernazza and enjoyed a little gelato before finding the start of the trail. As with all streets in Italy, you’re going to struggle to find the start of the trail. You’ll end up heading towards the water, and then if you look to your right, you’ll see stairs that lead up to the hills. It’s easiest to keep your eyes open for people coming into Vernazza from Monterosso. The first bit of the trail has a lot of elevation gain, but it’ll level out after a bit and you’ll be rewarded with some amazing views.

The shot above was taken just as we climbed out of Vernazza, looking back to the town and the cathedral. The trailhead starts just to the left of the cathedral, between the houses.

As we continued along, we stopped frequently to look back over the amazing little town that we’d just left.

Here’s a better view of the hike out of Vernazza.

We continued on a bit and came across this guy, living La Dolce Vita at the highest point on the trail.

I love how the locals take care of this cat, making sure he has food, and a safe place to sleep that’ll keep him dry.

As we continued, the terrain changed. We got the elevation gains out of the way and enjoyed the rest of the views, the Med on our left, and a long trail in front of us. As we crested the hill and started down towards Monterosso, the path became steep again, but heading down now. As we started to see more people, we knew we were closer to Monterosso and we started to notice small farms and vineyards.

What a hard life it must be to swim in a pool overlooking the Med.

As we finished up our hike, Monterosso came into view. By this time, the day was quite hot and a bit of haze had set in, so pardon the pictures here, but I think you can understand the sheer beauty of the place, even with the bad pictures.

Though most of our trip was in different parts of Italy, we loved our day trip to the Cinque Terre. If you’re looking to visit, you can save quite a bit of money by staying outside the five towns, choosing to stay in Levanto or La Spezia. Both towns are amazing, right on the water, and much less expensive than the Cinque Terre towns. Of course, you’ll be able to get into the Cinque Terre easily, via train. I wouldn’t recommend driving in. It’s possible, sometimes, but you’re going to hate life if you bring a car.

A Quick Trip to Bainbridge Island

29/06/2014 By Eric H. Doss Leave a Comment

We’ve recently returned from a long weekend trip to Seattle. Actually, the trip was to Seattle, then to Spokane, a stopover on the way back at Lake Chelan, and then a few more days in Seattle.

One of the tricks we normally use to get some extra time when traveling for a short trip is to take the redeye home. This doesn’t always seem like the best idea when I wake up as the plane touches down in Atlanta, but redeye flights are normally less crowded, you have a better chance to upgrade, and if you’re crossing the country, a decent time to sleep. Now, none of that seemed to work out for us this trip, but that’s just a little detail. The important thing is that we had all day to explore Seattle instead of spending the day in airports.

So, to maximize our time, we grabbed the 3:45pm ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. The ferry is only $8 per person, round trip. Queuing up for the ferry is similar to boarding an Amtrak; you’re held behind a gate until just a few minutes before the ferry leaves, so there’s a mad scramble when the gates open. Here’s a tip: Head up to top deck, facing Bainbridge to get the best view. If you’re lucky enough to have a beautiful night, as we did, you can head over to the port (left) side and watch for Mt. Rainier on your way out to the island.

Leaving Seattle, heading to Bainbridge Island on the WSDOT ferry, Takoma.

When you arrive on Bainbridge, you’ll disembark and head up to the ferry terminal. Take a left out of the front door and walk around the edge of the parking lot where cars line up to get on the ferry. You’ll pass a few small businesses on your right and there’s a little incline, but keep going. You’ll come to a large intersection where you’ll see the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art in front of you. Take a left here onto Winslow Way. If you have time you can stop in to see interesting exhibits of local artists and themes from the area, including from the broader region of the Puget Sound.

Continue down Winslow Way towards town and take time to visit some of the small and interesting stores along the way. There’s a great store, The Traveler, that has great luggage, maps, clothing, and more. Keep going down Winslow Way and you’ll come to Hitchcock’s. Now, we were there in May and had a wonderful time, great service, amazing food, and a great day to sit outside. Recently, I’ve noticed a number of bad reviews on different sites, so I can’t tell you what’s going on there, but I will assure you that we had an amazing evening.

We started out with some of the Cocktail Hour oysters, only $1 each. I think we knocked out about 24 of those, then about half dozen or so of the other kinds, just to round out the oyster tasting. Pay special attention to the finishes on the oysters, one with tomato was a little strong. Though I normally defer to the chef, I really like simple oysters, so I’d stick to the mignonette sauce, or something else that allows the oyster to speak for itself. We then enjoyed a great terrine, followed by simple green salads with a rich and fatty blue cheese dressing. I chose a simple pork dish with local veggies and Heather enjoyed a perfectly cooked halibut entree. A nice sticky toffee pudding finished the night and we headed back to the ferry terminal to catch our ride back.

I’ll admit, it was a little bit of a struggle to get to the island, enjoy ourselves, have a nice relaxed dinner, get back across the water and make it to the airport in time. But, honestly, totally worth it.

Third Day in Israel–2014

12/06/2014 By Eric H. Doss Leave a Comment

So, we’ve arrived in Israel and had an afternoon of tours, then a great day visiting Masada, Ein Gedi, Qumran, and a evening drive up to Tiberias. We had a great night’s sleep at the Golan Hotel and woke up quite early for a full day of touring The Galilee area.

We started at the Mount of Beatitudes, the historically accepted site of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. In stark contrast to the wilderness around Masada, the Mount of Beatitudes is a verdant series of gardens with colorful flowers, benches among the vegetation, and beautiful views from the hill down to the Sea of Galilee. We toured the Roman Catholic church on the site. The church has mosaic tiles across the floor and images on the dome that show the Beatitudes. After quietly visiting the church, our group looked around the grounds for a nice place to have a short worship service. Settling on a shelter overlooking the Sea of Galilee, we settled in to begin our service. Almost immediately, another group arrived and announced that they had reserved the site and we needed to move along. Members of this group grumbled and shot us sideways glances, as if to imply “How dare these Protestants try to use this shelter”. I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. As I’ll discuss later, some of the biggest conflicts in the Holy Land aren’t between different religions, but between different sects of the same religion. What a boost to ecumenical relations if our Catholic friends would have invited us to share their worship.

Church, Mount of Beatitudes. Photo Credit Don Sanders

In spite of this, we continued our stroll around the grounds and found a small garden area with a few benches and paused to reflect on the Sermon on the Mount and the lessons contained therein. Leaving the Mount of Beatitudes, our group split up, with a handful of us heading down part of the Jesus Trail to the Sea of Galilee and the remaining group boarding the bus and traveling to the Tabgha, the site of two important churches: The Church of the Primacy of St. Peter and The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes.

Jesus Trail mini-hike. Photo credit Don Sanders

Following a quick visit to each site, we headed to Ali’s Restaurant, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee for a traditional lunch of St. Peter’s Fish. Ali has recently relocated from his old location because his land was seized by the Israeli government, and after a long court battle, Ali lost and his restaurant was demolished. The new location is amazing, though, with a large lawn full of tables and some inside seating. Lunch is served at long family style tables and there is an abundance of fresh salads and fresh bread for all to enjoy. Tilapia is a pretty plain fish, but the presentation of the whole fried fish is beautiful, and the hospitality you will experience here is worth stopping.

After lunch, we traveled to Capernaum, the home of Peter and where Jesus performed a number of healing acts. Capernaum is a historical and archeological treasure, with Peter’s house and one of the oldest synagogues in the world. The synagogue is actually two, with two sets of ruins in the same place, though it is clear they were built at different times.

Roman Ruins at Capernaum. Photo credit Don Sanders

While in this area, we decided to visit the Kibbutz Ginosar and see the Jesus Boat. Now, the boat has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus, save that it was likely built in the 1st Century and likely resembles the boats that the apostles would have used. I’ll admit, I did not have high hopes for a two thousand year old boat that was found buried in lake mud, but this turned out to be a great spot to visit. In addition to the boat, there are some interesting art installations on the site. While the actual boat was interesting to me, the most fascinating information, for me, was the process they used to extract, preserve, and display the Jesus Boat. Truly worth you time.

Jesus Boat. Photo credit Steve Sooy

Our next stop was downtown Tiberias, where we embarked on a cruise on the Sea of Galilee. We had a great time on this sunset cruise, enjoying the cool early evening, the calm seas, and the great company. After cruising for a bit, we slowed to a stop and learned how to dance the hora. After a quick lesson and a few attempts, we decided we might be better off fishing… The captain opened a hatch and pulled out a cast net. My eyes lit up; living in Beaufort, even for a few years, it’s important to know how to throw a cast net. My technique is pretty bad, though, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself. However, a member of our group is a true waterman, so we talked the captain into letting him try his hand. Though Bobby didn’t catch anything, I admit I was moved by the connection that water creates. Here, thousands of miles from home, in a different culture, the waterman’s tools are the same.

Dancing the Hora, Sea of Galilee. Photo credit Steve Sooy

Returning to the dock, our group broke up so people could have some downtime. A small group of us visited the Scots Hotel. Beautiful place and absolutely top notch service, though the drinks will lighten your wallet pretty quickly.

Heather had discovered, after some intense searching, a great dinner spot in downtown, so our group finished up and headed to Avi’s Restaurant. Avi’s doesn’t look like much from the street and was a little empty when we arrived outside. An employee invited us in, explaining that had just arrived at the best restaurant in Tiberias. A bit skeptical, but remembering that almost every review commented on Avi’s personality, Heather asked if he was in. The employee found Avi and he made his way to the door, with a slightly confused look. “Are we friends?”, Avi asked. “Well, not yet, but that’ll change quickly.” Avi’s eyes lit up and he started barking orders to the servers to pull together a table for the five of us. Instead of offering us a menu, Avi proposed something unique: “I’ll give you all as much food as you can eat: salads, bread, falafel and hummus, lamb, chicken, turkey…EVERYTHING! If you like it, you pay me 100NIS each. If not, you put it on this table and you don’t pay anything. How does that sound?” It took our group two seconds, tops, to decide we were exactly where we wanted to be. We agreed and Avi started barking orders in Hebrew again. Within seconds our table was covered with over a dozen salads. We had olives, tomatoes and cucumbers, tahini, tabouleh, spicy tomatoes, and more. We probably could have stopped there, but then the falafel arrived. Avi came over, opening a bottle of wine that he comped us and filled our glasses. Then some lamb patties. More fresh bread arrived as the server replenished the salads. As we finished up the salads, and a second and third order of lamb patties, the server arrived with a mixed grill of turkey and chicken. The meal probably took three hours, with small breaks to relax and enjoy our fellowship. As we started to really slow down, Avi appeared again, this time with a bottle of flavored vodka to finish the meal. He sat with us, slowly sipping his drink as we did the same. Avi’s hospitality stood out, even in a culture where hospitality is taken quite seriously. As we talked, Avi shared his story, the story of his family, of how his father fought in the IDF and how the violence and conflict pained him. He spoke about his desire for peace, about how he welcomed everyone into his restaurant, Jew, Gentile, and Muslim and how he desired a peaceful resolution that would allow him to share his hospitality with more visitors. As we finished our meal, Avi invited us to his house for dinner the next night. He was unfazed when we told him we were with a group of 28 people. Of course, he explained, his wife would be mad if he invited 28 people to dinner, but he’d done it before and she hasn’t left him yet. As much as we wanted to, we had to decline, as this was our last night in Tiberias. “Next time” Avi concluded, “next time you will be a guest in my home for dinner.” I know we are all counting the days until the “next time.”

Second Day in Israel–2014

06/06/2014 By Eric H. Doss Leave a Comment

I covered our events of the first day here, so if you haven’t read that yet, you might want to catch up a bit.

The second day in country was an early start. We met our bus and driver after an early breakfast and headed east towards the Dead Sea and Masada. Once you travel over the hills outside Jerusalem, the entire landscape changes dramatically. Although all of Israel and Palestine is desert, the western part of the country does get a bit of rain coming off the Mediterranean. But the hills east of Jerusalem prevent most weather from traveling to that part of the country, so you’re really seeing an extremely dry part of the world. As we left the Jerusalem area, we passed through a checkpoint and entered the West Bank, territory occupied by Israel since 1967. Getting into the West Bank is not terribly complicated, but returning to Israel proper is a bit harder.

As we traveled deeper into the West Bank, the terrain sloped down gently, dropping to 1,401 feet below sea level when we arrived at the Dead Sea. As you travel down the west coast of the Dead Sea, Masada becomes visible long before you get there. Although there are a number of significant hills, Masada stands out because of the flat top that’s immediately noticeable.

With such a large group, we chose to take the cable car to the top of the mountain, although a walking path is available and provides a beautiful view of the surrounding area as you hike up. Masada is known for the Siege of Masada, where Jewish rebels resisted troops from the Roman Empire. You can read more about the Siege at Wikipedia, but the Jewish stronghold was compromised by a siege ramp built by the Romans. Upon arriving at the top of the mountain, the Romans discovered that the entire population of rebels had committed suicide instead of being captured.

What was most amazing about Masada, to me at least, was the ruins of the Roman encampments, still visible from the top of the mountain.

Roman Forts, as seen from Masada. Photo Credit: Steve Sooy

Roman camps, as seen from Masada. Photo Credit: Steve Sooy

After an excellent tour of the top of Masada, we traveled back down to the visitor center and boarded the bus for our trip to the Dead Sea. It’s nearly impossible for me to describe the feeling of floating in the Dead Sea. imagine trying to hold a ping pong ball underwater with only one finger. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to float vertically in the sea, as the salinity causes you to float on your back. A word to the wise: Do not taste the water. It’s not just salty, but has a very bad metallic flavor that you just can’t shake. One thing you’ll notice as you enter the water is the salt crystals built up on the rocks. They are very sharp and can easily cut your feet and legs, so I recommend wearing water shoes to get into the water. You’ll also want to take a shower before you leave, as the salt can be very irritating.

Floating in the Dead Sea. Notice the salt crystals in the foreground. Photo Credit: Don Sanders

Our next stop was Qumran, site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. For me, this location was not as awe-inspiring as Masada or the Dead Sea, but much more meaningful. You can read the biblical stories of the wilderness and imagine the desert that is frequently referenced therein, but until you actually see this place, it’s nearly impossible to appreciate the barren and solitary nature. As you look out over the caves where the scrolls were discovered, you feel the strong wind, whipping down the eroded hills and cliffs. You feel the sand blowing against your face, the dryness of the area noticeable in your dry lips. Looking around, the stories of solitude, of temptation, take on a new and deeper meaning.

Leaving Qumran, we traveled by bus north to Tiberias and The Galilee. While entering the West Bank is reasonably simple, returning to Israel is a bit more involved. We stopped at a simple checkpoint and waited as three armed IDF soldiers walked the aisle of the bus and checked the luggage holds. Not invasive at all, and the IDF soldiers were always professional and courteous, but a significant change from our entry into the West Bank. Our journey took us up Highway 90, which parallels the Jordan River.. As we passed the edge of the central mountains, the landscape changed a little, with more vegetation and life becoming visible as our journey continued north. Arriving at the Golan Hotel, the group disembarked, checked into our rooms, and then enjoyed a huge Middle Eastern feast at the hotel restaurant. A few of us stayed up, enjoying the cool Galilee evening and good wine and conversation as we prepared for another full day touring The Galilee.

First Day in Israel–2014

22/03/2014 By Eric H. Doss Leave a Comment

Heather and I have recently returned from a (roughly) 10 day trip to Israel and Palestine. Along with the other associate pastor from Sea Island, the three of us lead a group of 29 people through the Holy Land, visiting a number of historical and religious sites along the way. Well, Heather and Jack lead the group, I helped with some of the logistics when we were delayed for two days (Thanks United Airlines). Anyway, it’s taken me almost a month to sit down and unpack all the events of the trip. I’m going to try to walk through this trip a day or two at a time, along with pictures and some details.

We arrive in Israel on Monday morning and traveled by bus to Tantur, our home base. Tantur is in a wonderful location, overlooking Bethlehem and very close to Jerusalem. When Heather and I traveled to the Holy Land in 2005, we also stayed at Tantur, though they have started catering to more groups than when we were first there.

After lunch and a short rest to clean up, we headed out by bus again for a tour of East Jerusalem with a guide from Rabbis for Human Rights. Our first stop was a school serving Palestinian children in East Jerusalem. This school has been seriously impacted by the construction of the separation wall. The wall actually cuts off the school from the children and neighborhoods that they serve. What was most striking to me was how much this school looked like the school at our church, except for the razor wire.

Separation Wall at School in East Jerusalem

After visiting with the nuns at this school, we hopped back on the bus to travel to a Bedouin village. The Bedouins are discriminated against in much the same way that the majority of Palestinians are in Israel. In this case, the Bedouins were removed from their homes and sent to live in this small village. The village backs up against the municipal garbage dump for Jerusalem. In this little village, there is still a lot of hope. We visited with a young Bedouin woman who operates a small school for village children. The school is little more than four walls, the roof is ill-fitting and certainly doesn’t keep out the weather. But the inside of the school is filled with children’s art and a few books. Not much, but when you have so little, every little thing can be a spark of hope. We did not take pictures of the school out of respect, but it looked much like the rest of the village, here:

Lots more for later…