National Geographic Tour of Israel and Jordan Guided by G Adventures 1 - 15 Sept 2019

Israel 1 - 8 Sept 2019

We arrived in Jerusalem a day before the trip started to get adjusted and see parts of the Old City that would not be on the tour. We had 16 people in our group. Most were American, one Australian and three Irish. Three were only on for the Israel part, but three more replaced them for Jordan.

Standing L - R: Bob, Garrett, Brian, Therese, Cissell, Lauve, me, Ken, Dorinne, Chris, Karen, Carol, Vayia, Allison

Kneeling: Jill, Heidi

Spice vendor at markets in the Old City

Our first tour day was spent in the Old City, where the important Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious sites are. The Old City is part of East Jerusalem which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war and is now annexed. Strangely enough, the Old City is administered by Jordan. West Jerusalem has always been part of Israel since 1948.

Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount - second most holy site for Muslims

Western Wall - holy for Jews because it is under the Dome of the Rock which was built on top of the first and second temples

 Site of the crucifixion of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and a station on the way of the cross, Via Delarosa.

Evan, a Zionist, was one of our speakers. Our guide, Jalal Awad, seated on the left.

We had three speakers to present their perspective on the Israeli, Palestinian situation. One was a young Palestinian who owned a book store in East Jerusalem, another was a Zionist trying to get consensus by gathering extremists from both sides to find common ground and the third was a professor from the Christian Bible College. I could go on and on about what we learned, but as we all know it is very complicated. I can say that what I learned from these and other discussions satisfied one of my primary goals for the trip.

View of the Temple Mount and further to West Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

Oscar Schindler's grave in a Catholic cemetary

Results of our dinner cooking class in Markane Yahuda Market area

Netanyahu is depending on his relationship with Trump for his reelection Sept 17th

Outside of the very well done Dead Sea Scrolls Museum

Impressive entrance to Israel Museum

Entrance to Palestinian refugee camp near Bethlehem

The key represents the Palestinian determination to return to the homes their ancestors left during the 1948 war that established Israel as a country. Palestinians are a very determined people who say they will never forget.

Refugee women who run a school for disabled children and have a restaurant to support their program

The lunch they served us

Shepard's Field Church where the angel came to announce the birth of Jesus

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. This is the place you can reach in and touch the rock where Jesus was born.

Wall surrounding Jewish settlement in the West Bank near Bethlehem

Banksy painting on the wall

The hike up to Masada that we didn't take - too hot!

Masada is a mountain top fortress built by King Harrod where during the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 70 CE 900 Jews withstood a three year siege by 8000 Romans till the Romans finally breeched the defenses and the Jews killed each other rather than surrendering to become slaves.

A scale model showing how water was harvested for the fortress. Also a good idea of what the whole place looks.

Lauve's water ballet in the Dead Sea

You could get baptized in the clean part of the Jordan River up stream from where Jesus was baptized

Wine tasting at Golan Winery, the biggest in Israel

Lauve and others contemplating walking on the Sea of Galilee

Grounds of the Baha'i Temple in Haifa

Modern Haifa, Israel's third largest city

Tel Aviv from Jaffa

Sunset in Jaffa

In 1908 sixty six Jewish families in Jaffa decided to chip in and buy property to start a modern city on the Mediterranean. It is now Tel Aviv and the descendants of those families are very rich!

From Tel Aviv we bussed two hours to the border of Jordan for our transfer to our Jordanian guide.

Jordan 8 - 15 Sept 2019

View from roof of our hotel in Amman, the Landmark

After an introduction meeting, our Jordanian guide, Ayman Khattab, took us to an inexpensive local restaurant. We had hummus and a couple versions of falafel. Delicious!

Lauve helping to make Jordanian ice cream for dessert

 The first day we visited Jerash, an ancient Greek then Roman city near Amman - the best preserved ancient city outside of Europe.

Entrance to Jerash

The forum looking down Cardio Maximus, the main street.

We learned the importance of the Greek and Roman theaters. Designed with acoustics in mind, these structures allowed for efficient political and social communication on a mass scale promoting unity and control of residents.

Roman theater at Jerash

Another cooking class. Ayman, our guide, on the right.

Yum!

Monument at Mt Nebo

Mt Nebo is where Moses ended up after he led his people out of Egypt. It overlooks the Jordan River Valley. We visited a Franciscan church that had a beautiful mosaic. The Franciscans made a monument commemorating all three prophets: Moses, Jesus and Mohamed.

The mosaic

Entrance to Petra slowly revealing The Treasury
Petra is the naturally fortified capital of the Nabatean culture which controlled most trade in the area from the 4th century BCE to 106 CE when the Romans conquered them. All the structures were carved out of the sandstone walls of the gorge.

The Treasury - probably combination library, tomb and administration

The Monastery up 850 steps from the gorge bottom. Named for its use in a later period.

             The tomb of a Nabatean king. Closeup shows how much stone needed to be removed.
                                       Shopping opportunities are everywhere!

Various tourist transportation options

Roof top dinner at our hotel, The Petra Moon

We spent one night at a Bedouin desert camp in Wadi Rum. Bedouin are nomadic people who used to be able to live off the desert in a time where the climate was much more conducive to herding live stock.

"Tents" had AC and bathrooms

Dinning room or outside

Wadi Rum Jeep ride to see the sunset

Always a camel option

Beautiful even in a dust storm

The vacationers

Where scenes from the movie, The Martian, were shot

We visited the Dead Sea again, this time the Jordanian side. It was much more developed than the Israeli shore where it was part of the uncertain West Bank "occupied territories." Also Israel has wonderful Mediterranean beaches.

Pool at the Crown Plaza Dead Sea

Beautiful beach setup

Sunset over the Dead Sea, West Bank in the distance.

Our final site of the trip was Bethany, where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. It seems pretty well documented that this was the site, but it's not at the present-day shore of the Jordan River because instead of being 150 ft. wide then, it is now 15 ft. wide due to climate change and pumping for irrigation.

Byzantine church commemorating the site

Believed to be the site, near the two blocks below. Upper structure is where Jesus hung his clothes.

Then back to Amman for our final night and goodbye dinner.

This is not the dinner, but a great shawarma lunch (~$3.50, Coke included)

We flew Royal Jordanian home the next morning - 13 hours Amman to Chicago, 5 hour layover then 4 more hours to Tucson. Great trip, but glad to be back in Tucson.