I love my great country of Australia, but I am forever grateful that I've had the chance to travel extensively overseas and see what life is like in other parts of the world.
Sure that is often coloured by the fact I may see the "Tourist-sanitised" version. But I try where possible to get off the beaten track and see places and meet people I otherwise wouldn't. I try to replace the tourist with traveler.
So today's travel adventure is taking us far from the shores of Australia over to the land of Israel. Somewhere, after getting all my impressions from the media, I'd been hesitant to go... but after traipsing around Egypt during the middle of the elections and tourist kidnappings - well I guess it couldn't be all that bad could it?
Hope you enjoy!
In Search of the Land of Milk and Honey.
When Moses stood in Jordan on the Mount of Moab and looked across to The Promised Land, I sure hoped it looked a lot different than it does today.
Personally I wasn’t seeing the Milk or the Honey….or anywhere it could come from. I stood there for a good 10 minutes, squinting into the distance, looking for what, at the time would be our first glimpse of Jerusalem.
Nope... All I could see was desert, more desert, a few rocks and oh wait... no.. just more desert...
Aziz, our Jordanian guide assured me you could see the city on a clear day. Well, I guess we would have to take that on faith.
The Dome of the Rock, arguably the holiest place on earth
And faith, it seems, is at the heart of Israel’s challenges. The city of Jerusalem is one of the most contested in the world. It contains many of the holiest sites for three of the world’s larger religions – Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
One might wonder with all that holy goodness, that it should rather be the most peaceful place on earth.
And to complicate things further, each of these religions have sects or denominations that quarrel between themselves over matters of theology. They can’t even agree to disagree.
Israeli Soldiers at the Wailing Wall
When thinking of Israel, most people conjure up images of military checkpoints and searches, endless barriers of wall and wire, firepower and weaponry visible on a constant basis. Israel is all of this, I won’t sugar coat it. But the country is so much more. Tourists, travelers and pilgrims are inexplicably drawn to it, like moths to a flame.
On announcing our intention to include Israel and particularly Jerusalem on our itinerary, we were met with a variety of less than positive responses ranging from “Are you sure that’s a good idea” right through to “Are you $#%*!?! crazy?”. Yet these were mostly delivered with sighs of wistfulness as friends and family admitted, that they too would like to see the wonders of this holiest of holy cities.
And with the benefit of 20/20 vision that hindsight provides I can say, without hesitation, it’s worth swallowing any fears and going.
The Wailing Wall
We “did” Israel in 8 days. Nowhere near enough time to explore the wonders of this country, but enough to get the highlights and a feel for the history, the religion, the people and the unique challenges of living in such a politically and religiously sensitive nation.
Our itinerary included
Jerusalem
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The holy sites of the West Bank in the Palestinian Territories
The Church of the Nativity - Bethlehem
The Sea of Galillee and it’s surrounds
Church of St Peter on the Shores of the Sea of Galillee
The Golan Heights
Banias Springs in the Golan Heights
The Dead Sea and it's Surrounds
Herod's Fortress at Masada
Ideally with more time I would have included Haifa and Tel Aviv… But it gives us a reason to return.
We saw sites where miracles took place, homes of saints, towns where Jesus trod.
The Garden of Gethsemane
We visited temples dedicated to the pagan gods of old, towering crusader castles, the lowest place on earth, cascading falls and springs.
Pan's Temple
The Lowest Place on Earth
We glimpsed into the lives of the locals, complete with security checkpoints, car searches, walls of cement and barbed wire, M16s and AK47s. We accidentally took a taxi cab into Syria.. you know.. normal tourist stuff!
Walls of Wire
Israel has it all….
But did we find Moses’ promised land – the Land of Milk and Honey…
…eventually and with a little effort. Stay tuned to find out more…
Til next time
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