Ashdod and Haifa, Israel

Our first stop in the Mediterranean was Ashdod, Israel on Tuesday, April 22nd, two days after celebrating Easter aboard ship.  The population of Israel is 8,000,000 people of which 75% are Jewish and the remainder are Muslims and Christians.  There are immigrants from all over the world that have settled here, many of whom came here to escape religious persecution in their home countries.  It is a beautiful, but complicated country with an interesting human mosaic of religions and cultures.  To complicate the situation, Israel shares borders with Jordan, Syria and Lebanon which all have their own self interests and internal problems.  Also, Israel has its issues with the troubled Palestinian areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  In spite of all these issues, tourists pour into this country to visit the Holy Land and the Israelis welcome them with open arms.

Early in the morning we boarded a tour bus for an all day tour of Jerusalem and Bethlehem.  We drove outside of Ashdod for about an hour to Jerusalem.  First, we stopped for a panoramic view of  Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.  What an incredible site to behold as you look over to the old walled "Golden City" of Jerusalem and over to Mount Zion!  From this point we could see into the old city of Jerusalem and saw where Jesus was crucified.  We then toured around Jerusalem for a closer look.  Next, we visited the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations.  Inside the Church we saw the rock where Jesus prayed the night before his arrest.

After enjoying a buffet lunch at a luxury hotel, we re-boarded the bus to drive to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Nativity that is located at the birthplace of Jesus.  An interesting thing happened at this point.  Our tour guide who is Israeli is not permitted to guide tours in Bethlehem.  Bethlehem is located in the Palestinian West Bank area of Israel. A Palestinian guide must be used.  There is a dividing wall and checkpoint at which we changed guides. It was very much a border crossing and a change in culture. A Palestinian Christian guide took over the tour and led us around Bethlehem.  It was an amazing experience to see the birthplace of Jesus which is marked by a monument inside a small crypt in the cave where he was born.  The Church sits atop the birthplace monument and visitors walk down 14 steps into the grotto to the site.   Also, within the cave area is the site where the manger was located within a few feet of the birth monument.  After our visit, the Palestinian guide led us back to the wall where we passed through the checkpoint to pick up our Israeli guide to finish our long day of touring.

Jerusalem

Domes where Jesus was crucified

and where he is buried 

 

Lion's Gate

 

Church of All Nations

 

The Rock where Jesus prayed

the night before his arrest

 

Garden of Gethsemane

Mount of Olives

Wall separating the Palestinian West Bank

Entering the grotto marking the birthplace of Jesus

The monument of Jesus' birthplace

 Monument marking the Manger site

 

 On our second day in Israel, we sailed into the port city of Haifa where we took another long tour (10 hours).  Our first stop was at Zippori Archaeological Park where we visited ancient ruins from Roman and ancient eras, including a 4,500 seat Roman theater which has been partially restored.  This beautiful park on a sunny, clear day gave us a spectacular overlook of the Jordan River Valley and the Galilee mountains.   We were both pleased to learn that Israel has so much natural beauty in addition to its rich history and cultures.  From the park, we drove to an overlook of the Sea of Galilee.  Although we were up on a high bluff, we were standing at sea level looking down at the Sea. .  Beyond the Sea were the Golan Heights mountain ranges which we would visit later in the day.  We drove by a "kibbutz" which was one of the original kibbutzes in Israel as our guide explained the socialist concept and lifestyle to us.  There are many kibbutzes still in existence in Israel today.  Next, we drove down to the Jordan River to the Yardenit, the site where Jesus was baptized by John The Baptist.  There were busloads of tourists from all over the world visiting this historic site.  Many people donned robes and went into the Jordan River for ceremonial baptisms. Afterwards, we ate lunch at a beautiful restaurant on the shore of the Sea of Galilee where we enjoyed a Mediterranean lunch and local beer as we sat overlooking the Sea.  After lunch we drove up along a winding road into the Golan Heights for  a view of the mountain ranges.  Standing up on the top we looked out at Israel's borders with Jordan and Syria as our informative (and somewhat opinionated) tour guide explained some of the challenges and potential threats with Israel's volatile neighbors. Later in the day we also saw the border with Lebanon.  Next, we visited Capernaum, the home of the disciple Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.  This was another interesting archaeological site.  We also visited the areas where Jesus fed the 5,000 and spent much of his life before his pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  At the end of the tour we drove back into Haifa and drove up to the top of Mt. Carmel for a scenic overlook of the port city.  At the top of the mountain, we stopped at the edge of the Baha'i hanging gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage site which is the largest hanging gardens in the world.  These gardens are a holy place for the followers of the Baha'i religion.  Looking down over the gardens out towards the seaport, we enjoyed a jaw-dropping view of this beautiful city.  It was a perfect end to this unforgettable day.

Arriving into Haifa

Jordan Valley & Sea of Galilee

Roman Theater in Zippori National Park

Sea of Galilee below sea level marker

Yardenit

Jordan River where Jesus was baptized

Jordan River

Cooling off at the Jordan River

Israeli Flag

Israel/Jordan border at Golan Heights

Israel/Syria border at Golan Heights

Ancient ruins at Capernaum

Ancient synagogue at Capernaum

Baha'i Hanging Gardens

Haifa viewed from Mt. Carmel

We enjoyed our two busy stops in Israel and hope we can visit again some day.  Next stop, Rhodes, Greece.




 

 

The Suez Canal

After leaving Jordan, we sailed back down the Gulf of Aqaba to return to the Red Sea and headed north into the Gulf of Suez to enter the Suez Canal.  During the night the ship reached the southern entry to the canal where we dropped anchor to wait for our turn to enter.  The canal is operated by the Egyptians since it traverses their country with the mainland on the west side and the Sinai peninsula on the east side.  Egyptian officials inspect each ship before they permit it to enter.  We were cleared to enter the canal very early in the morning on Monday, April 21st.  We were up on the front deck before 6:00 a.m. to watch the process.  We entered the canal at Port Suez behind a cargo ship and had a line of ships coming in behind us.  It was cool to watch. 

Unlike the Panama Canal, there are no locks on the Suez Canal because the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea are at the same level.  Essentially, the Suez Canal is a long ditch connecting 2 seas.  It goes for 101 miles through Egypt and has been in operation since 1869.  It took us the whole day to pass through the canal.  Brian spent almost the entire day out on the front deck.  He recalled his father speaking of going through the Suez Canal during World War II.  All along the way, armed Egyptian guards have posts and are standing guard over the canal.  The guards waved to us as we passed by, but they each held a rifle in their other hand.  There are a few cities along the canal, including the port cities at the south and north ends.  The canal is fairly narrow so in most places it is too narrow for 2 ships to pass, thus there are by-pass canals along the route so ships to wait while other ships pass.  The landscape on the Sinai Peninsula side of the canal is fairly barren most of the way -- lots of sand!

We exited the canal into the Mediterranean Sea at about 5:30 p.m.  The canal functions like clockwork with an average of 50 vessels per day passing through.  It's one of the world's most significant waterways with a whopping 8%  of the world's shipping traffic passing through.  We don't know how much Seabourn paid in fees for our passage, but we were told by a lecturer that a cruise ship that he was on a couple of years ago paid a fee of $89,000.00 for passage.  The canal is a vital link for commercial and passenger transport - no wonder the Egyptians guard it so carefully.

All the passengers thoroughly enjoyed the experience of transiting the Suez Canal.  We will never forget this day.  Good bye Red Sea, hello Mediterranean Sea!

Lining up to enter the Canal

Entering the Canal at 7:00 a.m.

Ships following us into the Canal

  

City of Suez, Egypt

Egyptian guards on duty

 

Lots of weapons

Pontoons for building

temporary bridges, if needed

Remembering Dad in the Canal

(1943 in the Royal Navy)

Sinai Peninsula

Egyptian World War I Memorial

 

Egyptian memorial to 1967 War with Israel

 

Our Egyptian Drive-by

Railway swing bridge used when needed

Cargo ship stuck in the desert?

--Not!  It's in a bypass canal waiting its turn

Bridge to nowhere

 

Almost there

 Welcome to the Mediterranean Sea

 

Our transit through the Suez Canal was our only experience with Egypt.  Due to the unrest in that country, Seabourn wisely dropped it from our itinerary.  Hopefully, someday in the future we will get a chance to visit Egypt and see the pyramids.  In the meantime, we enjoyed our drive-by. 

Aqaba, Jordan

Leaving Salalah, Oman, we traveled south entering the Gulf of Aden and rounded the southern tip of Yemen into the Red Sea.  We sailed north in the Red Sea past Yemen and Saudi Arabia on the east side of our ship and past Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt on the other side of our ship.  We left the Red Sea and sailed up an inlet called the Gulf of Aqaba headed to Aqaba, Jordan.  Our stop in Jordan was a much anticipated highlight of our world cruise because visiting the nearby ancient city of Petra was a Bucket List item for us.

Our sail through the notorious waters of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea was very interesting.  Seabourn took added security measures during this leg of our cruise.  These precautions are understandable in light of the fact that in 2005 the Seabourn Spirit was attacked by Somali pirates and suffered damage from RPGs and small arms fire.  Fortunately, the Spirit escaped the pirates and no injuries occurred.  Our ship is equipped with water canons, high frequency sound deterrents and an extra propeller for boosted speed.  In spite of all the defensive equipment, in Oman four armed security guards boarded our ship to accompany us through this region.  The extra guards were private security guards that regularly patrol these waters protecting cruise ships and cargo ships from pirates or other security threats.  We spoke to a couple of the guards while they were on board ship.  The two guards that we met were former British commandos now working private security in this region.  They were dressed in black uniforms and looked very much the part.  These highly trained and physically fit experts took their jobs very seriously.  Once the ship reached a point where we were 24 miles beyond the point of the last attempted attack, the guards were picked up by a zodiac to return to their headquarters, a small ship in the middle of the Red Sea, where they await their next assignment to accompany the next ship requesting security through the area.  It was all very James Bond like and entertained us passengers.  Our captain told us that the "boys" enjoyed their 2 day stay aboard our luxury cruise ship because they typically spend their time on cargo ships.  They were well fed by Seabourn and the captain gave them a bottle of champagne to take back to their headquarters.

Zodiac coming to pick up our

Security Team in the Red Sea

 

Off loading the weapons

The Security Team exiting our ship

Leaving us in the "safe zone" of the Red Sea

 

We arrived in Aqaba, Jordan on Saturday, April 19th.  As we sailed into the port, we could see Egypt, Israel and Jordan from the front deck of the ship since their borders all come together at this point on the Gulf.  Jordan has only a small waterfront border on the Gulf.  Early that morning, 8 tour buses loaded with passengers and crew members traveled to the ancient city of Petra which was a 2 hour drive from the port.  As we drove through the barren countryside, we saw the tent villages of the Bedouins, an Arab nomadic tribe that still exists today.  The Bedouins mainly exist by herding livestock so they must migrate to areas where they can find water for their herds of goats, sheep, camels, horses and cows.  It is hard to believe the migratory lifestyle of the Bedouin people is still in existence.  Our tour guide was from a Bedouin Village and gave us a lot of insight into their unusual way of life.

 

We spent the day hiking through the spectacular red, white and pink sandstone canyons in the prehistoric city of Petra to see the amazing ancient ruins dating back to the 2nd Century, B.C.  Petra is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has been designated as one of the new seven wonders of the world.  The area flourished under an ancient Arab tribe called the Nabeteans who controlled this link in the trade routes between Arabia and Syria and charged the traders a fee for safe passage through the route.  The tribe faded away during Roman and Byzantine rule.  Petra came to be occupied by the Bedouins.  In the early 1800s, the area was rediscovered by a European who disguised himself as a Bedouin. Hiking through the high walled canyon area called the "Siq" reminded us of the hiking we have done in Utah's red rock slot canyons. The highlight of the hike is the famous ancient monument called "The Treasury" featured in the Indiana Jones movie. 

This Corinthian columned façade which is 130 feet high presents itself dramatically as you come out of the narrow Siq section of the hike -- a "WOW" moment.  We explored other magnificent features of this ancient city which goes for miles and miles, but only saw a small part of it all.  In addition to the spectacular natural beauty of the area and the ruins, we also enjoyed the action around us with the colorful Arabian cowboys guiding tourists on horseback or camels or carriages through the canyons at breakneck speed narrowly missing tourists along the way.  It was a true Arabian experience.  After a few hours in the canyon, we hiked out then enjoyed a great buffet lunch of Middle Eastern cuisine and cold Jordanian beer before starting the drive back to the ship. 





Our long drive back to the ship was broken up by a stop at a shop located on a hillside overlooking the vast valleys and hills of the Jordanian countryside.  To our surprise, Seabourn sent a crew out to meet us to serve us champagne and caviar in true Seabourn fashion.  It was a great treat to cap off our memorable visit to Petra.  We can check Petra off the Bucket List!

The Port of Aqaba, Jordan

Bedouins' Tent

Gate of Petra Archaeological Park

Carriages available for non-hikers

Ruins at the entry to Petra

 

Entering The Siq narrows

The Siq narrows

Hiking through The Siq

First glimpse of The Treasury

The Treasury

 

Camel Ride

Beware of the tourist on a camel

The Theater

The Royal Tombs

Beautiful countryside of Jordan

 

 

Now, on to the Suez Canal!