Bible Tourism in Northern Israel

This week's trip to the Sea of Galilee was less well planned than I am accustomed to. It started out as other recent trips have--a trip in a local bus across Jerusalem to the central bus station and an intercity bus for a couple of hours. But we (David Sandberg, who is visiting from the states and I) only had a rough outline of where we would be going and we had a long list of what we wanted to see. We ended up hiking a lot less than expected--I don't mind hot weather but David wasn't doing too well in it--so we saw the sites on our list more quickly than anticipated.

We arrived in Tiberias Monday evening, did some shopping and walked around town. The next morning, we hopped on rented bicycles for a little less than 10 mile ride to the Christian sites on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. It turns out that the bikes, aside from being heavy mountain bikes, had some minor technical problems that made the trip a bit more of a challenge than it should have been. But we managed to get first to a church that commemorates the Beatitutes and then to one commemorating the miracle of multiplying the loaves and fishes and finally to Capernaum. At each site, we read scriptures that went along with the site.

By the time we were done seeing the sites, we were in for a ride back to Tiberias in hot weather. That afternoon we took a bus to Beit Shean--a small Israeli city around 25 kilometers south of the Sea of Galilee. We checked into a small bed and breakfast, after being told that there were no rooms available in the hostel, and relaxed--I started reading and before long was ready to sleep--it was 7:40 p.m. The next morning, we visited Beit Shean's archaeology park. It features the very interesting remains of a Roman City--the capitol of the Decapolis. The most interesting features are a Roman style theater, Roman bath house, mosaics, and a Roman bridge over a river. The city was located at a strategic point along the Jordan Valley and the Jezreel Valley so it was fought over many times and there is a tall tel with many layers. I also took note of the story of King Saul's demise at the nearby Mount Gilboa and the connection with Beit Shean noted in 1 Samuel:

Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together. And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people. And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

After Beit Shean, I felt like we should go to Nazareth. As we got off the bus near the Basilica of the Annunciation, I asked a young lady and her mother where they were from (I had noticed that they spoke english). They are from Logan, Utah. We visited a few churches together in Nazareth. My favorite was the simple "Church Synagogue." The current building was built in the 12th century but it was supposedly built over a synagogue where Jesus' family likely worshipped as Jesus was growing up and where Jesus first publically suggested that he is the Messiah (Luke 4:16-30):

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

We caught a sight of the cliff from which tradition claims the folks of Nazareth wanted to toss Jesus to his death as we and trekked down a long street, around a corner and up the hill to catch the bus to our next destination.

David and I then decided to backtrack a bit in preparation for visits to Mount Tabor and Megiddo the next day. Mt. Tabor is a candidate as the site of the Transfiguration. The hike was very steep--pretty much straight up (and later straight down) so we decided to hit the dirt roads and make it longer but less steep. It ended up being a reasonably long hike. Upon reaching the top, we read the account of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13):

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afriad. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

Reading a handful of verses about a scriptural event while you're at a site where it happened, or at is commemorated, has an amazing effect. I wasn't in the mood for the church though. It was built in the 20th century over remains of a 4th century Byzantine church and a 12th century crusader church. Before descending we sat down again and read the verses more carefully.

Then we were off to Megiddo--an archaeology site of an ancient strategic outpost and the future battle of Armaggedon. The sites has a great view of the valley (but it was a dusty day so there are no good photos to show) including Nazareth and Mount Tabor to the northeast. There are remains of various buildings but I took note of the city's gate, the grain storage pit, water system and horse stables. The scriptural connection I took note of was 1 Kings 9:15-19:

And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife. And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether, And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

While the the mentioned tax is more important in connection with the building of the Temple, I took note of the cities for his chariots--one of which was Megiddo. We dragged ourselves down to the main intersection and waited around 10 minutes for the direct bus to Jerusalem. I took out my mini Israel map and followed along as we passed arab villages and cities, some on Israel's side of the wall and some on the other, to the east of the highway. Before long we were back in Jerusalem to rest before a few last excursions before my role as David's tour guide in Israel comes to an end.

By the Dead Sea: Masada & Ein Gedi

Tuesday afternoon David Sandberg, who is visiting me from the U.S.A., and I made our way across Jerusalem to the central bus station and got ourselves onto the bus that goes through the Jordan Valley to Eilat. It first heads east towards Jericho, skirting it to the south, and heads south past Qumran, Ein Gedi and Masada. We got off in Masada and went to the hostel there. The hostel was not the normal hole-in-the wall hostel. There was a nice pool and everything was emaculate. I noticed a plaque that mentioned that the Ministry of Tourism had a hand in it. That makes sense since Masada is an important symbol in Zionism.

For those who haven't read Josephus or seen the movie (also named Masada), the story takes place few decades after Jesus was crucified, during the Jewish rebellion that lead to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. A group of Jews, called Zealots, took refuge at Masada as it was clear that the Romans had quelled the rebellion. The Romans surrounded Masada and the 1,000 or so Jews who had taken refuge there. The Romans couldn't climb up the path because they would be picked off one by one so they built a seize ramp and eventually destroyed a wall and made their way in. The Jews, once they saw that they could not escape, killed themselves. The seize ramp still exists--it would have eroded faster but there isn't much rain in these parts.

Modern Israeli Zionists admire these 1st century Zealots for killing themselves rather than being taken slaves by the Romans but say "Masada will not fall again." The lesson being that Israel has to be strong to avoid the be killed or be captured dilemma. School children and soldiers are brought to Masada and taught about the lesson. For me, the place isn't so much about a lesson but it's an expression of the New Testament character Herod and illustrates something about about the historical period of time when Jesus was in the region--although he isn't reported to have visited this remote desert hideout.

After an early night we woke up around 4:00 a.m. and headed up the desert plateau. David had his caving headlamp on but after about 20 minutes, it was no longer necessary. The path, called the Snake Path, starts on the south-east of Masada and the climb isn't long nor particularly challenging. The views were worth slowing down for. Masada is directly west of the Dead Sea and there is a flat area between the Dead Sea and a row of plateaus to the west. The country of Jordan is on the other side of the Dead Sea.

We arrived at the top and my instinct for thoroughness kicked in and we headed to the north side to see the minor attractions. The highlight of that side was a cistern. We then made our way along the west side and encountered the synagogue and then the main attractions--a bathhouse and palaces. We made it back to the hostel in time for the 9:00 a.m. breakfast. Later that day, other hostel visitors arrived and our group room started living up to its name (we had been the only inhabitants of the room with 8 beds the night before). Since everyone hikes Masada before the sun rises to escape the heat, it was apparent that there was no escaping the ritual 4:00 a.m. wake up time.

I woke up early the next day to hike around, rather than up, Masada. I had a copied a hike description and basic map from a book--which ended up being accurate and informative except in one way that was later to become apparent. The hike was as expected until I arrived to the area southwest of Masada. There, I encountered a steep incline which lead up to Mount Eliazer--the mountain to the south of Masada. I managed to get to the top without much difficulty and enjoyed the sights of Masada across the gorge. Then I continued on to the other side of that mountain expecting to hike down to the hostel which was directly below. The hiking guide book mentioned that that portion of the hike was steep but did not elaborate further. It was apparent that it was not just steep but precarious. I decided to walk down a few meters to get a better view and this confirmed that me and my mild vertigo would not be fit for this descent. Not only did the path stay near a cliff as it switched back and forth down the hill, but I encountered a rock with hebrew writing on it and a wilted flower in a jar. The rock was a memorial to "our granfather [name forgotten] who died from on fall on such and such date." I was already leaning against the steep path and was the nail in the coffin. I turned back figuring that death was worth avoiding--even if it meant not making it back before the free breakfast buffet closed at 9:00 a.m. So I trekked back the same way. That usually would mean that I would see a while new set of scenery but this was thought of as a scenic hike from the start so I had already turned around and taken pictures many times. But the hike wasn't long and it was pleasant enough. It wasn't particularly hot even when I arrived near the end and asked someone what time it was. I was told it was only 8:15 a.m. so my breakfast was assured.

I returned to the hostel and we worked out a ride to Ein Gedi with some sojourners--a couple from England. They needed a nap though so I worked on my term paper for a while. We arrived at Ein Gedi around 2:30 p.m. and hiked up Wadi David. There was a stream with waterfalls and a lot of living things in an otherwise very barren area. We got to the top with time to spare so we decided to go back in a round about way. We made it over to the spring and Chacolithic temple. I subsequently read about the folks that lived in that period (c. 4300-3300 b.c.) and learned about their making copper things and about what they ate as well as some other things about them. I decided not to read the section of the chapter about their pottery. Near the end of the hike we made it to the Ein Gedi synagogue. I've been interested in churches and synagogues from around the time of Jesus until the moslem conquest so that was a bonus but then we were done. It was back to Jerusalem.

Around the Sea of Galilee

The bus from Jerusalem to Tiberias went along a highway that goes through an area of arab villages (within Israel) and is, at points, right next to the separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank. We then went west through Wadi Ara past the arab city of Umm al-Fahim. It was a bit memory lane for me as I had visited this area on a previous visit to Israel. We then went down the other side of the hill into the Jezreel Valley. I didn't see the archaeology site of Megiddo but thought a bit about Armaggedon and the future battle in that valley. Soon I saw Nazareth from the south (the main road on which we traveled goes through the Israeli city of Afula in the valley below. We stopped in Afula as is customary on long inter-city bus rides but I felt insecure about getting off in search of water (even though my bottle had been empty since Jerusalem). That was fortunate because the usual fifteen minute stop seem about half that long and I was left to wonder how many people ended their bus ride sooner than they had hoped. Soon we were passing below Mt. Tabor--the site believed by many to be the setting for the Transfiguration. I noticed the sign for the hiking trail and took note of where I would ask the bus driver to stop if I were to want to hike that small mountain in the near future. We continued a few minutes more and started down the other side of another hill and the Sea of Galilee came into view. What a peaceful lake! I was soon to enjoy a long weekend of looking at and across it from various vantage points. The bus soon descended to below sea level and on to the city of Tiberias.

Despite my having planned ahead, a lack of signage lead me to wander around the city in search of the recommended hostel. I went south out of the city and then north out of the city and felt like at least I had my bearings. I decided that I would get into just any hostel and the second one I checked out happened to be the one I had been searching for from the beginning. It was clean and seemed new and, like I expect from a hostel, cheap. I didn't have all that much daylight time left so I stocked up on groceries and settled in for an evening of reading about Hammath--the ancient settlement south of Tiberias. The next morning I arrived there early with a bit of understanding of the site. The hot spring had been the draw of the exact location and I dipped my hand in and confirmed that the water is hot. Along with the ancient synagogue (see other blog entry), I looked around at the Byzantine era city wall, gate and roadway. Finally, I walked through the Ottoman era bathhouse that is now a small museum featuring archaeological finds from the site. Across the street, I noticed the modern spa that uses the waters of the hot spring.

It was Friday and there was more Judaism in store for me. In the early afternoon, I met up with a friend who likes to attend Jewish services and we went in search of information about the messianic congregation. We found out that we wouldn't be able to make it to that service but we ran into an adherent of kabbalim. He invited us to their sabbath service. The group whose meeting we attended is that which some singer named Madonna participates in. It was too fast paced for me. Normally in synagogue, I can barely keep up with the liturgy since I haven't chanted it hundreds of times before and because my hebrew still has its limits. But here, the idea wasn't to read every word but to scan pages at a time, subconsciously absorbing the bolded letters which probably were supposed to convey some meaning when absorbed in that way. As far as I can tell, the exercise had no effect on my theology or sense of inner peace.

Things slowed down and we were invited to join the dinner. That was a mellow paced discussion in which we were told that kabbalah could be practiced by anyone, it isn't just for Jews. I later talked to other informed folks about this group and was informed that the group we visited is very much on the fringe--orthodox Jews treat Kabbalah as the mysteries that only the initiated should be exposed to.

Saturday we went to the Tiberias branch of the Mormon church. Meetings are held in what looks like a rich guy's house (which the church owns) with a wonderful view of the Sea of Galilee.
That afternoon, a few of us threw ourselves a picnic on the south end of the Sea of Galilee and then I lobbied for visiting a site. My friend (not the one I went to Synagogue the evening before) is a licensed tour guide in Israel and he took us to a very interesting site that I don't recall having been aware of before--Susita. Susita was a hellenistic village at the time of Jesus and the archaeologic work there has uncovered a cardo (main street) and a number of buildings. There are pillars all over the place a rock channel for water brought from across a valley. Most interestingly, the site seems to fit the New Testament story of the guy who had the legion of devils expelled from him into a herd of pigs. There is a hill with a bunch of caves, which may have been used for graves; flint so the guy had something to cut himself with; and, of course, the hellenistic folks would have pigs while Jews would not have (dietary cleanliness rules). So we thought about Jesus ascending to the village, encountering the possessed guy ... and the pigs running down into the Sea of Galilee. We considered how the inhabitants may not have liked having their pig supply diminished. I thought that perhaps Jesus was showing his Jewishness a bit by cleaning up the food supply. It was one of those discovery moments that makes educational tourism so interesting.

The next day, we visited the church of the Anunciation in Nazareth. We read about Mary being informed about her upcoming motherhood from one of the gospels and we went around to the various depictions of Mary with Jesus from countries around the world.

After Nazareth, we went to Sippori. It is north of Nazareth and west of Tiberias. I think it is one of the better archaeology sites in all of Israel. It had an ancient synagogue with mosaics similar to those in Hammath Tiberias (which I'll write about separately) and there were houses / palaces / public buildings with many other mosaics. There was also a cardo with more pilars laying around and a Roman theater. The last feature we took in was the cistern. Water storage is pretty important around here and cisterns can sometimes be more interesting than they sound. This one was shaped by a fault in the earth so it felt a bit like the Narrows in Zion's National Park.

I decided to call it a weekend and went to the bus stop to see when I could get on a bus back to Jerusalem. I was informed that I would have to wait until I forget what time unless I was willing to go on the slower bus through the Jordan Valley. I soon realized that I wanted to go on that bus. Not because it was slower (it stopped a bunch of Israeli sites including small settlements in the east side of the West Bank) but because it would be a different path than the route to Tiberias and I could look at different stuff. Before long, I was looking into Jordan and then noticing Israeli settlements as well as arab villages or Bedouin camp. A bit north of Jericho, the bus started ascending to Jerusalem.

Tel Aviv Airport to "the Shelter"

I arrived in Tel Aviv in the early afternoon and took a train and then bus to a suburb of Tel Aviv called Bat Yam. A friend of mine from BYU who grew up in Israel had heeded my yelps for help after the Hebrew University had informed me that the dorms weren't available until a number of days later than I had thought. I could pay for the extra days but then I heard that snow was forecasted for Jerusalem.

The two nights and one day in Bat Yam were a soft landing. The mom cooks like she means it and we hit a nice restaurant in Jaffa's old city (I sort of thought of it as my "rent" and swallowed hard when the bill came). During my one day there, I took a bus ride to Ashkelon to see it's archeology park. The site was next on my list from a previous visit to Israel--I'd say it is a second tier site that might not hold much interest for someone who hasn't already spent a couple of years in Israel and who has read up on the history of the city as I happen to have.

The following morning I made a quick trip to Jerusalem to meet up with some LDS folks in Jerusalem who had planned a birthday dinner in Ramallah with a member of the branch who lives there. I also tried to get the ball rolling in Hebrew University's bureaucracy so that my real arrival later would be smoother than it otherwise would have been. The birthday party was for an American woman who long ago, while at ASU, had married a Palestinian Christian. Their children are not at school in the U.S.A. It was nice to catch up with her and hear about the how those who had been teenagers when I had seen them last were doing. It was also nice to meet some of the LDS folks living in and around Jerusalem.

The next day, intending to escaped the cold weather (including a day with snow) and be in a corner of Israel that will be difficult to take the time to see once school starts, I headed to Jerusalem's central bus station intending to catch a bus to Eilat. When I first approached the bus the driver said a rough equivalent of "too bad" since I didn't have a reservation. I turned to walk away before remembering that I'm in Israel and if you take no for an answer here you get pushed aside all the time. So I stayed with a group of almost 10 others for whom there wasn't room. Finally, the bus driver let us on and we stood, sat, or laid down in the aisles or doorways for the 4 hour trip to the southern tip of the country. A young man pittied me after a couple of hours and traded places with me and then as people got off I managed to get a seat of my own. Much of the drive was along the shore of the Dead Sea which kept my attention as I listed to an hour long hebrew short story on a book on tape--about three times.

Among those at the Birthday dinner, were a young lady and her mother. The daughter had stayed in "The Shelter" in Eilat and recommended it. She talked a little about Christian discussions but didn't give me fair warning that staying at "The Shelter" is truly an experience. The name "Shelter" comes from a reference to verse in Isaiah but there's a sense in which 'homeless shelter' fits as well. Not only is it the cheapest place in town, but you can sleep on the ground outside for half the price (this was only available for males and there were more males outside than in). But folks looking for a cheap night's sleep isn't what's "Shelter" about the "Shelter." There is a guy who comes there every morning to pick up his metal detector so he can make his living at the beach and there is some mystery guest who has stolen 30 mugs in 30 days. One of the volunteers warned me that the homeless come in and take food out of the guest refrigerator all the time.

So what's the charm of the "Shelter?" The pastor runs the hostel as a fund raiser for his work with Sudanese refugees. His Sudanese refugees aren't Darfurians but southern Sudanese Christians--many of whom spent years in Egypt before coming to Israel (only a trickle does so). I was first exposed to this "mission" on Friday evening. As I checked in I was invited to the outreach meeting and was told that there was a Sabbath dinner afterwards. I like seeing other religions in action and I'm not one to turn down free food so I stuck around. It turns out that among the 200people at the meeting, there were people from all over the world including probably 50 from Sudan. The first half was singing with song in various languages in turn. The preaching was quite a scene. The preacher had his say for a few words and then translators yelled out the meaning in Russian, Spanish, and Arabic (I was sitting by three Chinese and the translation for them was more subdued).

If I make it back to Eilat within the next couple of months I hope to have additional discussions with two young ladies--one from the Netherlands who volunteers with the Sudanese and hence stays free at the shelter and a Canadian (Teresa from the Eilat hiking post) who volunteers at the Shelter and so gets opportunities to serve the Sudanese. Teresa mentioned that when the children first came, they took them to a play ground and the children had no idea what to do there. The young lady from the Netherlands says they are making progress. Their fate is uncertain so she says there is no use teaching them hebrew but there is a lot of progress they can make towards fitting in in a western system if they make it to one.

After four days and five nights of budget accomodations I caught the 7:00 a.m. bus to Jerusalem--$100 (including hostel and round trip bus fare) plus the cheapest food I could find poorer but with a bit wider range of what won't faze me.

Hiking in Eilat's Mountains

I arrived in Eilat on Friday and was soon looking over a hiking map at the hostel. The wife of the hostel director is a hiking enthusiast so she asked me what my hiking plans were. She then suggested some hikes. So I had a rough idea the next morning but I thought I should get oriented so I walked out of town towards the mountains and, before too long, found the trailhead of what looked like the best hiking area. I went a ways further to scout it out and decided on a trail that looked encouraging but returned to the hostel thinking that I'd found a hike for the next day.

Upon returning to the hostel, I encountered two young ladies putting dark brown stuff on their bread. I thought it was Vegimite so I asked them if they were from Australia. It turns out that they were from the Netherlands so I mentioned that I had recently been in Amsterdam and we chatted for a few minutes. I soon found out that they were intending on taking a hike but weren't clear where things were. One of the volunteers at the hostel started explaining to them about their hiking options and suggested the very path I had thought looked good. I invited myself to be their guide and off we went.

The hike was about 3 hours long and included a peak of a small mountain with great views over the city, sea, and Aqaba—the Jordanian city next to Eilat.

Most of the trail was through extremely barren desert--there was not a tree or even a bush in sight most of the time. There were a couple of birds but no other signs of life. I think of hiking as primarily exercise but being in the wilderness can bring a deep relaxation that doesn't seem to be available in a city or suburb. The aesthetic appeal of the route is a bonus. I felt no particular awe at this desert scenery but the view from the peak was nice. We saw into Jordan and may have seen into Saudi Arabia and were a few kilometers from Egypt.

After the view from the peak, we were soon in a wadi--a dry river bed. The aforementioned wife of the hostel director had said that it hadn't rained all winter. There were finally trees and the run-off had shaped the banks in an interesting enough way. While still desert, the variety was certainly appreciated.















After the hike we went to the beach. It was warm enough and most people escaping the snow in Jerusalem probably thought of the beach as the main attraction but a couple minutes in the water and twenty on a beach chair and I was done. Perhaps if I had brought a watermelon, newspaper, book, and volleyball as I had when was a teenager the beach would have kept me content longer. I have said on other occasions that, having moved from California to Utah, I prefer the mountains to the beach and this day certainly confirmed that.

The next morning I woke up and did the same hike with a young man from Switzerland, Mattias, and a young man from Poland. I would have rested for a day but Mattias had a couple of friends who had other plans for other days so he really wanted to get some hiking in and I relented and we followed the same trek. I often hike the same paths many times so I didn't mind. Different features stood out and the conversation was different so I returned content but insistent that I would take a day off the next day.

Legs well rested, I mapped out what turned out to be a seven hour hike. The hiking map had featured areas, one of which was the Black Canyon which became the objective. This is part of the Israel Trail--a trail from the north to the south of the small country. On the designated day, while it was scheduled to snow in Jerusalem, it was a bit cloudy and around 60 degrees (14 C) in Eilat. Mattias' buddies decided that the beach wouldn't be so pleasant so they were willing to hike. Along with that group of three guys, Teresa, one of the hostel volunteers joined in. The hike went smoothly--no wrong turns and the only surprise being a small mountain after the canyon--I hadn't taken much note of topography but no complaints: more good views over the region. The Black Canyon itself was nice--a slot canyon but nothing like The Narrows in Zion's National Park. We saw a small mountain goat and a few birds. More wadis, a few more of the same type of trees, very quiet except we talked a lot. Our stories seem to be more interesting to fellow travelers from different corners of the world but common issues like immigration seemed to be on the agenda of both the U.S. and Switzerland.

We arrived back at the hostel thoroughly worn out and ready for a shower. One of the sojourners complimented my having been an effective navigator, I turned down an invitation to the brazilian meat buffet and went to sleep around eight.