Search
Search titles only
By:
Search titles only
By:
Home
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New profile posts
Latest activity
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
Search
Search titles only
By:
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Install the app
Install
Reply to Thread
Guest, we'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the
Diabetes Forum Survey 2024 »
Home
Forums
Off-Topic
General Chat
Bill's Travels
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Message
<blockquote data-quote="BillB" data-source="post: 78959" data-attributes="member: 9985"><p>In Jerusalem we were following the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, the route taken by Jesus Christ to the place of his crucifixion after his condemnation. We visited the courtyard where he was tried and sentenced by Pontius Pilate. It’s smaller than one would have thought, but then that’s typical of so much in Israel. As Moshe remarked on our first meeting that the main thing to bear in mind is that Israel is a small country with a large history. How true his words are.</p><p>The Via Dolorosa that modern day visitors traverse is now around a metre higher than the original. Digging in certain places has uncovered the actual stones trodden by Christ. As it is now, the way winds through the Arab areas where stalls are set out selling mostly fruit, vegetables and other foodstuffs. At one point Ian, the 747 pilot and I managed to get separated from the rest of the group. I could see them up ahead, moving on faster than we could move. In front of me was a man in a leather jacket who was managing to block the entire path, which was narrow enough as it was. Try as I might I couldn’t seem to get past him until suddenly Ian said, “There’s someone trying to get into my back pocket.” We both spun round but there seemed to be nobody obvious behind us. And magically the human roadblock in front of me had also magically vanished. Were we the victims of an Arab Fagin, teaching his pupils how to pick a pocket or two? He was certainly cleverly slowing everybody down so that his accomplice had more time to dive into a victim’s pocket.</p><p>The walk of the Via Dolorosa brought us to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre where Christian teaching tells us was the site of Calvary, also called Golgotha, where the crucifixion took place. Golgotha means “skull” and it is from this that we get the word “Calvary”, from the Latin root “calva”. Inside the Sepulchre is a rocky knoll with three holes cut out of the solid rock which, we were told, are the holes where the bases of the three crosses were placed.</p><p>But there is another candidate for the crucifixion site – discovered by no less a person than General Gordon, Gordon of Khartoum. Gordon was known to be a man of strong religious beliefs and he was in Jerusalem and looking out of his window he noticed that the hill across the way looked just like a skull. Intrigued, he investigated further and came to the conclusion that this was the real Golgotha. There is even a stone tomb nearby which fits the description of Jesus’s tomb given in the Scriptures. At the base of the hill there now stands a bus station so visitors have a clear view of the hill. Indeed, it does look like a skull, with a forehead, eyes and a nose. The question that came immediately to my mind was, would the Romans have gone to the trouble to cut three holes in solid rock, a laborious task given the technology available to them at the time, for the execution of what to them were three insignificant criminals?</p><p>That evening Ian mentioned that he intended to visit the King David Hotel, which had been heavily damaged by a bomb placed by the Zionist underground movement, the Irgun, in their struggle for independence between the end of WW2 and the declaration of the creation of the state of Israel. The King David housed the headquarters the British Forces in Palestine and the Secretariat of the Government of Palestine. I can remember the newspaper headlines when this took place, although I was only nine years old.</p><p>I wanted to visit the place myself so the three of us set off after dinner that evening. According to the map it wasn’t far from our hotel but we still managed to get lost. Finally, we asked a passing lady on an empty street where we could find the hotel. She very pleasantly gave us clear directions and just as she went to walk on she stopped, turned back and said, “It’s so nice to see you here.” That’s the first time I’ve experienced something like that.</p><p>Also in Jerusalem, at the foot of the Mount of Olives and facing the eastern wall of the Old City, is the Garden of Gethsemane. The olive trees are huge, gnarled and could well have been saplings at the time of Christ’s arrest. Nowadays the olive grove is within the walls of the Church of the Agony.</p><p>Not far from Jerusalem is the Dead Sea. We left the city early in the morning, heading for the ruins of the ancient settlement of Qumran, site of the original discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This was where the Essene sect was based and the cave where the first scrolls were discovered can be clearly seen.</p><p>Further on we came to the Dead Sea resort where we had time for a dip in the saltiest sea in the world. Walking down into its warm waters is a strange, almost eery sensation. The minerals dissolved in the Dead Sea makes the water far denser than fresh water and it gives the body a buoyancy that you won’t experience anywhere else. As you walk, your legs want to float up towards the surface and you have to make quite an effort to keep them underwater. The effect is like wading through a half-set jelly. When you float your body lies much higher above the surface than in fresh water.</p><p>Any cuts or abrasions on your body start to sting after a while, and you must not put your head underwater at any costs. The effect of the water on your eyes can be painful, if not downright dangerous. When you climb out of the water a fresh water shower is an absolute must to wash all the residue off. Afterwards, when you have dried off and dressed again your skin feels as smooth as silk. Altogether a remarkable experience.</p><p>We had lunch at the resort and then drove down to Masada, an area I had been keen to visit ever since learning of the events there in my reading of Roman history. Masada is a plateau atop a butte that stands 1300 feet above the surrounding desert. Herod the Great had a palace built atop this great pillar of rock as a refuge in the event of a revolt against his rule. After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem a group of Jewish rebels took refuge on the peak and were subsequently besieged by the Roman army. There were 960 Jewish rebels living on Masada and after a prolonged siege the Romans finally decided that the only way they could break into the fortress was by building a ramp to allow the legionnaires to attack the gates erected by the rebels. This was an enormous feat of engineering and the ramp is still there to this day, 2000 years after it was built.</p><p>Imagine the feeling of the Israelites as they watched the ramp advancing to their level. They had wives and children with them and knew that their treatment at the hands of the Romans would be harsh indeed. Finally, after several months, the Romans were able to set foot on the plateau, to be faced with a heavy wooden gate they had to break through. They settled for lighting a fire at the base of the gates and letting it burn all night. In the morning the gates were burnt to the ground and the legionnaires stormed into the interior. What they found still reverberates through Israeli life to this day. Every Israeli soldier takes an oath on Masada as part of his or her induction ceremonies.</p><p>All the rebels were dead. Each one had killed his own family and then in turn they killed each other. The last man left alive committed suicide. The Jewish faith forbids suicide, as does the Catholic church, and this was their way of keeping the suicides to a minimum.</p><p>When we arrived at the base of Masada we stood staring up at the great pinnacle of rock. To imagine yourself as a Roman having to attack their enemies sited on top of this great natural fortress makes one realize the daunting nature of their task.</p><p>We were advised that as it was Friday afternoon and the Sabbath began around 4 o’clock, we would be able to take the cable car to the top, but that it would cease running before we had time to get down so we had the choice, make the climb down on foot, or stay at the bottom. As Masada was one of my absolute must-sees my wife and I chose to go up and come down the hard way.</p><p>From the top you can look down onto the desert floor, 1300 feet below, and clearly see the outlines of the Romans’ camps, still there today. The roads they built to bring water to the besieging troops are as plain as the day they were built. The remains of Herod’s palaces are impressive but they are overshadowed by the events that happened when the Zealots took refuge there.</p><p>We clambered down the Snake Path, so-called because of the way it snakes down the face of Masada, turning back and forth until you arrive, pretty well puffed, at the base of the gigantic rock.</p><p>On the way back to Jerusalem Moshe pointed out a geological feature of a pillar of rock. This, he told us, was the pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was transformed because she turned around to watch the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.</p><p>There are many memories of surprising moments during our time in Israel – Moshe stopping our little bus and pointing to one side of the road, “There,” he told us, “stood the Philistines.” He pointed in the opposite direction, “And here stood the Israelites. There stood David and over there stood Goliath.” I was astonished that we had stopped in the Valley of Elah. There was no sign telling travellers what this significant area was. It was just a shallow valley crossed by a narrow road.</p><p>Another was a scale model of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Temple, every detail researched and perfected. Next to it is a souvenir shop which bears the sign, “The Holy Shop – a new bargain every day.”</p><p>In Jerusalem we visited the Dome of the Rock, a mosque built on one of the holiest sites in Islam – the rock from which Mohammed ascended to heaven, accompanied by the angel Gabriel. Women visitors must cover their heads and wear modest clothing. Men and women must remove their shoes before entering.</p><p>On another occasion we viewed Jericho from a distance. It’s an Arab town and it wouldn’t be wise to take a busload of tourists through the town. Where we stopped to view the vast numbers of date palms in and around Jericho was a stone tower, believed to be the oldest human-built structure on earth, over 9000 years old.</p><p>At the end of the week we were exhausted but exhilarated. We were impressed by the vitality of the Israelis and their achievements. Would we return to Israel? Like a shot!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BillB, post: 78959, member: 9985"] In Jerusalem we were following the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, the route taken by Jesus Christ to the place of his crucifixion after his condemnation. We visited the courtyard where he was tried and sentenced by Pontius Pilate. It’s smaller than one would have thought, but then that’s typical of so much in Israel. As Moshe remarked on our first meeting that the main thing to bear in mind is that Israel is a small country with a large history. How true his words are. The Via Dolorosa that modern day visitors traverse is now around a metre higher than the original. Digging in certain places has uncovered the actual stones trodden by Christ. As it is now, the way winds through the Arab areas where stalls are set out selling mostly fruit, vegetables and other foodstuffs. At one point Ian, the 747 pilot and I managed to get separated from the rest of the group. I could see them up ahead, moving on faster than we could move. In front of me was a man in a leather jacket who was managing to block the entire path, which was narrow enough as it was. Try as I might I couldn’t seem to get past him until suddenly Ian said, “There’s someone trying to get into my back pocket.” We both spun round but there seemed to be nobody obvious behind us. And magically the human roadblock in front of me had also magically vanished. Were we the victims of an Arab Fagin, teaching his pupils how to pick a pocket or two? He was certainly cleverly slowing everybody down so that his accomplice had more time to dive into a victim’s pocket. The walk of the Via Dolorosa brought us to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre where Christian teaching tells us was the site of Calvary, also called Golgotha, where the crucifixion took place. Golgotha means “skull” and it is from this that we get the word “Calvary”, from the Latin root “calva”. Inside the Sepulchre is a rocky knoll with three holes cut out of the solid rock which, we were told, are the holes where the bases of the three crosses were placed. But there is another candidate for the crucifixion site – discovered by no less a person than General Gordon, Gordon of Khartoum. Gordon was known to be a man of strong religious beliefs and he was in Jerusalem and looking out of his window he noticed that the hill across the way looked just like a skull. Intrigued, he investigated further and came to the conclusion that this was the real Golgotha. There is even a stone tomb nearby which fits the description of Jesus’s tomb given in the Scriptures. At the base of the hill there now stands a bus station so visitors have a clear view of the hill. Indeed, it does look like a skull, with a forehead, eyes and a nose. The question that came immediately to my mind was, would the Romans have gone to the trouble to cut three holes in solid rock, a laborious task given the technology available to them at the time, for the execution of what to them were three insignificant criminals? That evening Ian mentioned that he intended to visit the King David Hotel, which had been heavily damaged by a bomb placed by the Zionist underground movement, the Irgun, in their struggle for independence between the end of WW2 and the declaration of the creation of the state of Israel. The King David housed the headquarters the British Forces in Palestine and the Secretariat of the Government of Palestine. I can remember the newspaper headlines when this took place, although I was only nine years old. I wanted to visit the place myself so the three of us set off after dinner that evening. According to the map it wasn’t far from our hotel but we still managed to get lost. Finally, we asked a passing lady on an empty street where we could find the hotel. She very pleasantly gave us clear directions and just as she went to walk on she stopped, turned back and said, “It’s so nice to see you here.” That’s the first time I’ve experienced something like that. Also in Jerusalem, at the foot of the Mount of Olives and facing the eastern wall of the Old City, is the Garden of Gethsemane. The olive trees are huge, gnarled and could well have been saplings at the time of Christ’s arrest. Nowadays the olive grove is within the walls of the Church of the Agony. Not far from Jerusalem is the Dead Sea. We left the city early in the morning, heading for the ruins of the ancient settlement of Qumran, site of the original discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This was where the Essene sect was based and the cave where the first scrolls were discovered can be clearly seen. Further on we came to the Dead Sea resort where we had time for a dip in the saltiest sea in the world. Walking down into its warm waters is a strange, almost eery sensation. The minerals dissolved in the Dead Sea makes the water far denser than fresh water and it gives the body a buoyancy that you won’t experience anywhere else. As you walk, your legs want to float up towards the surface and you have to make quite an effort to keep them underwater. The effect is like wading through a half-set jelly. When you float your body lies much higher above the surface than in fresh water. Any cuts or abrasions on your body start to sting after a while, and you must not put your head underwater at any costs. The effect of the water on your eyes can be painful, if not downright dangerous. When you climb out of the water a fresh water shower is an absolute must to wash all the residue off. Afterwards, when you have dried off and dressed again your skin feels as smooth as silk. Altogether a remarkable experience. We had lunch at the resort and then drove down to Masada, an area I had been keen to visit ever since learning of the events there in my reading of Roman history. Masada is a plateau atop a butte that stands 1300 feet above the surrounding desert. Herod the Great had a palace built atop this great pillar of rock as a refuge in the event of a revolt against his rule. After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem a group of Jewish rebels took refuge on the peak and were subsequently besieged by the Roman army. There were 960 Jewish rebels living on Masada and after a prolonged siege the Romans finally decided that the only way they could break into the fortress was by building a ramp to allow the legionnaires to attack the gates erected by the rebels. This was an enormous feat of engineering and the ramp is still there to this day, 2000 years after it was built. Imagine the feeling of the Israelites as they watched the ramp advancing to their level. They had wives and children with them and knew that their treatment at the hands of the Romans would be harsh indeed. Finally, after several months, the Romans were able to set foot on the plateau, to be faced with a heavy wooden gate they had to break through. They settled for lighting a fire at the base of the gates and letting it burn all night. In the morning the gates were burnt to the ground and the legionnaires stormed into the interior. What they found still reverberates through Israeli life to this day. Every Israeli soldier takes an oath on Masada as part of his or her induction ceremonies. All the rebels were dead. Each one had killed his own family and then in turn they killed each other. The last man left alive committed suicide. The Jewish faith forbids suicide, as does the Catholic church, and this was their way of keeping the suicides to a minimum. When we arrived at the base of Masada we stood staring up at the great pinnacle of rock. To imagine yourself as a Roman having to attack their enemies sited on top of this great natural fortress makes one realize the daunting nature of their task. We were advised that as it was Friday afternoon and the Sabbath began around 4 o’clock, we would be able to take the cable car to the top, but that it would cease running before we had time to get down so we had the choice, make the climb down on foot, or stay at the bottom. As Masada was one of my absolute must-sees my wife and I chose to go up and come down the hard way. From the top you can look down onto the desert floor, 1300 feet below, and clearly see the outlines of the Romans’ camps, still there today. The roads they built to bring water to the besieging troops are as plain as the day they were built. The remains of Herod’s palaces are impressive but they are overshadowed by the events that happened when the Zealots took refuge there. We clambered down the Snake Path, so-called because of the way it snakes down the face of Masada, turning back and forth until you arrive, pretty well puffed, at the base of the gigantic rock. On the way back to Jerusalem Moshe pointed out a geological feature of a pillar of rock. This, he told us, was the pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was transformed because she turned around to watch the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. There are many memories of surprising moments during our time in Israel – Moshe stopping our little bus and pointing to one side of the road, “There,” he told us, “stood the Philistines.” He pointed in the opposite direction, “And here stood the Israelites. There stood David and over there stood Goliath.” I was astonished that we had stopped in the Valley of Elah. There was no sign telling travellers what this significant area was. It was just a shallow valley crossed by a narrow road. Another was a scale model of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Temple, every detail researched and perfected. Next to it is a souvenir shop which bears the sign, “The Holy Shop – a new bargain every day.” In Jerusalem we visited the Dome of the Rock, a mosque built on one of the holiest sites in Islam – the rock from which Mohammed ascended to heaven, accompanied by the angel Gabriel. Women visitors must cover their heads and wear modest clothing. Men and women must remove their shoes before entering. On another occasion we viewed Jericho from a distance. It’s an Arab town and it wouldn’t be wise to take a busload of tourists through the town. Where we stopped to view the vast numbers of date palms in and around Jericho was a stone tower, believed to be the oldest human-built structure on earth, over 9000 years old. At the end of the week we were exhausted but exhilarated. We were impressed by the vitality of the Israelis and their achievements. Would we return to Israel? Like a shot! [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post Reply
Home
Forums
Off-Topic
General Chat
Bill's Travels
Top
Bottom
Find support, ask questions and share your experiences. Ad free.
Join the community »
This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn More.…