Ely

COMING SOON

Cambridge

COMING SOON

Bethlehem

I was only in Bethlehem for a short time and I never really got out of the car. I got fleeced by an Israeli couple who ended up making 500 shekels off me. The original offer was 400 to get me to Tel Aviv where I would spend the day, and then they would drop me off at the airport. That would have been worth it. Then he basically insisted on taking me to Bethlehem (because I'm American and therefore a devout Christian) spouting a lot of nonsense about how he was one of the only ones who could get me through. While it is true that you can't pass through on foot, getting there is not as difficult as he made out. Certainly not for a white American who just screams tourist. After getting there (and not stopping since he said it was too busy for me to get into any of the churches) we went back where I found that the price had doubled. Doubled for a ten minute stop over! I was utterly disgusted. I had to say to screw Tel Aviv and just have them drop me off at the airport for 500 shekels. Worse than that he wanted me to be happy about it. I was sitting in the back seat fuming quietly and he told me to be friendly because I got a great deal. I can handle being fleeced, but I draw the line at having people tell me I should be thankful for it. I may have gotten ripped off in Jordan but at least there it was only business. I wasn't expected to like it. Which made this an absolutely rotten end to an excellent trip.

Acre

COMING SOON

weew

Nazareth

COMING SOON
After all the wonderful places I have been Nazareth was a huge disappointment. There is really nothing there worth seeing. I'd have been better off going to Tiberias and seeing the Sea of Galilee.

Jericho

Jericho is possibly the oldest city in the world, having been inhabited since around 9500 BC. That's a long time! It's also probably the lowest city on Earth, being about 800 feet below sea level. It's still an important place too, being not very far from the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge Crossing into Jordan. It's the largest city in this part of the West Bank and even gets its own governate. Despite that, the city's not really the nicest place to visit. It's a bit of a rough town and when I visited there was some sort of curfew in effect. There are however some very nice places nearby, including the ancient city itself.

The Dead Sea

COMING SOON

Masada

COMING SOON

Qumran

COMING SOON

Jerusalem

COMING SOON

Jerusalem is amazing. Full stop. I think that it is the single most amazing place that I have ever been. It certainly gives Petra a run for its money. While Petra is all about the glory of the desert and the abandoned monuments, Jerusalem is very much a living city. There is nowhere I've been that can compare to it. And I got to spend most of a week there. Yes!

Petra

 

 What can I say about Petra? Everyone must go there. It is likely the most beautiful place on the planet. It says a lot that once you get past the flashy stuff at the beginning it still finds ways to impress. For those who don't know this is where they filmed the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It was the resting place of the Holy Grail at the end of the Canyon of the Crescent Moon. There's a reason they used this site. It is the most impressive entrance that one can get to a city. More on that when I get there.

The King's Highway

There's not much to say about the King's Highway except 'Wow.' It goes through one of the most beautiful stretches of country I've ever seen. I understand that the portion north of Al-Karak is even more impressive since it has the Dead Sea. At any rate there is nothing along this road except for fantastic desert scenery and the occasional small town or farm. Until you get further south you don't run across any junctions or roads going East to hook up with the main highway. You just have this one little road winding through nowhere.

This stretch of road goes back for centuries. Back before cars when flat terrain was valued less than a supply of fresh water this was the main trade route through Jordan. It was certainly around at the time of the Crusades since Kerak was located where it was in order to control the trade. The Bedouin still travel this route with their sheep and caravans, although they avoid the road. We saw several groups of them as we rode through. One group even waved at us. Speaking of Bedouin I'm told by one of my taxi drivers that they're terrible with cars. Apparently they think that driving a car is like riding a camel and can never get used to the speed. Florida has its little old ladies, California has its teenagers, and Jordan has its Bedouin.

Kerak

Ah Al-Karak. It's a small city now but back in the day it used to be nothing but a Crusader castle on a hill. It used to be the home of Reynald de Châtillon, Lord of Outrejordain, who royally pissed Saladin off by raiding a convoy and contributed to the fall of the kingdom of Jerusalem. If you've seen Kingdom of Heaven you may remember this castle from that. In that movie they turned this:

 Into this:

As with everywhere else in that movie the castle had to be flat and lifeless while the real Kerak is on a hill surrounded by many other hills. Al-Karak (the name of the modern town) is the capital of the Karak Governorate and is located about halfway between Amman and Petra. It seemed like a logical place to stop since I knew the castle was supposed to be nice and I needed to get to Petra. The guidebook recommended I not do that and the guidebook was right. Unless you're driving it's probably best to go straight to Petra if you're on a tight schedule. Getting a ride to Petra turned out to be impossible. During the summer that might not be true, but I was there in January and there weren't enough people wanting to go to justify a servee. More on that later.