Day Six: April 14, 2006 (Good Friday): Israel Trip
Kinnerett
Well, so much for plans-we went to Kinnerett after realizing that the Galilee Experience movie wouldn't be showing and that no internet café had internet access (go figure?). The service here seems just as lacking as in Europe. At the baptismal site I got a brief look at the Jordan's emerald green water before being attacked by a gnat plague-I don't know if it was my green shirt or the smell of my body lotion. Dieter said it must be spiritual attack-yeah-I thought, "Beelzebub" (another name for Satan actually means "Lord of the Flies). So he went and watched some Asians being baptized while I spent all our money in the gift shop. After that we set off for Cana and Nazareth.
Cana and Nazareth
Around where Cana is, the signs stop. So for some reason we missed the Cana turn off completely. O well, we thought and went on to Nazareth. Talk about a crazy city!! We felt like we were thrown into another Arab country, not Israel. Dieter parked and we went into an Arab café. There were only Arab men there-all smoking their water pipes (not to be confused with drainage pipes). It smelled really sweet (not like drainage pipes) and was interesting to watch. I was a bit freaked by all the Arab men staring at me-Dieter, Mr Sensitve, didn't notice and couldn't understand what my problem was. Luckily the waiter spoke great English, and we had one of the best espressos we've ever had. We then walked toward all the sights. On the way we caught a glimpse and heard a Muslim priest leading every one in mid-day prayers. I found it quite eerie. We tried to get a room at a convent up the road from the make shift outdoor mosque where they were all bowing towards Mecca on their little rugs. The French nun there said they were closed (it's Good Friday of course you're closed, thank you!). I fought back tears because it looked like the room search was going to be crazy again. In a huff I booked it up the hill not interested in all the churches commemorating where the angle spoke to Mary or where Mary and Joseph lived with Jesus (how do they know that!!). I finally found a bench and plopped down on it wanting to cry. I proceeded to pull out the travel guide and tell Dieter that the only things worth seeing here were the baklava bakery and the Nazareth Village (a village built by born again christians with the help of scholars and scientists that help you experience Nazaretha s it was in Jesus' times). We stopped for the baklava which Dieter absolutley LOVED (he'd never tried it before). Thank God they sell it in the Turkish quarter in Mannheim-so he can have it whenever he wants.
Nazareth Village and Hotel Hunt
Then we moved on to Nazareth Village-when we got there we'd just missed the last tour (this day was just not going my way!)-but a nice lady gave us a discount and rushed us on to finish the tour with German Brethren (we think) Christians from Darmstadt (go figure!)... She first quickly showed us what we'd missed and then rushed us off to the oil press where the tour was in session. On the way we were met by a white baby donkey that wanted to be petted. Soooo cute!!! We then got to see the oil press, the carpenter's workshop and how they dyed, wove and spun wool back then....all shown by people in the native dress of that time. We got to see a synagogue and what the roofs of the houses looked like (like the one destroyed in the story of the paralyzed man whose friends let him down through a roof so he could be healed). As a goodbye present we all got little clay lamps. It was a really neat tour-all of it run by born again christians. Adter that we got lost driving around the very NARROW streets of Nazareth looking for a place to stay. It was crazy but we found a beautiful place, quiet, overlooking the whol city....just in time to heart the Muslims nightly prayers being broadcasted over loadspeakers throughout the whole city (Nazareth is 70% Muslim, 30% Christian). I am hoping for a sightseeing rest tomorrow...maybe we just browse the town and sleep in...check out the Arab market and enjoy the smells (every street you go down here smells of Arab spices.-that's really cool! Sooo...as God promised we've got a roof over our heads and better matresses than last night-hopefully no aches and pains in the morning and a good breakfast (maybe with leavened bread cause this isn't a Jewish city??-we'll hope:-).
Well, so much for plans-we went to Kinnerett after realizing that the Galilee Experience movie wouldn't be showing and that no internet café had internet access (go figure?). The service here seems just as lacking as in Europe. At the baptismal site I got a brief look at the Jordan's emerald green water before being attacked by a gnat plague-I don't know if it was my green shirt or the smell of my body lotion. Dieter said it must be spiritual attack-yeah-I thought, "Beelzebub" (another name for Satan actually means "Lord of the Flies). So he went and watched some Asians being baptized while I spent all our money in the gift shop. After that we set off for Cana and Nazareth.
Cana and Nazareth
Around where Cana is, the signs stop. So for some reason we missed the Cana turn off completely. O well, we thought and went on to Nazareth. Talk about a crazy city!! We felt like we were thrown into another Arab country, not Israel. Dieter parked and we went into an Arab café. There were only Arab men there-all smoking their water pipes (not to be confused with drainage pipes). It smelled really sweet (not like drainage pipes) and was interesting to watch. I was a bit freaked by all the Arab men staring at me-Dieter, Mr Sensitve, didn't notice and couldn't understand what my problem was. Luckily the waiter spoke great English, and we had one of the best espressos we've ever had. We then walked toward all the sights. On the way we caught a glimpse and heard a Muslim priest leading every one in mid-day prayers. I found it quite eerie. We tried to get a room at a convent up the road from the make shift outdoor mosque where they were all bowing towards Mecca on their little rugs. The French nun there said they were closed (it's Good Friday of course you're closed, thank you!). I fought back tears because it looked like the room search was going to be crazy again. In a huff I booked it up the hill not interested in all the churches commemorating where the angle spoke to Mary or where Mary and Joseph lived with Jesus (how do they know that!!). I finally found a bench and plopped down on it wanting to cry. I proceeded to pull out the travel guide and tell Dieter that the only things worth seeing here were the baklava bakery and the Nazareth Village (a village built by born again christians with the help of scholars and scientists that help you experience Nazaretha s it was in Jesus' times). We stopped for the baklava which Dieter absolutley LOVED (he'd never tried it before). Thank God they sell it in the Turkish quarter in Mannheim-so he can have it whenever he wants.
Nazareth Village and Hotel Hunt
Then we moved on to Nazareth Village-when we got there we'd just missed the last tour (this day was just not going my way!)-but a nice lady gave us a discount and rushed us on to finish the tour with German Brethren (we think) Christians from Darmstadt (go figure!)... She first quickly showed us what we'd missed and then rushed us off to the oil press where the tour was in session. On the way we were met by a white baby donkey that wanted to be petted. Soooo cute!!! We then got to see the oil press, the carpenter's workshop and how they dyed, wove and spun wool back then....all shown by people in the native dress of that time. We got to see a synagogue and what the roofs of the houses looked like (like the one destroyed in the story of the paralyzed man whose friends let him down through a roof so he could be healed). As a goodbye present we all got little clay lamps. It was a really neat tour-all of it run by born again christians. Adter that we got lost driving around the very NARROW streets of Nazareth looking for a place to stay. It was crazy but we found a beautiful place, quiet, overlooking the whol city....just in time to heart the Muslims nightly prayers being broadcasted over loadspeakers throughout the whole city (Nazareth is 70% Muslim, 30% Christian). I am hoping for a sightseeing rest tomorrow...maybe we just browse the town and sleep in...check out the Arab market and enjoy the smells (every street you go down here smells of Arab spices.-that's really cool! Sooo...as God promised we've got a roof over our heads and better matresses than last night-hopefully no aches and pains in the morning and a good breakfast (maybe with leavened bread cause this isn't a Jewish city??-we'll hope:-).
posted by Hannah's Music at 3:27 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home