Back to Israel and Palestine with just the ladies

About a month after our spring break trip, I ended up with a unique opportunity to go back with three dear girlfriends from the Bay Area.  Jake gave the thumbs up a while back that he would be in town to help look after the girls, so I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and go for it.  I don't think I had taken a week long trip without Jake and without the girls since my friend Leslie and I traipsed around Kenya back in 1999.

The three of us had a few video conference calls, divided and conquered the logistics and off we went.   Betsy was the fireball of us all and did more of the heavy lifting in terms of planning - thanks, Betsy!  They all flew from SF to Newark and then caught a direct flight to Tel Aviv.  Even though I'm only a 4-ish hour flight away, there aren't direct flights from here.  To arrive around the same time, I ended up taking a 2 a.m. flight to Istanbul and changing planes there.  2 a.m. flights are much easier without the family in tow!

Betsy, Laney and Sandra had the rental car all ready by the time I came out of the airport and off we went.  First stop was Tel Aviv to a very hip market/ restaurant that was crawling with people clearly not too concerned about preparing for Shabbat just yet - this was mid to late Friday afternoon when most shops were already closed - so clearly a happening spot for the less religiously inclined (they even had, gasp, prosciutto there!).  We loaded up on lots of yummy food for dinner that night and breakfast for our vacation rental for the next two nights.

Onward to our first accommodation - unfortunately, it sounded better in the VRBO ad than in looked in person.  In fact the discrepancy was so vast that we called the owner in Switzerland, told him how the reality was different than what we thought were reasonable expectations based on his marketing.  Fortunately he agreed to wire us our money back.  Yay for Betsy for handing that phone call firmly but with a lot of grace.  We were glad to flee the house with clothes piled up everywhere, leftovers stuffed in the refrigerator and the not-so-clean bathrooms.  We said farewell to the "luxury villa with a pool and steps from the beach across the street from Benjamin Netanyahu's vacation home."  I can't verify the Natanyahu part but the beach was a veritable hike away and the pool unusable...  The joys of internet travel planning!

Of course, that meant it was now 5:00 or so in the evening and we still don't have a place to sleep (and the other ladies hadn't slept or showered in a long time as SF is quite the distance from Israel).  Even I took a red-eye through Istanbul to arrive around the same time - so we were all due for showers and rest. We all turn on our roaming on our iphones, pull out our Fodor's and start searching for nearby hotels.  After stopping at a couple, doing a quick "look-see" and passing on some of the more "hostel-like", calling one that had a room for $700 (no thanks!), we finally end up with a highly adequate option with a lovely view to boot.  Since we had groceries for 3 days already, we put the microwaves (score!) and mini-fridges to work in our rooms.  Our picnic in our hotel room with the beautiful view of the Mediterranean was just right.

The next day we were off to Akko (Acre, depending on where you read about it).  We planned to drop off our luggage (and still lots of groceries!) at our next hotel and then head back out to the Nazareth/ Galilee area.  But after our many, many misadventures in finding this hotel (it was nestled in the oldest of the "Old City").  These misadventures definitely included "streets" that were about the width of our rental car plus an inch on each side and may or may not have included a disabled man named Abraham who got in our rental car with us to show us the "way..."  We weren't sure Abraham was getting us any closer to the hotel than we were before and we definitely didn't like his yelling, GO! GO! GO!" to Sandra at the top of his lungs.  Fortunately we had our cool-as-a-cucumber doctor behind the wheel at this point who never broke a sweat during the near brush with city walls or when being yelled out (loudly) by a stranger on crutches sitting behind you.  The guy at the hotel finally came and found *us* since we clearly weren't finding *them* and yelled, "No! No! when Betsy explained that had helpful Abraham in our car "helping" us.  In our defense, there was a big religious festival about to start and there was a massive influx of cars and people into the Old City.  After all that work (and crazy traffic for the festival), we decided to modify our itinerary (again!) and check out Akko for the rest of the day.  We loved the charming streets (much more charming without a car), the Turkish markets, beautiful old buildings, friendly people.

Ok, I'm just looking at how much I've written and I'm only on Day 2 - so I'm going to rapidly speed it up.  Day 3: Nazareth and back in time for spa treatments so thoughtfully sent by our sweet husbands who were holding the home front down with a total of 12 kids between us all.  We were truly blown away by that gesture even though it was a sacrifice for them to send us out on this trip.

Day 4: Sea of Galilee and an amazing garden lunch at a farm with all fresh and farm made cheeses and vegetables.  Yum.  Then we dashed down to the southern part of Israel where we supposed to do a sunset camel trek but as usual things took longer than we expected.  We were just glad to arrive at Kfar Hanokdim by sunset.  We spent the night in a Jewish slash Bedouin oasis camp.  It was pretty empty while we were there but it looked like a fun place for a weekend outing with the kids and extended family and I'm sure it's busy on school holidays.

Day 5: Morning camel trek at the Bedouin camp/ oasis and then a late morning hike up Masada.  I went to Masada with the family the month prior but hiking up was much more rewarding than taking the cable car up!  After our hot hike, we hit a Dead Sea resort to cover ourselves with black Dead Sea mud and float like a cork in the super salty/ mineral-y water.

Next stop: Jerusalem!  We stayed in a much better Jerusalem apartment than we stayed in as a family the month before (this one was a VRBO WIN!).  It was brand new, modern, great location with a beautiful view of the Old City from our balcony.  Our first day in Jerusalem we spent nine very educational hours with a smart and funny Orthodox Jewish guide.  I think we were a bit overwhelming to him at first but it was a wonderful day.  It sounds like not many American Christian tourists know much about Judaism so we loved surprising him with our knowledge - especially Laney who has been to many Shabbat and Passover meals.

After saying good-bye to Ari, we took at taxi out to Yad Veshem which is a sobering holocaust museum outside the main part of the city.   It was brought closer to home after spending all day with Ari and hearing about his grandparent's experience during WW2.  We definitely could not visit this museum when we had the kids with us in our previous visit and I was thankful for the experience to do so on this trip.  Amazing and powerful museum.

Our second full day in Jerusalem, we sadly had to say good-bye to Betsy who needed to jaunt back to NY for a wedding.  And then we were three.  Betsy, Laney and Sandra did get up a early for one last Old City walkabout (while I slept in).  Betsy was our early bird of the group - she woke up early each day and had the lay of the land all figured out before we even stirred.  After we packed Betsy off in a taxi, the rest of us hit the markets for yummy foods and souvenir shopping.

Our final day in Jerusalem was another busy one.  We had a full day with a Palestinian Muslim guide who took us all over the West Bank.  We were a bit nervous as there were two Palestinians killed the previous day during the Nakba protests but our guide assured us he wouldn't take us anywhere unsafe.  And he was correct - we felt perfectly safe the whole time.  Another educational and eye-opening day for us.

We closed our trip by joining another young Orthodox Jewish family for their weekly Shabbat meal on Friday night.  We learned so much about how Orthodox families celebrate Shabbat and loved meeting the adorable young family that hosted us (they just had their first baby a few months prior and we got to help hold him during the meal).  The other guests at the meal ranged from non-Jewish tourists like us to Jewish tourists who wanted to celebrate Shabbat with others.  A warm, educational evening that we all loved.

Overall, nine days with dear girlfriends who I think make me a better person, wife and mom was a true gift.  I won't be doing this type of thing every year but I certainly deeply appreciate this trip we were able to take and hope we can do it again sometime down the road.  But we were also very, very glad to get back home to our sweet husbands who helped make this happen and all of our kids who did great while we were gone but who were certainly glad to see Mom back where she belongs!

So-ooo we might have gotten a little lost trying to find a shop in Tel Aviv with the annoyingly common name of "Delicatessen!"  Here is our ace navigator, Laney, ON IT.

 

The view we ended up with after our mad scramble for a hotel. Certainly not a bad place for a picnic with all the groceries we had (and no more kitchen!)

First night here!  Haifa hillside

The "streets" of Akko (and YES, Sandra did manage to fit that car into the tunnel up ahead)

The width of the street

Cool as a cucumber Driver Tsai on with hands at 10 and 2

Still cool under pressure even when, just like Frosty's traffic cop, Betsy yells "Stop!"

Ahhh - finally found our hotel and it ended up being such a great place for us.  Loved the Efendi Hotel!

City sights - gorgeous minaret on one of the local mosque in this diverse city of Christians, Muslims and Jews

The market!

Felafel!

Spices!

Someone's dinner!

Roman or Crusader ruins

We had fun watching these adrenalin junky boys jump off this wall.  Look at much the rocks stick out on the bottom (where the boys are standing) and how much further this kid needs to get away from the wall before he splats in the shallow.  I was *very* nervous watching them.

This guy jumped out plenty far to avoid the shallows - whew!

A diver...

with a single twist...

Who fortunately make it past the rocks

Pretty Sandra in front the sunset

Mother's Day gift (and a message that we took to mean "Relax and have a great time, things are under control here") from our husbands back at home holding down the fort with the littles

The four happy ladies enjoying the view, the sunset and the wine our hubbies sent us

An upstairs living room where we could visit (and actually get a wireless signal!)

An amazing balcony right near our rooms where we also spent many a happy minute

In fact, that's Laney and me - enjoying some of those relaxing moments

Daytime on the roof deck

Market shopping

In the tunnel under Akko

Peace car with donkey advice for all humans

 

On the seafront (Akko)

Off to Nazareth now

Wi-fi wasn't easy to come by so we found a hotspot outside our lunch spot in Nazareth and took full advantage of it (Laney clearly thought it was funny enough to take a photo of us all checking on our kiddos (or facebook or whatever!)

Nakba Day graffiti in Nazareth

We think the no guns, smoking, drinking or dogs should be doable.  Betsy is not quite so sure we can follow the 3rd rule.

View from the Beatitudes site

Sea of Galilee

It's a miracle - walking on water!

Our second miracle - Betsy is amazed at Sandra's super human strength and Laney's shrinking ability.  Silliness at the Sea of Galilee is surely encouraged????  We did move ourselves far to the other end of the beach area from other more contemplative folks

We got contemplative here as well and sat tossing pebbles into the water and talking for almost two hours.  This part is a favorite memory of mine.

Next stop: Amazing homemade cheese and vegetable lunch in a farm garden.  Check out all of these cheeses!

And all the vegetables.  This meal was amazing.

Our garden spot.

View of the West Bank wall on our drive to the southern part of Israel

Gorgeous view of Negev Desert

We were very, very happy to see the sign for Kfar Hanokdim.  We were in the middle of nowhere with no cellphone coverage a rapidly setting sun and no idea of what Plan B was if we couldn't find our camp! 

The camp - mostly empty but looks like a really fun spot for a family trip

View from breakfast

So-ooo Laney accidentally took an Ambian instead of her regular medicine.  Which taking a sleeping pill by accident isn't that terrible.  Except that it was 8 a.m. when she took it!  This is Betsy concocting some complicated coffee brew (it was like camp coffee where you let the grounds settle to the bottom) to keep Laney awake for the camel trek and Masada hike

Concoction not quite working yet....

View of the oasis camp from our trek

Fortunately Laney didn't fall asleep on our camel trek and fall off the camel. 

Ok, this guy was funny.  He attempted to entertain and shock the tourist in his little speech about life as a Bedouin.  He claimed to have three wives and implied they were all at his beck and call.  We ended up chatting afterwards and he told us he really lives in a high rise with his one wife and just goes all traditional for the tourists as that is what they prefer to hear!

Our tent!

Hiking up Masada!  In case you are tempted to try it, Laney claims that hiking up Masada after taking an Ambian feels remarkably like hiking through foggy water in slow motion.  She made it though!

Looking down onto the North Palace built on an outcropping of the mountain

All robed up and getting a ride from the Isrotel Spa down to the Dead Sea beach

Unlike in Jordan, the body mud wasn't free at the beach so I had to go back to the hotel gift shop to buy some while the others tried out the salty water

Ok, mud - check.

Another lovely contemplative moment as we bobbed peacefully in the Dead Sea

Jerusalem Ramparts Walk

First sighting of our great guide, Avi

Yummy sesame seed candy that we saw everywhere.  We loved it and all took some home

Wailing Wall

Temple Mount - nice view from a school.  A little boy (12-ish) took us up there and told us a lot of facts as he wants to be a tour guide someday.  He was adorable and I can't believe we didn't get a photo of him.

The pope is coming soon

Church of the Sepulchure

Before dinner drinks at the King David Hotel.  Look at that gorgeous hot chocolate - steamed milk with real chocolate shavings.  

Jewish sidewalk puppet humor and entertainment

A fabulous non-profit that gives elderly people meaningful work.  Many immigrate to Israel at an older age and may not have the support systems in place through their family.  We loved visiting the Lifeline for the Old (and bought lots of beautiful handmade souvenirs like hand painted scarves)

Metal working

Laney and a Jewish immigrant from Argentina.  Laney's speaks Spanish and it was clear this woman was so thrilled to be able to visit with Laney in her native tongue.  She is making ceramics.

Sandra getting her exercise at a local park

We all bought some of these yummy spices to put in rice.  I don't know what it's called but we're still eating ours and it is delicious.

Mount of Olives with view of Temple Mount in the background

The West Bank wall

Look how the wall wraps right around this house...

Church in Bethlehem - we were particularly taken with the CFC light bulbs (clearly environmentally friendly church!)

Looking at Jesus' birthplace involves a lot of crowds.  I was feeling quite claustrophobic - especially as there wasn't really a fire escape in the event of an emergency.  Not a lot of deep thoughts going on for me during that stop.

Bethlehem hilltop

Looking over the West Bank.  The orderly looking development in the upper right is one of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

A bit sobering - especially given the violence at the Nakba protests the day before.

View from our balcony lunch spot in Jericho in the West Bank.  Charming town square with a UN run school for the nearby refugee camp.

Downtown Jericho

Monastery perched on the hill above Jericho

Jericho is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world

Ramallah is the informal West Bank capital (I believe that like Israel, it claims Jerusalem as it's true capital).  Protest banners in the city.

Yasar Arafat's tomb

Given the violence at the protests the day before they had special forces all over the West Bank (particularly in Ramallah).  I wasn't able to photo most of them (I worried about taking photos of them and their armored cars as we drove by!). This soldier let us take his picture though.

Flags at the tomb at half mast to recognize the two deaths the day before

The Quakers run a Friends School in Ramallah.  Huh - who knew??

Here is a photo that was posted all over Ramallah of one of the boys killed the previous day

Ramallah is famous for its..... ice cream!  So we partook.

Sandra enjoying ice cream with our fearless leader for the day, Amin

Fatah Headquarters

Oracle's office in Ramallah.  Again, who knew??

We avoided the main checkpoint into Ramallah as there seemed to be some activity going on but fortunately our guide does some work for the British Embassy and has a diplomatic pass for using this special crossing.  Good news for us.

Smoke way off in the distance of another protest that we avoided