Mediterranean Ports of Call

I: Athens, Greece

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:52:04 -0800

(a) Athens

This is where our cruise started and ended. We had decided to come a day early to recover from the jet lag and booked a room in the Hotel Plaka which, as the name aptly implies, is located in the Plaka district. It should be easy to get there. Take the underground from the airport to Monasteraki or take the bus from the airport to Syntanga Square. The fare would have been around €12 for the two of us. In either case, it would have been just 2-3 blocks away from the hotel, obviating the need for a taxi. Taxis in Athens are notorious for fleecing the wary, the weary and the unwary tourist. Just look at my earlier chapter on Ελλαδα (Greece) in this website.

On the plane we received the discouraging news that in Athens both the underground, as well as the buses, were on strike that day. We could take the train, but that would have been a major hassle, including changing trains somewhere. So there was nothing left but taking a taxi. To our pleasant surprise, the local authorities had apparently reacted to the taxi problem. Now, there is a sign at the taxi stand that all trips to downtown Athens would only be €35. Which was actually quite inexpensive, because with the traffic jams it took the taxi driver 70-80 minutes to get us to our hotel in his fairly new Mercedes taxi. Compare that to the day before, where we paid $75 to get from our home to San Francisco airport, a 40 minute drive in a ramshackle 10 year old Buick. .

Hotel Plaka was a very nice 3-star hotel. Rooms were clean and small, but adequate. The elevator was small; the staff was very friendly, even though our Greek was limited. The breakfast they served was very good, with a large variety of dishes. We had asked for a quiet room high up and they gave us one on the 5th floor, with a good view of the Parthenon on the hill. On the 6th floor was the roof garden, with an even better view of the Parthenon. There you can order a beer from the upstairs bar, enjoy the Parthenon lit up in the dark, and allow your butts to freeze in the chill of the evening.

left: Graffiti is found extensively in the Plaka. A blank wall is an open invitation for self-expression and unasked for public adornment

The next morning we walked around the ancient agora and walked up the hill to get to the entrance to the Parthenon complex. We were told to be more careful because the crime rate was up. It seemed that there were fewer tourists around; also because it was the end of October and the tourist season had dwindled away.

right: there were not many tourists in the Ancient Agora.

People on the street looked unhappy. Unemployment in Greece has hit 16 %. Everybody was mad at the Government for a litany of reasons. The economic crisis was taking its toll. I suppose you would be even more mad if you were a German, seeing that they are the ones who have to bail out the Greeks..

Not all Greeks are in dire straits. Just like the opulent top 1 % in the USA, the Greeks also have a nice upper class sitting pretty. They don’t pay their taxes; they have never done it before and they know how to evade this pesky issue. There are the highly paid Government employees, who don’t do very much, but have negotiated cushy positions some time ago already. They are not going to let go of these perks. Some of them have jobs, which pay €70,000 /year, while a similar job in Germany pays only €50,000.1 They circumvent the problem by reporting the same monthly salary, but creating an additional 13th and 14th month paycheck per year. Nifty, eh. .

(b) Piraeus, Athens.

There is actually no easy way to get to the Piraeus cruise terminal from downtown Athens except by taxi. We could have taken the underground to Piraeus, but then it would have been still quite a distance to the vessel. And it looked like that there were many cruise ships docked in the harbor at that time at different cruise terminals. That would have created a problem just figuring out where we should be.

So we took a taxi again, the same guy who took us from the airport to our hotel. We agreed on a fare of €20 and he picked us up at the agreed time. it was worth it. With the heavy traffic it took him 30-40 minutes to get to the cruise terminal. It was no fun driving in Athens when we were there a few years ago, it was still no fun driving today, even though it was somebody else who did the driving. Also, I had lost my pen the day before, and I found it back on the seat in the taxi going to Piraeus. It was a good omen. The Dow was also up that day.

We rather liked the taxi driver, so we made arrangements for him to pick us up and drive us from the cruise terminal back to the airport at the end of the cruise. We agreed on a fare of €50, which was still less than what the cruise ship would have charged the two of us for this trip in their tour buses. And with the taxi, we were more flexible with the timing. He was there in time, when we stepped out of the terminal with our luggage. It was still a good hour’s driving to get to the airport, even though we went around the city to avoid the heavy traffic.

II: Greek Ports of Call

Thu, 8 Dec 2011 19:44:35 -0800

II: Greek Ports of Call

a: Visiting Santorini (Σαντορινη)

This is arguably one of the most beautiful islands in the Aegean Sea. At one time it was even known as Kalliste (Καλλιση). which translates to “The most beautiful one”. The official name of the island is Thera (Θηρα). It is one of the most southernmost islands of the Cycladic Islands.

We had spent a few days visiting in Santorini a couple of years ago, but the scenery remains as breath-taking as it was before. As your cruise ship sails into the lagoon, which is actually a caldera, you see the white houses way up high on the rim of this volcano, which blew out around 1450 BC. This explosion created this shimmering rectangular lagoon, about 7.5 by 4.3 miles. The cliffs are red, steep, and high, jutting out some 300 meters above the water.

left: View of Santorini from the water. The funicular is behind the rock wall on the left

There is still some mild volcanic activity in the area which has built two small islands within the caldera. The climate is dry and there is always sunshine, which makes for the perfect setting for marvelous photography. In addition, the local authorities impose strict architectural building codes on the island to maintain uniformity and harmony. It is the combination of these white houses, red cliffs, and the blue lagoon, that makes the setting so spectacular.

We were tendered in to the base of Fira, the largest town on the island. From there we had a choice of taking a donkey to go the 1000’ up the zig-zag trail to the town, walk and avoid the trail of donkey poo, or take the funicular. We opted for the latter, even though there was a long waiting line for the cable car. The fare was €6 one way.

right: Another view of Oia

As you would expect, Fira is your complete tourist town. Every building is a tourist shop, a bar/café/restaurant, or a hostel. Because of time constraints, we headed straight to the bus station to take the bus to Oia, which is the next-largest town on the island, and deemed to be the prettier of the two. Another reason is that the light in Oia is better in the morning, and in Fira the light is better in the afternoon.

One problem of traveling with a cruise ship is these ships disgorge hundreds and sometimes thousands of passengers in a short period of time So you a have a waiting line everywhere you go. In addition, you lose a lot of time to get ashore because of the limited tender capacity.

Once you are at your destination, you have to watch the time to get back, because it would not do to miss dinner and/or the ship. This is where staying on the island makes the big difference, because there is much less pressure, and you can amble around at your own snail’s pace.

left: A church in Oia.

The buses from Fira to Oia travel about every hour and a half, with fewer buses on the weekends. Consult the timetables. The fare is €1.60 one way and the buses are always full, with lots and lots of people standing in the aisles. I don’t even know whether they have a limit on the passengers they carry. One of these days I expect to see passengers stacked on top of each other in the bus like in those large shipping containers. There is also no organized queue to get into the buses. It is OK from Fira, which is where they start, but in Oia, you will only get a standing space if you don’t wait on the exactly right boarding place, when the bus stops.

Another good option is to rent a small car with manual transmission, which will cost you €25-30 + €7-10 insurance. You can then drive around the island and even stop at Selene for lunch or dinner. The food there is superb haute cuisine. Five years ago the two of us were there and shared two appetizers, one main dish and one dessert. With the wine, coffee, and tip our bill was €95, which was quite reasonable for what we enjoyed. You could also have come there for lunch with the tour organized by the ship, which will set you back $355/per person. It’s just money; nothing serious. You do not get a silver doggie bag to take the excess food home.

Like everybody else, we ambled through the tourist-shop flanked main pedestrian path through the city of Oia to almost the end. Then we stopped in a café for a cold beer and to make use of the bathroom, and we looked at the castle ruins below, where the last time we stood watching the sunset. But there was no time now. Like everybody else, we took lots of pictures. We went back to the bus station to go back to Fira.

The line for the funicular in Fira going down was very long, so Larry and Millie opted to just walk down, after being warned to watch out for the many piles of droppings from the donkeys on the road. By the time we got to the funicular and down, they were almost there too. We sniffed whether they had taken some souvenirs along. But no; they had missed all those piles of dung.

We were back in our ship shortly after, the sheltered cocoon, a world apart, having our usual extensive dinner in the dining room.

right: a view of Fira

There are almost no public bathrooms in the Greek ports of call described here, so older people fear of possibly running into serious problems.

But you can go to any café or restaurant to use their restroom. The local laws apparently require them to be available for tourists without having them to purchase anything.

b: Visiting Rhodes (Ροδος)

Rhodes, the largest of the Dodecanese Islands, was famous even in antiquity because of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The history of Rhodes goes way back. The Minoans came to Rhodes in the 16th century BC. A few centuries later the island was occupied by the Persians, then by the Greeks from Athens. Then it became part of the empire of Alexander the Great. In 305 BC, Demetrius, son of Antigonus, besieged Rhodes with huge siege engines, including an 180 ft battering ram and a siege tower weighing 360,000 pounds. The first siege tower was mounted on 6 ships. It capsized in a storm. The second was land based, but the defenders in Rhodes flooded the plain. The structure bogged down. Then Ptolemy arrived with a couple of warships to relieve the city. So Demetrius had to abandon the siege, leaving behind a huge supply of military equipment. The defenders of Rhodes sold this windfall and used the funds to build the Colossus, a statue of the sun god, Helios.

The giant bronze statue was built straddling the entrance of the harbor and was completed in 280 BC. It was 107 feet high, but it was unfortunately destroyed in a major earthquake in 224 BC. The remains laid on the ground for 800 years before it was sold to a merchant in Edessa. He needed 900 camels to transport the bronze scrap to his home.

left: View of Rhodes from cruise ship. You can see the walls of the Old City.

The Romans came, then the Muslim forces overran the place is 672. It was recaptured and became part of the Byzantine empire. Then it fell to Suleiman the Magnficent, and for four centuries it was part of the Ottoman empire. Then Italy seized control; but in 1947, the island was reunited with Greece.

With its rich history, visiting Rhodes is very interesting. The island has many attractive historical sites. I will cover only two; the Acropolis of Lindos and Rhodes Old Town.

right: Part of the restored acropolis and theater in Lindos

Even if you have only one day available, it is still possible to do both reasonably well. In the early morning take a taxi from the cruise terminal to Lindos to view the Acropolis and a bit of the town before going back. Taxi fare was €110 for the round trip. We failed to do this, but our friends Larry and Millie did this. This can be done in 4-5 hours. Then go to the Walled Old Town of Rhodes.

There are three harbors adjacent to each other on the north-east part of the island. From west to east; the small and ancient Mandraki harbor, with the entrance where the Colossus used to stand; the large commercial harbor, and the New Port harbor. The cruise ships usually are moored at the narrow pier separating the two latter harbors. As you disembark the ship, there is an entrance of the Old Walled city nearby, which is usually the Mylon Gate.

left: Norma and Millie at the Palace of the Knights of St. John in Rhodes Old Town

The medieval Old Town of the City of Rhodes is now a World Heritage Site; it is also apparently one of the most popular destinations in Europe. The economy of Rhodes is strongly dependent on tourism, so it is not unexpected to find tourist shops everywhere.

There are many interesting things to see, thousands years of history packed in this compressed area of the Medieval Old City. Do go to the Archeological Museum first, because they close at 3:00 p.m, the last visitor allowed inside is at 2:40 p.m. Also go to the Palace of the Knights of St. John, also known as the Palace of the Grand Master. They also close early. You can leave the shopping until the last, because the tourist shoppes will stay open as long as there are still cruise ship passengers sauntering around. And what you miss here, you’ll find at the next port of call.

right: Entrance to Mandraki Harbor.

At the end of the day, we walked out of the city, past the ruins of the Temple of Aphrodite, to the entrance of Mandraki Harbor. Two bronze deer statues mark the spot where the feet of the Colossus once stood.

Looking on the Greek Dodekanissa web, I found that the top 5 activities to do on Rhodes Island were listed as (a) sunbathing, (b) swimming, (c) snorkeling, (d) diving, and (e) surfing. I guess we missed all of them. Or, we were just in the wrong age category.

c: Kos (Κως)

On our flight back home, the lady next to us lived in New Jersey. Her parents, in their early sixties and of Greek descent, had gone back from the States to retire in Kos. So, Kos must be attractive and the weather must be good. Although, coming from New Jersey, it doesn’t take much to find a place with these requirements. Kos also does not have the Jersey Boys, and that may be another reason to flee to Kos.

If you are in Kos for the first time, you have to view the Asklepeion. An Asklepeion is a healing temple, sacred to the god Asclepius, the great healer. The famous Greek physician Hippocratus is said to have received his medical training at the Asklepeion in Kos. The Asklepeion is situated 4 km southeast of Kos, From the cruise ship the best way to get there is with the blue tourist mini-elephant train. After you disembark walk along the shore with the water on your left and the castle walls on the right until you get to the bus stop, around where the castle walls end. This is where the blue train starts..

This train leaves every hour on the hour, with the first train leaving at 10:00 a.m. so you can feel being a tourist even before you reach your destination. But this tourist contraption does not run every day, especially during the low season.

In that case you have to go with plan B, which is to take bus no. 3. The bus stop, where you were forlornly looking for the non-existent tourist train is also the beginning of the run of Bus 3, so the bus may wait here for a few more minutes. This bus will take you to about ½ mile from the Asklepeion. From this bus stop to the Asklepeion is about a 10-minute walk.

Be sure to ask the bus driver when he will be back, usually about 1 ½ hours later, which is enough time to walk to your destination, view the place, and walk back. This is also the least expensive way to get there, I think it is around 1.5 euro per person one way. If the bus is empty, the bus driver will make the detour and drop you off at the entrance of the site and then pick you up there again. Just give him a nice tip in that case. If you take the bus, you can also ask the driver to drop you off in the middle of the town close to the ruins of the Ancient Agora on the way back to have a look.

The Asklepeion in Kos dates from the first half of the 3rd century BC. There are three terraces. The lower terrace hold the ruins of presumably the medical school itself. There are remains of Roman baths, as well as porticoes of buildings for the patients and families.

left: Norma and Millie at the Temple of Apollo on the middle level of the Asklepeion

On the middle terrace are the oldest structures, with the ruins of an altar from the 4th century BC. There are some restored columns from the 2nd century BC Ionic Temple of Apollo, shown on the left.

On the top terrace are the minimal remains of the Doric temple of Asklepeion, dating from the 2nd century BC. There is a forest around the site, and from this location there is an excellent view of the town of Kos and the surrounding suburbs, with the port and the Aegean Sea in the distance. We can well imagine that the serene surroundings and the beautiful may have been beneficial for the patients. The basic tenets in those days for healing were good, clean water, plenty of fresh air, and a pleasing environment.

right: the top terrace of the Asklepion in Kos

Many posts in TripAdvisor will tell you that it is a steep and tiring climb to get to the third level of the Asklepion. It is indeed a steep staircase, but nothing compared to the stairs on the Mayan pyramids. I am 79 years old and I easily climbed this staircase in less than 2 minutes. You can really do the whole site on your own in less than an hour, or if you wish to spend more time, you can listen to tour guides spin long colorful stories, which may or may not be true.

If you take the bus back, there is a stop in the middle of the town close to the Ancient Agora. You can amble through the ruins before getting back to the ship.

left: View of the Ancient Agora

After taking the bus back to the starting point close to the castle walls, it is a short walk to the Tree of Hippocrates, an ancient plane tree where, according to legend, under its shade Hippocrates discoursed on the fine points of medicine with his chosen students.

The tree is not only old; it looks old. But not that old. Maybe 600 years old. It could be a descendant of the original tree, which allegedly stood here 2400 years ago. Metal structures give support to the creaky and hollow limbs; it is a sad-looking tree.

right: The tree of Hippocrates. To the left at the bottom of the picture is the big, now mostly hollow, main trunk. Younger branches sprout out from this trunk.

From there is a short walk over a small bridge into Nerutzia Castle, also known as the Castle of the Knights of St. John. Well, there is not much left of the castle, and the only operating building we saw was to house the public toilets. But you can walk around the castle grounds and on the solid ramparts of this fort.

left: Them main inner courtyard of Nerutzia Castle is used for storage of miscellaneous fragments from the original castle.

What is especially interesting and useful is that there is free internet in the open air on shore close to the cruise ship terminal. So you can take your laptop or ITouch or whatever, sit in the shade, and do your communication with the outside world, substantially cheaper than using the ship’s internet system.

Our ship was actually delayed at departure for a few minutes because of a missing crew member. He was on shore surfing the internet and forgot the time. Those must have been some very interesting websites he was looking at. He is not going to do this again, if he wants to keep his job.

III: Turkish Ports of Calls

Tue, 6 Dec 2011 22:03:45 -0800

III: Turkish Ports of Call

a: Visiting Kusadasi.

Visiting Kusadasi is a popular pursuit for cruise ships. The city has expanded substantially in recent years, mostly because of the tourist trade. In and around the town there are a number vacation resorts for longer-term stays, mostly frequented by Germans. As a cruise ship passenger, the main reason would be to go inland for a few miles to visit and admire the impressive ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus. This town is well known even in antiquity and is mentioned many times in the Bible.

As Larry, Millie, and the two of us walked out of the cruise terminal a man accosted us and asked us whether we would be interested in going to Ephesus in his taxi. We said: “Not really; but it depends on the price”. So he offered to drive the four of us to Ephesus and back for €80, payable only when he delivered us back to the cruise terminal. Times are hard. So we accepted his offer.

Taxis generally take you to the upper entrance of the archeological site, which is about a 25 minute drive from the cruise terminal over good paved highway roads. Entrance to the site costs 20 turkish liras, which you can pay with a credit card. At US$0.53 per NTL (New Turkish Lira) this would correspond to US$ 10.60. When we were in Turkey in 2002, the exchange rate was 1,360,000 liras for one US$. The Turkish economy has improved rapidly in the last decade. But Larry had the foresight to have some Turkish liras with him. A guide offered us his services for €40, but we declined.

It was the end of October and it was a beautiful, slightly overcast day with the temperature in the 70s. It felt like the San Francisco Bay Area. There were still many tourists around, but much less than half compared to when we were here some 10 years go. It was the end of the season, and the site is huge. So, with a little patience you can easily take pictures with few or no people around. At all the interesting locations there were signs where the site is described and explained in Turkish, English, and German. Skip the Turkish, it is a difficult language. But there are no directional signs so, if you want to see the brothel, which always seems to attract a lot of tourists, you have to ask.

In the 1st century BC, the town had a population of 250,000, which made it one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean. So the area covered by ruins is extensive.

left: partial view of the extensive ruins of Ephesus from the Water Palace, showing the remains of the Basilica in the middle distance on the left, and the Odeum theater in the far right.

In the Eastern Mediterranean, Ephesus has the largest number of Roman ruins; so far, only 15-20 % have been excavated. They are still excavating. So, if you come once every decade you will always see something new. Compared to our last visit there in 2002, there is now a large new section, called “Terrace Houses”, located opposite the Temple of Hadrian. This new exhibit shows reconstructions of buildings of the wealthier citizens, with wall paintings in still brilliant colors and intricate mosaic floors, all under a large protective roofing. They do charge extra for the visitor to go in. But if you have the time, it is probably worth the visit.

right: Memmius Monument, from the 1st century BC. Gaius Memmius was the grandson of dictator Sulla.

The sad remains of one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis, is also located here. There is almost nothing left of the Temple now; twelve of the main columns have been taken away and can now be viewed inside the Church of Aya Sophia in Istanbul.

With the hundreds of other tourists, we walked down Curetes Street, the main street once lined with shops and inns and in many sections covered with mosaics. The crowd took us to the most photographed site, the Library of Celsus, originally built in 125 AD, in memory of Mr. Celsus, obviously. The facade has been meticulously reconstructed. Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaenus served as Governor of Roman Asia in the Roman Empire. When he died, the 90,000 talents he left behind was used to design this library and which is also his tomb. At one time it had as many as 25,000 volumes.

Contrary to stories in some guidebooks, Cleopatra did not take these volumes to Alexandria. This would have been a miracle, because she lived more than a century earlier.

left: the mosaic-covered sidewalk of Curetes Street close to the area of the “Terrace Houses”

At the end of our visit, we walked on the Via Mare, which was the road to the harbor. The harbor used to be at the end of this street, but silting of the Meandros river has moved the sea some 7 kms out in the last 2000 years. On the Via Nare in the distance you can see the top of mountain where the apostle Paul was incarcerated for two years.

This street was lighted in the evenings with torches stuck in columns, the first public lighting in the evening. The torches were made from the nartex plant which, after drying, can burn as long as 5-6 hours.

In the current setup, halfway down this road you go to the right and a few hundred yards away is the exit of the archeological site. Just outside it are the taxi stands. Our taxi was expecting us 1 1/2 hours after he dropped us off, the average length of the time a visitor spends here.

At the point where this picture was taken 9 years ago we just happened to see a number of costumed actors reenacting a period of ancient Rome. There was a royal emperor trying his best to look like Marc Anthony, an imperious looking Cleopatra, trumpeting heralds, a motley collection of not too martially looking centurions, white-robed dancing temple girls, and fake gladiators fighting with wooden swords to the death (almost).

right: Theater on the road

The town was closely connected to early Christianity. The apostle Paul lived here between 52-54 AD. The Apostle John may have written his Gospel here.

Close by is the house of the Virgin Mary, believed to be the last home of Mary. Three recent popes have visited the church built over the house. For the record it should be stated that there is another place in Antioch and two other places in Jerusalem, who also claim this honor. These are important tourist destinations and beloved by the local economy; the one I visited in Jerusalem several years ago was, e.g., highly decorated.

The local authorities and the storekeepers in each of these places obviously maintain theirs is the one and only true place, heaping scorn and ridicule on the others. And please buy a souvenir, maybe several, to remember your visit and to help me feed my starving children..

The taxi man was waiting for us. He drove us to the church of St. Jean, close to the castle of St. Jean, just to take a few pictures. Then he drove us back to the terminal.

In the afternoon, I walked to Güvercin Ada (Pigeon Island), which is connected a the mainland by a long narrow strip of land, about 2 miles from the cruise terminal. There was an old Genoese fortress on the island, but it was closed and locked. It was not exactly a tourist venue.

left: Pigeon Island, as seen from the cruise ship.

Not too many tourists come here, obviously, Along this strip of land was the harbor of many gaily decorated tourist boats for day trips in the surrounding Aegean Sea. Even German tourists needed something else to do besides getting sunburn on the beaches.

right: Sightseeing pleasure boats with gaily waving Turkish flags in the harbor of Kusadasi, about 2 miles from the cruise ship terminal.

b: Antalya

left: The Fluted Minaret, the symbol of the city. This minaret, 38 meters high, was also at one time a Byzantine Church, later converted into a mosque.

Antalya is also a popular stop for cruise ships. It is a large metropolitan area with a population over a million. It was said that in the 2nd century BC, the Pergamon king Attalos II ordered his men to find “Heaven on Earth”. After a presumably extensive search his men came up with the city of Antalya, giving it the name of Attaleia (Ατταλεια). For the older male tourists, it is indeed heaven on earth because there are public toilets everywhere. It does cost 1 NTL (New Turkish Lira), which was about $0.56, to go inside to take care of business.

Our cruise ship moored quite a distance from old Antalya, but a free shuttle bus was provided to get us to Kaleici, the historical center and heart of the shopping district. By bus it was 25 minutes one way, so it was not practical to walk. And the merchants want to be sure you would come and visit them.

right: The Street of the Ironmongers. Beside utilitarian articles they also display metal sculptures for the tourists, some of them a bit too large to carry in a suitcase back home.

It was indeed quite a beautiful city, even with the surfeit of souvenir shops. But the markets were also carrying other interesting and more useful stuff for use by the local population. The picture above shows a street with mostly ironmongers.

With its often narrow streets, It is easy to lose your way downtown. And yet there were many car rental agencies there, I suppose for the discombobulated tourist who would like driving in circles in town.

left: Hadrian’s Gate.

We walked by Hadrian’s Gate, a triumphal gate with three arches, built in honor of the Roman emperor Hadrian on the occasion of his visit to this town in AD 130. The columns are Corinthian in style, with two or three rows of acanthus leaves on its lower and middle sections.

Legend has it that Sultan Belkis, the Queen of Saba, also passed below these arches on her way to visit king Solomon in Antalya. King Solomon, in an apocryphal story, was said to be more interested in how her legs looked like, so he had her walk on a glass floor when she came to see him. The queen, believing she was walking over water, lifted up her skirts. Whatever the outcome, Queen Belkis seemed to have enjoyed many happy days in the palace in Aspendos.

right: The Three Graces in the Antalya Museum of Archeology.

We visited the Antalya Museum about ten years ago. Not this time. They have a good collection of sculptures recovered from the city of Perge close by. But the best pieces are not there anymore. They are spread out in museums all over the world. The marble sculpture of the Three Graces shown on the right dates to the 2nd century and is still there.

People in those days often carry a container with olive oil with which to rub the bas-reliefs of gods and goddesses as a mark of piety. In the middle sculpture you can see that over the centuries the buttocks and the crease have been lovingly rubbed by generations of men, each and everyone of them brimming with piety; and barely concealed carnal desire.

left: They make very nice hand-painted colorful ceramic decorative plates, bowls, urns, etc.

The artisans in the area do a lot with earthenware. Besides the classical forms, some studios are experimenting with newer and more modern designs.

c: Perge and Aspendos.

Of the places on the outskirts of Antalya I just wanted to mention Perge and Aspendos, which we visited the last time we were here. The ancient city of Perge, about 12 miles outside Antalya had, at its apex, a population of around 120,000. It was destroyed in the 7th-8th century AD. Perge used to be an important harbor town, but the silting of the land was so rapid, that in a few centuries the water was several miles away from the town.

Close to Perge is the ancient city of Aspendos. The most striking relic is the huge and beautiful theater, commissioned by the emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-181 AD), The theater of Aspendos has almost perfect acoustics and was, until recently, used regularly for international concerts and festivals. Modern theater equipment caused damage during one of the performances. So no more performances there, said the Minister of Culture. With a diameter of 315 feet, it can seat 7,000.

right: The magnificent ruins of the Roman theater of Aspendos,

IV: Cyprus

Sun, 4 Dec 2011 22:58:05 -0800

IV: Visiting Cyprus

Paphos. (Παψσς).

Cyprus, now an independent republic, is a politically ,divided island. Power is hotly contested between Turkey (because the country is close to Turkey) and Greece, because the inhabitants are mostly Greek. The Republic of Cyprus is now the sole internationally recognized authority on the island. For practical purposes, however, they only control the south two/thirds of the island.

The Northern one-third, where the best beaches are, is the Turkish Republic of Cyprus, which is not recognized by anybody except by Turkey and Pakistan. They refer to the southern part of Cyprus as the “Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus”. Negotiations have been underway for reunification, border crossings have been relaxed, but they are still deadlocked on many points.

It is a volatile, murky, and explosive kettle of soup, not really conducive for visiting Cyprus.

Paphos is a coastal city in the southwest of Cyprus, where the population is predominantly Greek. The mythical birthplace of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, is close to Old Paphos. This is where she landed after she rose from the sea, covered only in foam of the sea. Old Paphos became young again when he saw her. Anyway, it became an important place for the worship of Aphrodite.

The apostle Paul of Tarsus visited the town in the first century AD, where it is said that he converted the governor, Sergius Paulus, to Christianity.

Today the economy of Paphos depends heavily on tourism. Our ship only stayed there for less than a day and, after pontificating against the use of tours organized by the cruise lines we decided, in the interest of time, to take the $49 special to visit the Unesco Heritage sites after all.

So, like a gaggle of ducks we trudged behind our transplanted and acerbic English guide all over a large archeological site to get to the Odeon, a small semicircular open-air heater with amazing acoustics, but otherwise small and quite pedestrian looking. From there we headed to where a large palace once stood, possibly that of Sergius Paulus.

Among the unearthed treasures in this area are a large number of impressive floor and wall mosaics, especially in the sites named the Houses of Dionysos, Theseus, and Aion.

right: A wall mosaic in the House of Dionysos

Many of these were very well preserved, even after sixteen centuries under the soil. You see these same mosaics in the ruins of Pompeii, engulfed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD, which is at about the same periods as when these mosaics were created.

left: Another example of the mosaics on the floor. This one is described as “The Triumphal Procession of Dionysos”

Our second stop was “The Tomb of the Kings”, which is an area where the wealthy citizens of the town were at one time interred in tombs, vaults and caves hewn out of the living rock.

left: A section of the Tombs of Kings. The top layer has been removed to better show the hallway and the inner chamber.

There were no kings buried there, just the plain rich one percent. The other 99% must have been buried somewhere else.

These tombs date to 0 - 350 AD. There was nothing left except the bare walls; tomb raiders must have had a great time cleaning up to supply musea worldwide.

The third stop was the village of Yeroskipou to visit the small church of Ayia Paraskevi. It was a nondescript building from the outside, but on the inside the walls were.covered with beautiful Christian murals dating to the 8th-15th century. No photography was allowed, but some sorry-looking postcards were available. You need Euros to get around here.

left: open-air restaurants at the wharf of Paphos.

At the end of the day we sauntered around the harbor enjoying the view and the bustle. Paphos Castle was nearby. There were lots of tourist shops, but there were also gemütliche open-air restaurants adjacent to the water with nice, soft chairs and benches to sit on. It reminded us of Nafplion.

right: It looks like they were serving scrumptious looking seafood. But watch out; fish can be very expensive.

At the end of the pier, race cars were being assembled and fine-tuned for the international single-day, single-stage Golden Stage rally, a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The rally was to be held the next day, which was November 6, 2011. With its twisting gravel roads, Cyprus makes a wonderful venue for rally car drivers. You can literally leave your competitors in the dust you generate in the hairpin curves.

The Škoda Fabia S2000 cars proved to be the best vehicles for this course. The seven Škodas In the field of 26 vehicles took the top six places with drivers from just as many countries. The seventh car took spot 8. The car pictured below, driven by the Swedes Sandell and Parmander, came in third. Mikkelsen, from Norway, won the meet in a similar car.

left: A Škoda Fabia S2000 being prepared for the 2011 International Cyprus Rally. Of the seven cars, these Škodas took the top 6 places in the rally.

right: And this is a Subaru Impreza Sti R4, also being prepared for the rally. This particular car came in as number 7, after the 6 Škoda Fabia S2000s. The driver was Japanese.

Some of these cars are left behind in Cyprus, so if male menopause makes you believe you have racing blood in your veins, you can get a used rally car for a few thousand euros. Of course, if you want to have a car which won a rally, the price goes up. The Subaru WRC 510, which won the Acropolis World Rally a decade ago, is priced at 215,000 euros. The Ford Focus WRC, used by McRae to win the 2001 Cyprus Rally, can be yours for 94,235 euros.

For comparison purposes, the “race car” I drive is a pedestrian 1982 Mazda Miata. I think I can get $500 for it, if I try to sell it.

> V: Israel, the Holy Land

> V: Israel, the Holy Land

V: Israel, the Holy Land

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 23:53:12 -0800

V: Israel, the Holy Land.

a: Traveling in Israel

Our ship was scheduled to stop for two days in Ashdod, from where we planned to visit Jerusalem, Masada, and the Dead Sea. The port of Ashdod is south of Tel Aviv and due west of Jerusalem. From Ashdod to Jerusalem is about 44 miles, which you can traverse in an hour; if you are lucky. In addition, the cruise itinerary showed one day in Haifa, from where we could visit the Sea of Galilee.

I had been in Israel in 1984, and there is a lot to see. Distances, even not very far, take a lot of time because of frequent heavy traffic. The best way to make use of the limited time to is to hire a private guide. For up to 4 people a guide with car will cost $500 - $600/day. Israel is a highly educated country and Israeli guides are all good. They have to pass strict examinations to show their knowledge on a wide variety of relevant subjects. That is the party line of what Israeli guides say of each other to the tourist.

On course these guides know more than you do; they can tell you what they want and omit things which they forgot, are difficult to explain, or for which there is no time. So, as long as he/she is very personable, you will think he/she is a good guide. You have to read up after your visit to establish whether the guide had covered everything correctly. Unless you are knowledgeable yourself, in which case you don’t need a guide.

If you have the time, you could certainly take public transportation, a good guide book, a sunny and optimistic deposition to do the same sights at significantly lower cost. We did not have that luxury. To save time, we planned to stay overnight in Jerusalem to avoid having to go back to the ship and come back the next day. We booked a room at the YMCA Three Arches hotel, located across the venerable 5-star King David Hotel, where dignitaries come and go, and where political disturbances may be expected to concentrate. Our room happened to be on the third floor facing the King David hotel. If something had happened that night, we would have a prime location to gawk and see. Nothing happened; aw shucks.

But something did happen the evening before we arrived in Israel. Israeli armed forces made an unannounced “visit” to sweep a hotbed camp in the West Bank, and the Palestinians retaliated by lobbing a dozen or so rockets into the area close to Ashdod, killing a person in the process. At 11 p.m. our captain announced that for safety reasons we would not berth in Ashdod, but we would go to Haifa instead, much more to the north.

This is what we would expect in Israel. Religious fervor and war.

right: Ethiopian clergy discussing the fine points of the Bible

For a tourist it is confusing to keep the various religious denominations separate, and I first thought these were Armenian monks. I have since been contacted by Mr. Yitzhak Vaknin, an Israeli tour-guide, who explained to me that these are Ethiopian monks. The picture was probably taken at Dier e-Sultan near the nine stations of the Via Dolorosa. This place is inhabited by the monks of the Ethiopian Church, which is located on the roof almost right above the Holy Sepulchre. This site has been in dispute between the Ethiopian and the Coptic Church.

Mr. Vaknin’s comments are highly appreciated, because I am pretty sure most visitors would have a hard time distinguishing which structure is controlled by which religious denominations active in this area.

left: There are Israeli soldiers everywhere. Vigilance is the price of their existence.

We had booked the first two days with Genesis Tours for Jerusalem and Masada for $550/day and we were fortunate enough to find another couple, who also happened to be rather discombobulated, to share our tour with. In the early morning we contacted the tour operators to have them pick us up in Haifa instead of Ashdod. They knew about this already, but they also told us that because of the increased distance, they had to charge us $100/couple more.

But when I looked at my credit card charges, Genesis Tours had charged me $725 for the two days. I complained and we settled on $700. But they never bothered to refund me the $25. Which wasn’t much, but I would be wary dealing with them again.

Our guide was personable and very patient. But he did say, e.g., that only recently they found the two 2600 year old bullae (seals) in the old City of David with names inscribed on them, which were cited in the Old Testament. These very important archeological finds were actually made some time ago. He apparently didn’t know that in 2008 they found two more bullae with names, which had been cited in the ancient texts. In Masada he proclaimed that Herod the Great was the greatest ruler of all time and that nobody in history can compare with him and his achievements. I suggested that maybe he should consider Ramses II of Egypt and Qin Shi Huangdi, the Chinese emperor associated with the Great Wall of China, the only human made structure visible from the moon with the naked eye. His eyes went blank; never heard about these people.

In Jerusalem he made us walk all the way to the Church of All Nations, but didn’t tell or take us inside to show the stone where Jesus allegedly prayed and wept the night of his arrest. In Masada he didn’t show us King Herod’s quarters with the magnificent views of the surroundings, because he spent our limited time diddling in other areas. But you wouldn’t know what you missed, unless you checked. He wouldn’t tell that his time management was atrocious. And you would think he was a good guide, if you didn’t know any better. I would stay away from Genesis Tours.

b: Jerusalem

From the Port of Haifa it was a long drive to Jerusalem and on the way we stopped to look at a historic British camp for incoming refugees from the time when the British were here in power. It was a depressing place, where refugees from Europe, after having successfully fled the Nazi regime, were interned in the destination land of their dreams. It was actually a useless detour, because we couldn’t get inside the barbed-wire enclosure.

right: At the gates of a British camp for refugees.

We stopped briefly in Caesarea. This town was built by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judaea, because the location allowed for the construction of a good harbor. He named the town Caesarea, because he knew where his bread was buttered. Politics are important.

Close to the town we also viewed the Roman aqueducts, which had been constructed to supply water to the town. This is a desirable area to live and many high-ranking Israeli have residences here.

left: Section of the ancient Roman aqueduct at Ceasarea, with the Mediterranean Sea as backdrop.

There is a beach at the aqueduct where families often picnic in the sand.

We arrived in the early afternoon in Jerusalem and parked in the garage at the Jaffa Gate. At a money changer we received 350 shekels for US$ 100. So he made 30 shekels profit because the official rate is 380 shekels to the dollar. Israel is awash with tourists and as a tourist you can easily get around with US dollars only. In places, where they accept shekels only, such as the entrance fees to Masada, you can use your credit card. Sometimes it can be a bit more advantageous to use US dollars, because shops selling stuff for 4 shekels will often accept $1 instead.

We entered Jaffa Gate, on the Western side of the City, and went through the Christian Quarter on the left. The walled Old City is divided in four quarters; clockwise from the north-west, the Christian, the Muslim, the Jewish, and the Armenian quarters. Walking through the narrow streets lined with shops and more shops, we made a beeline to the amazing Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the church built on the site of Golgotha.

right: The entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is quite plain.

This Church, arguably the premier Christian attraction of Jerusalem, is holy to many religious denominations and secular entities and shared by them in a complicated arrangement. Which means that because of the status quo little gets done to improve or modify.

The Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Apostolic Church all have rights to the interior of the tomb, and every day each celebrate the Divine Liturgy and Holy Mass there. In the church is the lavishly decorated Altar of Crucification where, according to tradition, the cross stood on which Jesus was crucified. An area in the church is believed where the cave was where Jesus was buried.

left: Altar of Crucification

Just inside the entrance is the Stone of Anointing, where the body of Jesus was prepared for burial. Even though this stone was only added in the 1810 reconstruction, it is a significant place of worship, where many pilgrims and even diehard tourist prostate themselves to genuflect and pray. There are many other areas of great interest in this building, but you’ll have to read elsewhere about them. I am not going to compete with the dozens of travelogues on Jerusalem.

right: The Stone of Anointing

This Church is of course the end of the Via Dolorosa, the road where Jesus walked up to his crucifixion. So we walked in the opposite direction and exited the walled city at the Lion’s Gate.

A bit further down, just outside the walls, we could see below, about a mile away and several hundred feet lower, the Church of All Nations and adjacent to it the Garden of Gethsemane, with very old olive trees. The church is so named because it was built by donations from many countries. There is a stone in the church, where Jesus was believed to have prayed on the night of his arrest.

left: The Church of All Nations, with the Garden of Gethsemane to its left, and the ubiquitous tour buses in front.

We walked down to the Church and the Garden, looked around, made some pictures, and walked up the hill again to the walls of the city.

That was good exercise; then we walked west on the road just outside the old city wall in the direction of Dung Gate. To the left was a vast expanse of what looked like wasteland, but was actually an ancient cemetery with thousands of graves. Absalon’s tomb is there. At one time the area was even used as a quarry. Tombstones make excellent building material.

right: Ancient cemetery below the south wall of the city. Absalom’s Tomb is here close by.

Further west, on a narrow ridge above the deep Kidron Valley, we could see traces of the remains of the City of David, the Jerusalem of ancient times. Archeological explorations of this site are still actively being performed today.

One of the locations there was the Bullae House, so named because some 50 clay seals, made from soft clay and shaped as a flat disk about one inch across, were found there. These seals (bullae) were affixed to a string around a rolled-up papyrus document and also to the doument, and then stamped with a master seal. To open the document the clay seal has to be broken.

A major archeological find was that two of these seals bore the names of persons, who were actually named in the Bible, thus linking these small shards of pottery with their original owners 2600 years ago. One of them was Gemaryahu, a high official at the court of King Jeholakim of Judah, mentioned in Jeremiah 36:10. The other seal bears the name of Azaryahu, son of Hilkiyahu, a high priest (1 Chronicles 9:10). Additional information confirmed that these seals came from the correct period, around 600 BC. Then, in 2008, another bulla, bearing the name of Gedaliah ben Pashur was uncovered. His name appears in the book of Jeremiah (38:1).

By the time we entered the Dung Gate, it was already dark, but there was lighting everywhere. Close to the gate is the Western Wall; at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount. It is also known as the Wailing Wall or Kotel, one of the most sacred sites in Judaism, and it is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple of king Solomon. In the evening, the lighting actually imparts a magical aura to the surroundings.

Looking at the wall, you see men were praying on the left, women praying on the right. The area for the men was at least twice as large as that for the women. I wonder, do Jewish women require less space than men to pray and convey their message to God?

left: the Wailing Wall in the evening.

The two sections are separated from each other by a high wall. For a man shall not see a woman (and maybe vv), less impure thoughts would sully his genuflections as he communes with the Almighty on weightier matters than sex. And what would that be?

This probably does not apply to the throngs of tourist whose sole goal is to get their pictures taken with the Wall. To them, it is just another tourist attraction. To the left is a section, where the lower strata of the wall has been excavated. They are visible through glass covered sections in the floor.

In the evening we walked back through the Christian Quarter to the Jaffa Gate garage to pick up the car.

left: Walking through the narrow streets, lined with tourist shops, in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem. This is how most of the Via Dolorosa looks like at present.

The YMCA 3 Arches, not far from the Jaffa Gate, was simple and quite adequate. As a courtesy, we had also made reservation at this hotel for the other couple in our group. But she said she could get the same reservation from another website for $10 less, which we seriously doubted. We didn’t argue and cancelled her reservation.

When we arrived at the hotel, there was no reservation on record for her. And also no more rooms. She also could not find her confirmation. She darkly accused the hotel of giving her reservation away to somebody with more money or because they were overbooked. The tour guide, bless his soul, was so kind to stay around and find another hotel for them and bring them there, even though it meant he would come home to his family two hours later than expected.

The next day she found her confirmation for the reservation. It was for the 7 Arches hotel, which was 4 arches too many and was also located in a different place. Yes, she was discombobulated alright.

c: Masada and the Dead Sea.

The next morning breakfast at the Y was OK, but no meat. Just a lot of scrambled eggs.

left: The Zion’s Gate with a vending cart with sweet rolls of bread.

Our guide drove us through the Jaffa Gate into the Old City. He has special license plates allowing entry into the city. From there he drove to the Dung Gate, where we were planning to visit the Temple Mount. But the waiting line was huge, 5-10 people abreast, all the way from the Dung Gate to the elevated entry steps at the Wailing Wall. It would take us at least 4 hours, if not more, to be able to get inside. We didn’t have that much time. So we skipped that visit and drove to Zion’s Gate, from where we walked to the Church of the Last Supper and then walked around a bit some more.

From Jerusalem to Masada was still a long hour and a half of driving, and we didn’t get there until 12:45 p.m. There were lots and lots of tourists, and it took a long time before we could board our cable car, which took us to the top of the mountain, some 40 minutes later. So there was, regretfully not much time left to explore Masada, because we had to leave Masada at 3:00 p.m. to be back in Jerusalem by 4:30 p.m. And the line going to the cable car going back down was also long. So we didn’t have time to visit a Dead Sea resort, the gardens of the kibbutz Ein-Gedi nearby, or Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. The guide wasn’t too good in time management.

left: Tourists on a Bedouin camel.

On the way there, we stopped at the roadside for s short picture ride on a Bedouin camel. The owner of the camel charged us 20 shekels/passenger. That was three times I paid the last time I climbed aboard a camel. That was in Jericho, 18 years ago.

The camel looked bored throughout the whole proceedings. His was a boring job, alright.

right: The cable car to the Masada plateau high up in the distance.

Masada is the site of the ancient palace and fortifications on the top of a hill, fortified by Herod the Great between 37 and 31 BC. It has a marvelous view, especially from his palace of the
surroundings,, including the Dead Sea. Herod had built it as a refuge in the case of a revolt, but it was later taken over by the Sicarii, a group of Jewish extremists, who overpowered the Roman garrison stationed there and then used it as a base to harass the Romans.

It is a long walk up the hill, although many people do it, especially at night or early in the morning when the air is still cool. For us, as well as thousands of other visitors, we opted to wait and take the cable car instead.

left: A scale model of Masada, on the flat plain of a high hill. It shows that, even though it is a desert environment, enough rain water will flow from the mountains to be collected in the fortress’s cisterns. Herod’s castle would be at the left of the plain of the fortress.

The Romans, who didn’t appreciate the situation, then laid siege to the place by building an embankment against the western wall. After the rampart was completed, the Romans battered their way inside the fort and found that almost all of the 960 defenders had committed mass suicide the night before. Great stuff for action movies.

right: on the Masada plateau between the ruins of the fortifications and living quarters.

left: View of the mountain range behind Masada. The rectangle in the distance is the outline of the Roman camp during the siege of the hilltop bastion. This area is dry, why the camp outline is so well preserved over the centuries.

To the left of the picture is part of the 375’ high ramp the Romans built. Most of this was built on an existing spur of the mountain.

right: It is a long line from the entrance of the site on the left to the cable car station on the right.

d: Touring the Galilee.

We found a good compromise between the expensive, large group tours offered by the cruise company, and the private guide option, which would cost us $500 - $600/day for 2-4 people. The King David Tours offered a day tour to the Galilee for $100/per person. We would go in a small group, 14 people maximum.

In high season, we would probably have had 10-14 persons in our group, but it was the end of the season, and we were the only ones. So we were combined with another tour company, Trekis, who had only one tourist passenger. The discombobulated couple was on another cruise line and had left Israel. So there were only three passengers that morning.

Trekis is a small company and Ilan Levin is the guide, the owner, and the operator of the company. He was very good guide and, being a secular Jew, and having lived in the USA for many years, he could be more dispassionate and objective about the political situation and the history behind it. Make no mistake, Israel is a country under constant threat and siege from Palestine and the surrounding Arab countries. Although not justified, it is also somewhat understandable why it often overreacts so heavy-handedly on many occasions. On the other hand, you can get tired if the guide keeps emphasizing Israel’s point of view. There is international pressure on one hand, and the extremely rabid Jewish extremists on the other side. Ilan looks at the Jew as a human being, just as he sees Jesus as another human being, trying to survive the political situation of the moment.

We left Haifa in the morning and drove to Nazareth. The place where Jesus grew up had a population of around 500 at that time. It is now a “modern” and dusty large city of 60,000. Our destination was the Basilica of the Annunciation, one of Christianity’s holiest places.

left: The Basilica of the Annunciation with loudspeakers in the foreground for the muezzin to call for prayers. The text to the left is interesting.

The church is built over the cave where, according to the Roman Catholic tradition, Mary received word from the angel Gabriel that she would give birth to the child who would be the Messiah.

The Greek Orthodox, on the other hand, belief is that she was drawing water from a well, when the Angel Gabriel appeared before her. So the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation is erected on a different site, giving the visitor a choice. As for the text on the wall to the left of the Church shown above, it states: “And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be (defaced) of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers (defaced)”. It is a rather comforting thought to know that somebody else is actually worried about your afterlife.

right: One of the bronze doors to the Basilica.

The front door of the church is special. It is covered with a bronze layer, in which is chiseled many events from the life of Christ. In the church itself as work of arts from many countries, including a Japanese mosaic of Madonna and Child. In the back of the basilica is a smaller church dedicated to St. Joseph.

Many Christians have left Nazareth in the past decades, so the town is now predominantly Muslim. It felt as if the Basilica was a haven in a turbulent world. There seems to be only one shop left selling Christian religious artifacts, just about half a block away from the church. Go inside, and go up the stairs on the right. They have free, clean restrooms. And it wouldn’t hurt them for you to look around in the shop and buy something.

left: Inside the church is this Japanese mosaic of the Madonna and Child.

We drove by Mt. Tabor, mentioned many times in the Bible, to the southern end of Lake Galilee in the direction of Yardenit, which is a place where you can get baptized or just take a dip in the Jordan river.

First you have to walk through a large tourist shop, one of the largest in the area, before entering the fenced off area at the banks of the river. For a few dollars, you can then buy a white linen smock, which you can don in the changing rooms, with as little or as much as you want beneath it. You then walk into the River Jordan for your wet experience, a dream come true.

The Jordan river has diminished in size over the centuries. Part of this is due to water being siphoned off for agricultural and other uses. It is now just a narrow stream not more than 20 yards or so across.

right: The area in Yardenit on the Jordan River reserved for religious baptisms or for those just wanting to have a dip in the river.

If you wish to enter the water, you can get a white robe for a nominal sum to use, after you undress in the changing rooms. Then you can join all the other white-robe pilgrims, thrill-seekers or just because you want to have a dip in the water. Just remember that the thin white linen sheet will stick to your body when wet and the people around will then love to look at you, especially if you are a good-looking female.

I don’t know how clean the water is, but just a few yards behind me from where this picture was taken tourists can throw food in the water. You see dozens of huge catfish, up to two feet long, in a feeding frenzy as soon as they sense food dropping nearby.

Also, there were a lot of muskrats, some of them quite large, swimming around there, brazenly nudging at visitor’s feet for food handouts. With all this teeming wildlife, maybe one should not be too squeamish. I am sure there are adequate medical antidotes if you become unwell.

left: Catfish in a feeding frenzy. A small muskrat can be seen walking up the stairs.

Before you leave the site to get to your car, you will still have to traverse the huge shopping hall. For most tourists it is hard to walk by without buying anything, because there is a good selection of everything, some of them quit pricey and directed to the well-heeled.

Mt. Tabor is not a mountain, just a very large hill. Lunch was at a seaside restaurant, where they serve the good-tasting St. Peter’s fish, about a pound each and deep-fried. This is the local specialty and they serve astronomical numbers per day at the long tables for the hundreds of tourists pouring in from huge tour buses. St Peter’s Fish (Sarotherodon galilaeus galilaeus) belongs to the genus tilapia.

left: Deep-fried St. Peter’s fish, the standard tourist fare at the Sea of Galilee.

When I was there 18 years ago, the restaurant served maybe 50 customers and they caught the fish from the lake. without any restrictions. Now there is a 4-month ban per year on fishing to protect the falling stock.. So maybe there are fish farms somewhere. It just does not seem plausible to feed these hundred of tourist daily from fishing only.

A peculiarity of this species of tilapia is that it is a mouthbrooder. The female holds her eggs in her mouth until they hatch; when they are still small, the fry swim back into her mouth when danger threatens, and only ventures outside permanently when they are bigger.

If you order the fish, what almost everyone does, the lunch would be about US$25 per person. This includes buffet salads, soft drink or water, bread, potatoes, and service.

left: The restaurant on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. There are many more long table to the left not shown on the picture.

The last stop was at Caphernaum, where Jesus lived. Here is where Peter’s mother-in-law lived in the house where they had to remove the roof to let in the sick man so Jesus could see and heal him. There were the remains of the local Jewish synagogue nearby, which was still in good shape, but the ruins of the village between these two areas, were just basically ground level.

right: This could be the remains of house, where Peter’s mother-in-law lived

There was a good political reason for Jesus to live there; the Jews hated him for religious reasons; the Romans did not want a leader figure who could foment rebellion against them.

From Caphernaum, which is under jurisdiction of Herod Archelaus, son of Herod, Jesus could take a ship and flee to more friendly shores across, which is under jurisdiction of Herod’s other son, Herod Antipas. The two brothers did not get along with with each other.

We drove back to Haifa and Ilan dropped us off at the cruise ship terminal at 7. Dinner was at 8, and the ship raised its anchors at 9

e: Acknowledgement

I also need to acknowledge that a number of the pictures shown in this chapter on Mediterranean Ports of Call were taken by Larry. He is a great photographer.