Month: October 2022

Today, Thursday, 10/13, is day two of our two stay in Jerusalem. We took a 9 hour leisurely tour of Jerusalem. We saw Dome of the Rock, the Church of the Annunciation, a Jewish cemetery which had been desecrated by the Arabs and rebuilt by the Jews in 1948, and the Western Wall which has a side for men and a side for women.

The Western Wall is a very holy place where you pray and add a piece of paper with a personal pray into a crevice in the wall.

The tour company had about eight or more different tours in Jerusalem. They took us to a beautiful hotel where we had an excellent buffet lunch.

Wednesday, 10/12, was Jerusalem day one of two. The ship docked in the port of Ashdod. We took a shuttle to the city.

As we didn’t have any planned shore excursion for the morning, we hired a taxi and went to the Dead Sea. The driver took us the back way which was spectacular. The eroded rock dirt formations were beautiful. We felt the water which is so smooth. It is 30% salt as well as potassium, magnesium, calcium and other minerals. It is the lowest place on Earth at 400 meters below sea level.

In the evening we were on an excursion that took us to Tel Aviv. It is a non secular city. It is fun and lively. We had a wonderful dinner.

Today, 10/11, we arrived in Haifa, Israel. We were met by retired Israeli police officers and members of the International Police Association (IPA) who took us on a tour of Haifa, Nazareth and other places including a Druid village. They brought us to another IPA member who owns a restaurant and fed us a meal fit for a king. Judy even drank an espresso after lunch.

In Nazareth we went to: the beautiful Basilica of the Annunciation where Mary went to cleanse herself; the Church of Joseph; and the Synagogue Church where Jesus went to pray. Jesus jumped out of the Synagogue and down a hill to get away from people who were going to kill him.

In Akka (sp) we saw where Napoleon left behind his sick and injured soldiers when he retreated to Turkey.

In Haifa we saw the San Francisco Observatory. San Francisco is Haifa’s sister city. We saw all the ports including one built by China. Up on a hill we could see where Lebanon and Syria.

Today, 10/9, we docked in Kusadasi, Turkey. We took an excursion to Ephesus. The house of Mary is here. We saw many partial excavations. Ephesus today is the 5th. St. John and St. Paul were here as well as Helen of Troy.

They teach girls weaving as a job. We went to a weaving shop. We saw weavers of silk and wool. We saw how silk is made from the cocoons of the silk worms.

We did a carriage ride on October 3rd and then took a cab to the other sites on October 4th. Many of the sites are currently being restored, which will take years.

We had a small breakfast in our hotel and then walked to near the Pantheon. We then took a horse and carriage ride around town. We saw a lot of huge churches, as well as the Trevi Fountain.

Tonight we ate at the same restaurant as last night. They gave us each a free Apple Spritz and a free Limoncello.

We will try to post pictures tomorrow.

We left Nashville on Saturday, 10/1, and flew to Atlanta. Unbeknownst to us, it was a 37 minute flight. We had about an hour layover before our direct flight to Rome. It was a really nice flight. We had plenty of legroom, food, and drinks as we flew Premium Select on Delta.

We arrived in Rome at 10:40 AM on Sunday, 10/2, went through Customs, and then got our luggage. We then got the car to the hotel. The hotel is actually a townhouse.

We then walked around by our hotel and had a wonderful dinner at one of the restaurants on the street. They made the chicken parm with baked chicken and it was excellent!