Israel Vacation, Mar22

[Bobalos]

my wife & I just got back from ~2 weeks in Israel.  It was quite the adventure.  we had EVERY kind of weather, from snow to hail to rain to sun.  some take aways.......... M16's are the rifle of choice for the Israeli armed forces.  the car horn is just as important as the steering wheel.  the country is rather welcoming to the American visitor.  the history there is just amazing.  King Herod was a kick ass builder.  the "Old City", was REALLY something to see. 

I could probably go on for hours, but suffice to say that everyone will get out of this trip something different.  for us we "worked" during it, and there was a lot going on with that, and the tour guides, and the other folks on the bus, and, and.  none the less, it was very cool to see history in person. understand some of the things you cant understand by reading, you have to be there & see it, feel it, smell it, touch it, etc.  also to explode the mental imagines you have already formed when you see this stuff in person.  VERY cool. 

The Mens side of the wailing wall.



they build an aqueduct that ran from hilltop to hill top through a valley between.  they sealed these stones together & used siphoning to create the momentum to get the water to the next hill top. they are still using some of these today.  the dude in the bottom right corner, is a WWII vet & a bad ass!!!! 





LOL



Baptism site between Israel & Jordon,



The dead sea.  the lowest place on earth (not in a mine).



an old El Camino, sitting in a lot.... 



Interesting how you goto get to the middle east...



The tomb where Jesus was buried (albeit for a short period of time).



scale model of the old city during Jesus time.



cool shot over the Sea of Galilee.



Sunrise of the sea of Galilee



Snow in Grape Fields in Tel Dan area.



Boarder between Israel & Syria in Tel Dan Area. 



Sunrise over sea of Galilee



My wife being a hamb bone. 



US & Israel flag flying on the sea of Galilee



the Mens side of the Wailing Wall @ the temple in the cold city.

 

[Crusty]

Congrats, that would be an amazing trip to make.

 

[Jtmoney714]

What a trip. All the places you hear about as a kid in church. 

 

[dbart]

WOW!

So cool...and like @Jtmoney714 I was thinking, I remember that from Church.

Thank you for sharing...your initial description had me cracking up with regards to driving!  :lmao:

:thumb:

 

[John@Outfront]

congrats  we did 20 days about 3 years ago, ill find some pics.  100% a bucket list adventure for sure, and an appreciation for how the bible, its stories and how/where the second coming will be and to associate things like the distance of garden of Gethsemane is to the city wall and the mercy gates, seeing in person the wailing wall, dome of the rock and how the Israelis and Palestinians were segregated etc, to swim in the dead sea, to see the Jordan river and seal of Galilee.  we did a whole country tour 

BTW we also went to Jordan for 2 days and went through the Wadi Rum (where star wars and the Martian were filmed) desert, rode camels and visited the sandstone like the "museum" and "treasury" where Indiana Jones was filmed

 

[IFLY]

Went to Haifa when I was in the service and yes it was very friendly to Americans. We had to take someone to the Tel Aviv airport and security is no joke. Looks like a great trip.

 

[Fullthrottleguy]

thats awesome – thanks for sharing

 

[ChEFF]

WOW! I don't know if i'd be capable of doing a trip like that. Peace

 

[raspadoo]

That is a great trip, I liked it all but Bethlehem, the Palestinians were not as inviting. We went when Trump was in office, the Israelis REALLY liked him. Thanks for sharing !

 

[John@Outfront]

That is a great trip, I liked it all but Bethlehem, the Palestinians were not as inviting. We went when Trump was in office, the Israelis REALLY liked him. Thanks for sharing !

we left the week before the new embassy was being open. it ended up being more peaceful then they thought.  i agree, the Palestinian occupied areas were not clean at all (including Bethlehem) and they looked like they didnt like you  like why are you here

Israel is a great vacation!!!

 

[Bobalos]

That is a great trip, I liked it all but Bethlehem, the Palestinians were not as inviting. We went when Trump was in office, the Israelis REALLY liked him. Thanks for sharing !

We did not take the side trip to Bethlehem that a bunch of folks did, but they said the same thing about it not being inviting. 

and yea its VERY obvious when we drove out of Israel & then back into it.  the feel of the country, the cleanliness, the security, etc, etc. 

 

[John@Outfront]

how about the A, B and C road signs, they actually post signs of what roads you can drive on and if you value your life dont go on certain ones! 

 

[Bobalos]

how about the A, B and C road signs, they actually post signs of what roads you can drive on and if you value your life dont go on certain ones! 

I saw those, but did not make any correlation to that.  LOL. 

 

[John@Outfront]

These are from the country Jordan and the Wadi Rum desert

 

[Bobalos]

Super cool John.  this tour is called a "discovery trip" & the idea is to hit up as many places as easily as you can & then you can plan the "detailed trip" & spend some time at all of the places that are of the most interest to you.  I could easily see spending another 2 or 3 weeks there.  Heck, probably an easy week or two in Jerusalem visiting all of the things there. it kind of felt like we were running from place to place all of the time.  but we did a LOT....

 

[John@Outfront]

Super cool John.  this tour is called a "discovery trip" & the idea is to hit up as many places as easily as you can & then you can plan the "detailed trip" & spend some time at all of the places that are of the most interest to you.  I could easily see spending another 2 or 3 weeks there.  Heck, probably an easy week or two in Jerusalem visiting all of the things there. it kind of felt like we were running from place to place all of the time.  but we did a LOT....

we went with 2 other couples so we were 6 people.  we had a private tour guide and it was awesome, he could "get in" and get out in a flash--no waiting for the "bus to fill up" we did a clockwise tour of the whole country, up the coast then  golan heights, back down to Jerusalem.  then the 2 day trip to Jordan. Man,  crossing the boarder was legit.  guys on both sides with machine guns and a free zone (where they shoot you) lol  after clearance you had to do the 100 yard walk with your luggage. once on the Jordan side they watch you bigtime for your safety  the hotel had 2' diameter tubes that came out of the ground once the van crossed the entry.  The water shortage was so real that the 5 star hotel asked for you to not use a lot of water and to reuse your towels for the two days and that the sheets would not be changed due to water.  they would turn on the water in your village once every two days so the villagers would have storage tanks on their homes to store water for the days off

 

[John@Outfront]