Micmax

Last Day in Egypt

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 22:01:00 -0400

Today was my last day in Egypt, but did that mean we took it easy? Of course not. The day started relatively late for this break — at 10am — and Robin and I had to get up and get out the door to go Robin’s friend Jack’s apartment in Zamalek for an Easter brunch. The brunch was delicious — Jack had real ketchup which apparently is valuable! — and I managed to have my second cup of “coffee” of the day, so I got quite wired.

We weren’t able to stay for the Easter egg painting though (shucks) because we had to check out the Egyptian National Museum. Now, some of you out there may have heard that some museums in Egypt are quite disorganized and hard to follow, and I’m here to tell you that they are, unless you download a children’s guide to the museum in which case ~30 things will make sense! Luckily, Robin and I had the foresight to do just that, and managed to make sense of some of the items sitting in various rooms.

However, in no way do I mean to impugn on the stuff that is in the museum, just the organization. If you’re into Ancient Egypt, it is definitely a must-see! And everyone has to see the King Tut exhibit, where you get to look at all of the various masks, jewelry, boxes, etc. that were found in Tut’s tomb (coincidentally, it’s also the most organized room). We also paid an extra 60 EGP to see the royal mummies, which were terrifying (especially their hair) but interesting.

The front of the Egyptian National Museum

After the museum, we headed back to Doqqi to rest briefly. On the way back to Robin’s apartment, I finally got to try a famous City Drinks mocha shake (which includes a double serving of Nescafé and thus I was double wired). Then, we had our second meal of the day at 5pm of instant noodles before heading over to Tahrir Square to meet some people for a sunset felucca ride on the Nile!

Unfortunately, huge dust clouds moved over all of Cairo on our way there, and thus I do not have any breathtaking photos to show. The felucca ride was extremely fun though, and I can imagine it being even more so when dust is not obscuring everything or when it’s later than 6pm in the evening. After the ride, Robin and I went out to dinner for my last Egyptian dinner, and then headed back to her apartment to wait out the remaining 4 hours until my 1am ride to the airport. Thus ends my first trip to Egypt! Next stop (six days from now), Beijing!

Back to Cairo

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 22:01:00 -0400

Today we started off with a nice continental breakfast with real cheddar cheese (as if it’s been that long since I’ve had that) in Alex. Then, we got ourselves together and headed to the catacombs, a rare site in Alexandria that Robin had never seen before. For that reason, neither of us really knew what to expect but it was actually incredible! First, our cab driver there started a long chain of people who were incredibly nice to us for no particular reason. He first took us to some other tomb, waited while Robin checked the place out, took us to the catacombs, only charged us 10EGP (~$1.60), asked us if he should wait and told us to take care of ourselves! Trust me, that’s the epitome of service.

In addition, the catacombs were incredible and surprising. The first thing we saw was an aboveground tomb, which included vivid murals above the tombs. Then, we headed down a long, winding staircase into a cool cave that included HUNDREDS of graves (not many bones). The catacombs had been discovered by a donkey ~1920, and had been host to a group of Christians massacred long ago in the Roman era. We got to go room to room and marvel at the ridiculous number, size, and decoration of tombs they had. Unfortunately though, they were moderately vigilant about taking pictures, so I have nothing to show y’all.

In the aboveground tomb at the catacombs.

After the catacombs we tried to go the Citadel again, after having gone there when it was closed at sunset the evening prior. Unfortunately, Friday late morning is a very popular time for visiting the Citadel, and there shabab (young men / boys, often really irritating) everywhere. When some of them started yelling “Welcome to Egypt! What’s your name?” at us (that probably doesn’t sound so bad but it’s the only words they know so they just keep repeating it with different intonations while laughing manically), a baller mom with her daughter kept yelling back “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” So our streak of nice people continued. And we got some awesome pics!

The Citadel

The Mediterranean as seen at the Citadel

People being people at the Citadel

Robin at the Citadel

Me at the Citadel

Climbing through the catacombs and the Citadel was enough to work up an appetite, so we then headed back to Mohamed Ahmad’s to dine on falafel, pickled beets, and foul :/ I will say that the foul given us was mixed with hummus and was the best foul I’ve ever tasted, but also that that is not saying much. We went back to the Delicious café / bakery to wash it down with lemon juice and a chocolate mousse tart :D and then headed to the train station to go back to Cairo!

Back in Cairo, we once more ate like kings at Yemeni, got ice cream in Zamalek with Robin’s Egyptian friend Sarwat, and then went to a drive-in (!) sheesha bar in Doqqi. Not a bad day!

Vacation in Alex

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:01:00 -0400

Today marked the day that Robin and I finally got to leave Cairo and go to Alexandria. I say finally not because I’d been in Cairo too long or seen too much of the city (you can’t really see all of Cairo), but cause Robin hadn’t left since early January! Alex is only a 2.5 hour train ride from Cairo (assuming that the Egyptian trains are functioning), but in order to ensure we got to see as much of the city as possible we left Robin’s apartment at 8:15am!

After a relatively uneventful trip that involved lots of Kindle reading, we got to Alex a little after noon and went straight to lunch. Our restaurant of choice was Mohamed Ahmed, the most famous foul (fava bean) and falafel restaurant in Alex. We also got pickled beets, which were delicious :D Then, we headed to our hotel, dropped off our stuff and started traipsing around Alex.

A beautiful view of the Mediterranean

The first thing we did is visit the library, which Robin (rightly) claims is the nicest play in Alex. It is a hot tourist spot, and is also next to the University, so it looks like it’s a high school!

Outside and inside of the Library of Alexandria

Then, we walked around the corniche to get a nice view of the sea, and stopped at a ritzy café / bakery. We got lemon juice (delish), a blueberry tart (delish), a mocha frappe (for me), and a Nescafe frappé (for Robin). At night, we went out to a fish restaurant where you pick your own fish to get fried. We both picked flounder-like fish, but unfortunately ordered the seafood soup with our meal, which was completely terrifying. The fried fish was really good though, and we stopped at a juice place on the way back to our hotel to round out our vacation day!

A church down the street from our hotel at sunset

Class Day Two

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 22:01:41 -0400

Today was my second day heading to AUC with Robin to chill while she went to class. Consequently, there’s not much to report beyond eating my second Cairo Kitchen koshary, and being entertained by the school cafeteria kittens :D

The PYRAMIDS

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:23:23 -0400

Today was supposed to be a very exciting day - today was the day Robin took me to the pyramids! However, even before going, I was already completely jaded about the pyramids at Giza, because literally every person I met in Robin’s program told me that visiting them was miserable. Furthermore, getting to the pyramids is no trivial task, involving a 20-minute metro ride, the miracle of getting a microbus that goes to the pyramids, and the fortitude to ignore the horde of touts who want our business.

Luckily, Robin had done this twice before, and our transportation situation turned out to be a breeze. A little over an hour after we left we had arrived in style and with Robin eyeing her watch and swearing she could only remain for “two hours at most.” Naturally things couldn’t be that simple. The first thing we noticed was that there were almost no other tourists there, especially foreign tourists. This has become a theme of this trip however (have you heard about the unrest here?) so we didn’t pay this any mind. The second thing was the sustained >50mph winds blowing sand in our faces! (To be fair, there could’ve been other tourists there and maybe we just couldn’t see them due to the sand) Visiting the pyramids is definitely not the best day for a sandstorm, and to make matters worse I had completely jinxed our trip by wondering aloud each day if there was a haboob in the forecast. On the bright side, the wind did cancel the effect of the blistering sun, and although I couldn’t see any of the pictures I took, they came out quite nicely!

Entering the Pyramids

Robin in front of the Great Pyramid. She looks like she’s grabbing her head in awe of the work of generations past, but in reality she’s hiding her eyes from the sandstorm.

The small(er) pyramids. We went into the one furthest to the right.

The claustrophobia inducing hallway to enter the pyramid. We were the only ones in it!

Robin in the only room in the small pyramid. Very little of archaeological interest was discovered, and we only hit our heads climbing out once!

The Great Sphinx! And you can even see tourists in the distance.

Two security guards holding onto their hats as they approach the Great Pyramid.

As you can see, despite the difficulties getting there, the pyramids were well worth the trip! I have left out all the catcalling, the harassment, the swirling mounds of garbage, the substantial amount of sand in our ears, and that time a horse (let’s pray) “sneezed” 10 feet away only to have some wet substance spray our legs. But seriously, worth the trip! And we made it out in an hour!

The rest of the day was not as picture-worthy. As you can imagine, long showers were of the first order, followed by an epic lunch of homemade grilled cheeses (they have dece cheddar here - another surprise!). Then, Robin and I (mostly Robin) prepared for tonight’s Seder, which was held at Robin’s friend Seth’s place (and lasted six hours). With tomorrow comes another class day, but then Thursday it’s off to Alexandria!

School Day One

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:56:50 -0400

Today there is not much to report. In light of the absurd amount of exploring we did yesterday (recap: we were in Islamic Cairo from 11am to 8pm with no breaks!), I took it easy today while Robin was in class. I did get to meet many interesting Arabic scholars on Robin’s program, CASA, however, and tried my first non-Jordanian ful, which was just as regrettable as Jordanian ful. Robin’s roommate Miriam was kind enough to make shakshouka for dinner though, so in addition to relaxing I also ate well. Fear not, tomorrow there’ll be more to report, as we’re going to the Pyramids!

Islamic Cairo

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 22:00:00 -0400

Robin and I started our day by taking an absurd cab ride from her apartment to Islamic Cairo. The reason it was so absurd is because the cab driver had absolutely no idea how to get to the Ibn Tulun mosque, even though it is a GIANT CEREMONIAL MOSQUE BUILT 876 AD!! So instead, he tried to drive us to another mosque 1km away to ask for directions. Luckily Robin doesn’t suffer fools lightly, and ordered him to stop and let us out before walking off in anger. After another ten cabs didn’t know how to get to the mosque, we finally found a good driver who not only took us to the mosque but also reached into a passing car to hit a driver who was making our journey difficult!

The mosque was definitely worth the trouble. As you have heard, Egypt is going through some unrest right now, which is causing the tourist industry to tank. Consequently, there was almost no one in the mosque, even workers / tour guides, and it only cost us 1 EGP (16 cents) to get in!

Ibn Tulun Mosque from the roof on the way up the minaret

The minaret at Ibn Tulun Mosque

Clearly the main thing to do at the mosque was to climb the minaret, which afforded us great views of the mosque itself, Islamic Cairo, and even downtown Cairo!

Mosque adjacent to Ibn Tulun (as seen from the minaret)

The Cairo Citadel (right) and the Sultan Hassan and Rafa’i Mosques (left)

Robin at the top of the minaret

Me jchilling on top of the minaret

After exploring the Ibn Tulun mosque, we took the ten minute walk to the Sultan Hassan and Rafa’i mosques. Those two mosques are notable because they were built (adjacent) over 400 years apart (Sultan Hassan ~1400 AD, Rafa’i ~1800 AD), but actually look quite similar. Rafa’i is also home to the resting places of the last king of Egypt and the last Shah of Iran (and others).

Sultan Hassan mosque (left) and Rafa’i mosque (right) from the square

The sabeel (fountain) inside Sultan Hassan mosque

After exploring the two mosques (and being treated like a celebrity cause this ~6 year old boy asked his dad if he could meet me!), Robin and I took another crazy cab ride to El Azhar Park in downtown Cairo. El Azhar Park is the biggest park in Cairo, and to be honest contains more trees than I thought I’d see in all of Egypt. Similar to yesterday when going to the jazz festival, the park is placed completely at random, but provides excellent views of downtown and young Cairenes doing the Harlem shake (or some derivative thereof).

The entrance to El Azhar Park from a safe distance and beyond some trees

The citadel as seen in El Azhar Park w/ girl doing the robot!

Enjoying some wafers at El Azhar Park

At this point you’re probably wondering if I omitted lunch, but I did not. In fact, we had done all this without having a snack except some chocolate wafers! So after exploring the park, it was time to catch another (insane) cab ride to Khan El Khalili, the main tourist market in downtown Cairo. There we got lunch at the Cairo fast food staple Gad, and then did some exploring. The particularly cool places we visited were the tentmakers’ market and the bookbinder’s store. We finished the day by meeting up with Robin’s friends Hannah and Leslie, two esteemed Fulbright scholars, to go and get Uighur food in Abassiya near Azhar University. Fun fact: if you go there at any time, you’re liable to see goat herds in the square! The Uighur food was amazing though, and it capped an awesome and completely awesome day in Cairo.

Day Goog in Cairo

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 22:00:00 -0400

Robin and I took our waking slow this morning (okay okay, Robin woke up wayyy before me) before heading out for a “relaxing” exploration of Cairo. Our first stop was Zamalek, which is an island in the Nile that separates Doqqi (where Robin lives) from downtown Cairo, etc. Zamalek is also the home to an American University in Cairo (AUC) campus, where Robin studies.

The weather here is absolutely beautiful (so far), it’s ranged from 55-75F with a nice breeze, so we just walked around Zamalek and Robin showed me her favorite sites, restaurants, and shops. When we had worked up an appetite we went to Cairo Kitchen, a fancy koshary restaurant (recently featured in a CNN news piece). Koshary is a staple of the Egyptian diet, and is an amalgam of different foods: lentils, pasta, tomato sauce, fried onions, and chick peas. It obviously packs a punch, especially with the bright orange hot sauce, but it was delicious and after having Yemeni food last night I’m already wondering why everyone says Egypt has the worst food in the Middle East (to be fair, koshary is usually really cheap fast food, and we got the posh fancy version). Especially because at this point I’ve been in Cairo 18 hours and have had five glasses of fresh juice.

Cairo Kitchen

Robin getting her koshary. Note the lemon mint juice in the foreground!

After lunch, we walked all the way from the north of Zamalek to the south where the Qasr El Nile bridge takes you to downtown and Tahrir Square. As you’ll see, the Nile doesn’t look so polluted you shouldn’t even put your toe in it (seriously, don’t put your toe in it), and Tahrir was completely abandoned! There were no cars, and very few people, although I did see the tent “city” in the center of the square. After getting ANOTHER juice, we went back to Robin’s apartment before a nice dinner at a Lebanese restaurant in Doqqi. Finally, we finished the “easy Cairo day” by meeting up with some of Robin’s friends for sheesha on a rooftop bar.

The corniche on the Zamalek side of the Nile

Downtown Cairo and the Nile from the Qasr El Nile bridge

Day Wahid in Cairo!

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 22:00:00 -0400

I have to say that it feels as if it’s been way more than 7 months since my last Micmax post from Jordan last August, and it’s good to be back traveling (even if I’m breaking my 30-year desert moratorium). I landed in Cairo early last evening which was an otherworldly experience. At least from the air, Cairo makes Jordan look like a rainforest, and due to the pollution (and swirling sandstorms) Cairo just appears from the haze when you’re just a few hundred feet from the ground.

But to be honest I didn’t pay these details much mind, since Robin met me at the airport ending (our most recent) 10-weeks apart! And it turned out that I had missed a giant sandstorm by a few hours, so Cairo was “calm” in anticipation of my arrival.

Once we got to Doqqi, the area of Cairo where Robin lives, we went and ate SHOCKINGLY delicious Yemeni food a ten minute walk from her house. After having four straight airplane meals, it was like manna from heaven. It was also a strong signal that I could relax again, and when we get back to Robin’s apartment I was quickly asleep at 11pm (5pm EST).

Ma3 salaama

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Our last full day on our great adventure began with a taxi ride to the border crossing to Jordan, so that Robin and I can take our respective flights to Cairo and JFK tomorrow. The taxi driver (surprise, surprise) proposed to Robin, though he kept it interesting by first telling Robin that he was going to try and get a rise out of me by doing it, and second, telling me that a female Israeli soldier at the border with a semi-automatic thought that I was really cute, which was why his taxi didn’t have to get searched.

The border crossing was relatively painless, though, and we got to the small town of Madaba (famous for its mosaics) at the ripe hour of noon. Madaba is pretty close to most of the destinations in the middle / north of Jordan, and has many nice hotels and restaurants, but has very little of actual interest to tourists. We quickly settled into our hotel, where the combination of heat and lack of sleep left one of us indisposed for most of the afternoon. We did get a chance to see the Greek orthodox church in the center of town that is the main Madaba attraction. I just took a picture of the name plaque, since we didn’t tour it since it cost $$$ and we’re running out of $$$ (18 Jordanian Dinar remaining).

Once the sun had set, we braved the streets of Madaba and went to a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant that served an excellent fajita sandwich (I think they stole the Big Mac special sauce recipe, btw) and chicken filet. We even washed it down with a banana milkshake. With our remaining 8 JD, we bought some snacks for the plane and had a drink at the hotel bar (yeah that’s right, a hotel bar in the Middle East!!!), and hit the hay. Needless to say, it was an amazing trip, both in terms of adventure and vacation, and we can’t wait to do it again soon (and by soon I mean Cairo in March 2013!).

Last travel day

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Today is officially the last travel day of our trip, though considering the amount of touring we did today we should probably say that yesterday in Bethlehem was the real last day. Before we could even not tour, though, Robin and I had to move once more from our awesome apartment to a hotel in downtown Jerusalem, right on Yafo St. As usual, this sounds really simple, but due to a wild bus driver and an overrun hostel (that also happens to be running our hotel), it took most of the morning.

Don’t worry though, we found a way to boost our spirits after a tough morning; by getting me a haircut! My haircut was long overdue, and we found a nice elderly Russian woman to fix my head. I had Robin take live action pictures so no one felt left out!

After the haircut, our self-pampering continued. We went out for a “business lunch” (aka lunch special) at a local sushi joint, which was spectacular both for its food and decor (my favorite sushi place in America is in a phone store in Chinatown in Boston, so I don’t have high standards for sushi decor). Here’s Robin ready to eat!

After this exhausting day, we took a siesta before walking around Jerusalem once Shabbat began at sunset. The city completely emptied out, and we were forced to degrade ourselves by having a dinner of McDonalds since it was the ONLY restaurant open (I think there may have been other restaurants open, but many of them try to appear closed so they don’t get protested by the religious for being open on Shabbat). Big Macs in Israel apparently have only 387 calories though, so we didn’t feel too bad…

Bethlehem FTW

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 12:44:32 -0400

Today was supposed to mark the day we left Jerusalem for Bethlehem, but Robin and I have been enjoying Jerusalem so much, with all its people, charm, and restaurants, that we’ve decided to spend our last two nights in Israel in Jerusalem instead of in Bethlehem. Full disclosure, from reading online and from talking to friends, it also sounded like there was nothing to do in Bethlehem. But, in the spirit of adventure, we set out for Bethlehem this morning, a grueling 8km from Jerusalem that took an hour by bus!

As you probably expected due to my middle school-like foreshadowing (don’t feel bad if you missed it, either), Bethlehem was a veritable bustling metropolis with dozens of restaurants (including the knockoffs Stars and Bucks, In ‘n Out Sandwiches, and Subway’s), at least 5 men-only barbershops, and very few tourists (relatively speaking). We teamed up with a college student tourist from Austria named Clemens and quickly saw the sites. We started at the Church of the Nativity, the oldest continually used church in the world. Oh, and it’s also built over the cave that many believe is the birthplace of Jesus! We avoided the line to see the purported birthplace, but we still saw it from a short distance by peeking in the “Armenian entrance” (don’t ask) thanks to Robin’s Arabic making the guards swoon. You could really tell the Church was over 1700 years old, though it (she?) wore it well, as you can see in our pictures.

The Church of the Nativity in Manger Square

The main area in the Church

The birthplace of Jesus (from the Armenian viewpoint)

Manger Square from the perspective of the Church

After the Church, the three of us (remember Clemens?) walked further into the village to an olive wood factory we’d read about online. Bethlehem is very famous for its olive wood, and apparently the factory gave free tours and had very unique items. What we didn’t expect was to be offered a great rooftop view of the whole village!

Bethlehem (including the Church of the Nativity) from the top of the Olive Wood Factory

We also got the free tour, and saw how some impressive wood handicrafts are made!

After our tour, we went to the Milk Grotto (so named because Mary’s breast milk dripped on the stone, turning it all white) further down the street. The Grotto also surprised in how peaceful and pristine (and empty) it was.

After seeing most of the sites the village had to offer (there are dozens more in the area, but many require a cab ride or two), we three headed to the checkpoint to leave the West Bank for Jerusalem, and to see the now (in)famous wall of graffiti that separates the two. The trip through the checkpoint was quite an experience, as was reading the stories of Palestinians posted in graffiti and print along the wall, but we made it back to Jerusalem safe and sound (and without lunch!) by 3pm.

Jerusalem seen over the wall

A particularly good graffiti quote

After getting back from Bethlehem, Robin and I retreated to our apartment for a 4pm lunch of instant noodles in order to tide us over for a delicious dinner at a highly recommended local restaurant down the street from our apartment. Today’s the last night in our apartment. Tomorrow, we move to a hotel in Jerusalem, and that’s all the plans we have for now! Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find some historic site to visit :D

Yad Vashem and MaHane Yehuda

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Today is a day we took no pictures, though not because we were traveling to a new city or were just being lazy. We spent most of the day at Yad Vashem (Hand and Name), the Israeli Holocaust museum that is in the forest just outside of Jerusalem. The museum itself defies description, but was in turn horrifying, educational, infuriating, thought-provoking, and uplifting (particularly the stories of the Righteous Among the Nations). The memorials at the museum were also beautiful, thoughtful, and heart-wrenching.

After visiting the museum, Robin and I got a superb tuna bagel lunch at a place that appeared amid a rush of commuters as we exited the Jerusalem light rail (aka tram/subway). The lunch place was adjacent to MaHane Yehuda, a (mostly) food market in downtown Jerusalem where Robin and I stocked up on treats and snacks to get us through the rest of the week (we’ve eaten most of the stuff I brought from the U.S.). By the time we got back to the apartment, we’d spent another 7 hours out in the city, so we took our afternoon siesta, cooked dinner (Italian leftovers + garlic bread = :D), and watched a movie to round out another full day in Jerusalem.

The Old City

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0400

We started today early and got out the door quick because we heard that the Temple Mount — the holiest site in Judaism as its where the Temple stood, and also home to the Al-Aqsa mosque that Moses visited on his “Night Journey” — had been closing early over the previous two days, due to either/both security threats and Ramadan. The Temple Mount is in the heart of the Islamic Quarter of the Old City, so we took a bus to Damascus Gate and rushed towards the entrance to the Temple Mount.

The Temple Mount proved hard to find. Instead, we ran into the security checkpoint required to view the Western Wall, another of the holiest sites in Judaism as it is also part of the Temple. Since we were planning on visiting the Western Wall anyway, Robin and I split up (the Wall is gender segregated, with men afforded much more space than women) and joined the other pilgrims/tourists along the Wall. My visit went as expected; Robin’s did not. Most notably, Robin was waiting to approach the Wall when she heard yelling in Russian from nearby. She looked to the source and saw a girl with her hands tightly grasped, with a pool of vomit underneath them. Needless to say, this lessened the gravity and spirituality of the visit.

The Western Wall

Our good fortune at finding the Western Wall by dashing through the Old City was quickly followed by a disappointment; Robin’s friend, Chloe, called and told us that the Temple Mount was inexplicably closed for the day. We were told that it could be open later in the week, so we’ll keep checking and we’ll go the minute it opens!

With the Western Wall visited and the Temple Mount closed, we decided to head to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Christian Quarter, the holiest site in Christianity (I’m taking these superlatives from Wikipedia/Wikitravel, FYI). The Church, like the Temple Mount, defied easy discovery, and it took us a few laps around the Christian quarter before Robin bravely asked two cheery fellows sitting outside their shop where we could find it.

The Church itself was, as expected, a marvel. It is home to what is thought to be the burial site of Jesus (though I understand there is ongoing debate about this), and thus receives many Christians for pilgrimage and prayer. We toured the Church, though we didn’t go into the chamber in which Jesus is purported to be buried.

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The Burial Site of Jesus (according to many)

Other beautiful photos from the Church, including two of the most popular prayer sites

After seeing the Church, we decided to explore more of the Old City before meeting up with Chloe for lunch at a famous hummus spot, Abu Shukri. One of the exciting parts of the Old City we came across was the newly renovated Cardo, home to some posh shops and many yelling children (not pictured).

After lunch, Robin and I headed to the Garden Tomb, the second site (that we know of) where Jesus may have been buried. Neither of us had heard of the Garden Tomb before, even though all of our online sources claimed it to be a must-see in Jerusalem, so we didn’t really know what to expect. What we found was a beautiful, tranquil garden administered by friendly Brits, one of whom gave us an excellent tour. We learned that immediately adjacent to the garden is Skull Hill, the site at which many think Jesus was executed (pictured below), as well as the tomb in which Jesus was buried before he rose.

Entrance to the Garden Tomb

Skull Hill (squint hard enough and you see a skull). Supposedly this is Golgotha, as referred to in the Bible.

Jesus’s tomb in the garden

Jesus’s tomb up close (note the quote from the Bible (Matthew?))

After seeing the Garden Tomb, Robin and I were exhausted from running around the Old City for nearly six straight hours, so Robin decided we should take a leisurely 45 minute walk through her favorite neighborhood in Jerusalem. I’ll admit, the neighborhood was gorgeous, but by the time we got back to our apartment we were both “ready for the bone heap.” Along the way we also got to see Jaffa Gate, which is the more popular gate for those entering the Old City from West Jerusalem.

After our traditional late afternoon siesta, Robin and I went out for an extravagant Kosher, dairy, Italian dinner at Al Dente. I was (understandably) skeptical until our food arrived, but like the gelato, it reminded me of my trip to Italy last year (in a good way). I know I said it was hard to leave Tel-Aviv (and Haifa), but Jerusalem’s treating us right so far, too!

Farewell, Tel-Aviv. Hello, Jerusalem!

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0400

For the second time this week, we had to pack up our things in a beautiful apartment to head to a new city, unsure of what lay in store for us. With heavy hearts, we summoned our strength to move our bags down to the bus station, where we set off for the arduous one-hour ride to Jerusalem. As in Haifa, our accommodations in Jerusalem were booked via AirBnB, though this time we have a private room in an apartment instead of the entire apartment itself.

With (relatively) little difficulty, we arrived at our new home at a little after 11am, and quickly settled in via eating and napping. Thankfully though, since we got there so early, we still had plenty of time to explore a neighboring building: the Israel Museum! The walk over to the museum involved about 5 minutes of walking on our street before walking through a park and by a monastery (picture below), with both the museum and the Knesset (Israeli parliament) overlooking our path. For me, though, our early afternoon siesta was not enough, so our first order of business in the museum was to buy an excellent and fiiiiine cappuccino :D

I have to admit that even when we got to the museum, I had no idea what to expect. What we found was a little of everything. The Israel Museum has both impressive art and archaeological exhibits from around the world, with, of course, a strong focus on Israeli artists. The museum itself is very modern, and laid out in a way that lends itself to lots of exploring and interactive experiences (such as a room devoted to the history of graphic design where both the walls and the floor took you through a timeline of graphic design in the 20th century).

The Shrine of the Dead Scrolls (from the outside)

The main attractions of the museum, however, are the Dead Sea scrolls and the Aleppo Codex in the Shrine of the Scrolls. The Dead Sea scrolls are ~2000 years old, and contain various books of the Torah (and other scriptures), and are contained in a shrine (pictured below). My understanding of the reason why the scrolls are so important and valuable is because it seems miraculous that large pieces of parchment were found intact after 2000 years near the Dead Sea, and because the documents themselves are holy. Robin and I slyly wondered why one would choose to store fragile documents in a building constantly being bombarded with water, but that’s another matter.

The Aleppo Codex, also stored alongside the Dead Sea scrolls, contains the Hebrew Bible as written in the 10th century. It is widely considered to be the most authoritative document to be used for the transmission of the Hebrew Scriptures, due to both its age and the few errors in its text (thanks, Wikipedia!). It also has a colorful and alluring history, as it was stored for many years in (you guessed it) Aleppo, where some thought it was too holy to even be moved. Eventually, in the middle 20th century, concern for its safety prompted some to smuggle the Codex to Jerusalem, where it sits safe and sound ever since.

Beyond these two ancient and sacred artifacts, the Israel Museum hosts a to-scale model of Jerusalem during the time of the Second Temple (which ended with its destruction by the Romans in 70 AD). The model is really very fun to walk around, especially since so many design choices for the model were made by inferencing what the city looked like from ancient documents. It also makes exploring the Old City in Jerusalem tomorrow more exciting!

After trekking back from the museum, we headed out to meet friends from Robin’s program in Cairo for dinner. Believe it or not, we had great sushi and Japanese noodles! This was even more important to me and Robin since we just watched the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi which follows the greatest sushi chef in the world; obviously it was bound to make us crave sushi. Dinner was followed by gelato, which I daresay was authentic and lived up to my memories of my trip to Italy last summer, and then sleep, since we have an exciting day of exploring the Old City tomorrow!

Lazy Sunday

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Our day began with another slam dunk breakfast of Frosted Flakes (“Frosties”), Greek yogurt, and a cheap McDonald’s cappuccino. Since the main museums in Tel-Aviv were closed, we decided to go and explore some smaller sites. Our first stop was Shouk HaCarmel (HaCarmel market), which was a decent walk to the south of where we are staying. Along the walk, though, we found a beautiful boulevard that had many prime reading spots and cafés which we took advantage of with our to-go cappuccino.

The boulevard near our reading spot on Rothschild St.

The market itself was about an 8/10 on the overcrowded markets in the Middle East and North Africa scale, but was also very encouraging due to the vast amount of fruit, cheese, and salami that was for sale. Best believe we took advantage! As for most things in life, this was both a blessing and a curse, since it hastened our return to our awesome crib so we could enjoy the fruits of our adventure.

After a delicious lunch of salami and Gouda on baguette, we mustered our remaining strength and went off in search of a (sort of) nearby coffee shop to buy gifts for our hosts (in this case, two kilos of prime coffee). Did I mention that our apartment is not just beautiful but in the center of the city? Here’s a picture from right outside the apartment on the way to the coffee shop:

After completing our daylight adventures for the day, we settled down for some Olympic basketball. Once the game was in hand for the U.S. with a few minutes remaining, we let our concentration lapse by turning everything into 3D!

Following our regular late afternoon siesta, Robin’s cousins invited us over for a homemade, Israeli-style dinner of vodka, gaspacho, salads, omelet, and watermelon. We then made it to one of Robin’s friend’s apartments for a drink, before calling it a (lazy) day.

Touring Tel-Aviv

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 09:38:00 -0400

After waking up late for the first time on this trip (!!), Robin and I ate cereal and yogurt for breakfast and then headed out for HaYarkon park. HaYarkon park is north of where we’re staying in the center of Tel-Aviv, and directly south of Tel-Aviv University. Our understanding was that the park is Tel-Aviv’s Central Park, and consists of a bike/walking path that leads to a larger park with a famous garden.

But boy did we underestimate what the park brought to the table. First off, along the spacious bike path along a river we found a zoo (pic below), as well as an aviary!

Second of all, the park was gorgeous. I’m only going to show you two images, one of where we stopped to read and one where we crossed the river, but trust me that almost every inch was colorful. Furthermore, most parts were shady; a scarer commodity than sleep on this adventure. Here’s what our reading spot looked like, as well as the view crossing the river inside the park.

This might be surprising, but this park visit took up most of our day. We ended up walking something like 12km, which I’ve taken the liberty to document on a Google Map below. The map says we walked >4km to get to the park, not to mention walking around the lake (pic below), etc. Anyway, if you’re going to Tel-Aviv, I highly recommend HaYarkon Park!

View Larger Map

Jaffa

After taking a brief afternoon siesta to watch the Olympics, Robin’s gracious cousin Uzi took us out for a drive to Jaffa. For those that don’t know, Jaffa (or Yafo) is the older city that existed before Tel-Aviv was built. We walked along the pier and the main square, and eventually found a tasty but sketchy shawarma dinner. Jaffa was quite a change from Tel-Aviv, since we got there as soon as Shabbat ended so the streets were filled with people again. A lot of our walk had its own soundtrack, too, as some hip youngsters were having an outrageous pool party.

The city center from the car

The lighthouse along the pier

Tel-Aviv as seen from Jaffa

The Sunset as seen by me

A mosque along the pier at sunset

Home Hospitality

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:56:00 -0400

Today we got up real early once more so our host could begin an (ill-advised) bathroom renovation project. That put us on an early train to Tel-Aviv, where we spent the first part of our day with Robin’s cousins, Uzi and Ongi. Unbeknownst to anyone, Robin’s cousins had secured us their son’s amazing apartment in downtown Tel-Aviv, which — I’m sorry to say — is exactly like the apartment in Haifa except much swankier :D Prime example of swankiness: when we arrived (still in shock), we turned the HDTV onto the Olympics, only to see everything had a strange blurriness. Only when Robin saw the 3D glasses next to the remote did we realize that WE COULD WATCH THE OLYMPICS IN 3D! Even the rhythmic gymnastics looked interesting.

Beyond moving into a sweet new apartment in a new city, the rest of today was spent hanging out with Robin’s cousins. They entertained us with stories of their two years in Cairo, gave us mouthwatering watermelon and Turkish coffee, and then took us out for a delicious (and swanky) dinner of spare ribs, sausage, and salad in downtown Tel-Aviv at a restaurant called Meat Bar. We’re not sure what tomorrow will bring, but we’re excited to explore this famed city and to watch the Team USA dominate in 3D!

Bahai who?

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Another morning, another amazing breakfast concocted by Robin on our finicky two-burner camp stove! Don’t worry I did the dishes and prepped the toast. We got an early start today on a long bus ride to the University of Haifa. The university did not offer the charm of either suburban/rural or urban American universities, but sitting on the top of Mount Carmel, it afforded us brilliant views of Haifa, Galilee, and much of the northern coast. These views were enhanced by the 30-story observatory that sits at the entrance to the university, which we decided to take advantage of.

Stairs by our apartment leading to the bus to the University of Haifa

University of Haifa observatory

At the top of the observatory, we could see dozens of miles in every direction, with our view only impeded by the 60s Instagram filter placed on all the windows (I don’t think they’d been washed in a generation).

Haifa from the observatory

The deck immediately adjacent to the observatory offered a sharper image.

Thanks to the wonders of functioning public transportation, we took a bus from the university to the Bahai Gardens that are the main tourist attraction in Haifa. The gardens are relatively new, as they were completed in 2002, and are the second holiest site to the Bahai, as they’ve house the remains of the founder of the faith since the early 20th century.

I’ve seen some impressive gardens in my time, but the Bahai Gardens are something else entirely. They’re comprised of 19 terraces (one for the founder, and 18 for each of his disciples), with a golden dome housing the founder’s remains. They also contain the administrative headquarters and archives of the Bahai faith, and are administered by Bahai volunteers from around the world. I find this particularly interesting given that one of the leaders of the Bahai decided that there should be no Bahai community in Israel, only gathering places. It’s like if Italy had no Catholics.

The Golden Dome from ~15th terrace

The administrative headquarters of the Bahai

Haifa from one of the terraces

Our flat as seen from the Bahai Gardens

Robin enjoying the elusive shade

After going on a FREE tour of the gardens with 50 other tourists, we returned to our flat for another delicious grilled cheese lunch and a short siesta. At around 5pm, we headed down to the neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas to look for treats and trinkets, only to find that everyone had closed shop. With no other sites to visit in the immediate vicinity, we doubled down on dinner and made a delicious pasta putavera (a sacred hybrid of primavera and puttanesca). The meal was a fitting end to our stay in Haifa, as tomorrow morning we head out for Tel-Aviv!

Next Stop Acre!

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:00:00 -0400

We started today in a way that would make anyone — traveller or not — proud: with a delicious tomato, onion, and egg scramble sandwiched between quality toast, a pot of coffee, and pomegranate juice!

Feeling invigorated, we decided that instead of doing a tour around Haifa, where most of the attractions are within walking distance of our flat, we’d set out to the nearby historic town of Acre. Acre is home to the Church of John the Baptist, as well as the holiest site in the Bahai faith (if you’re wondering what the Bahai faith is, you’re not alone. I’m sure I’ll explain more tomorrow after we visit the Bahai gardens in Haifa). In a notable change from Jordan, where buses to sites ran once a day at or before 6:30am, getting to Acre was a snap. We hopped in a sherut (shared taxi) in Hadar, and 45 minutes later were enjoying the salty breeze and prison walls.

Almost all of the old city in Acre is walkable in less than half an hour, so we breezed around the outer walls, snapping pictures and wondering why all the beaches were off-limits to swimmers. I’ll show the pictures below. After seeing the sites, we went to the suq (market) and got delicious halawiyat (pastries) as well as an amazing, way overpriced Syrian pastry that made me forget breakfast and the blazing sun entirely!

With snacks in tow, we headed back to Haifa in the manner in which we came and stumbled upon a grocery store (alhamdulila) and bought CHEESE! We didn’t even know what kind of cheese it was, but it was expensive and had holes, so does it really matter? When we got back to the crib, we turned on the Olympics and Robin made delicious grilled cheese with more tomato and onion, and did more reading and travel planning. Did we mention we love having our own apartment?

Robin next to a memorial statue

Haifa from Acre

Mosque in Acre

Robin feelin’ the breeze

The Church of John the Baptist

Max in a nook

Robin in a nook