Very remiss

I've gone a bit quiet over the last couple of weeks - there's much to update you on! I think I left matters at our pilgrim hostel in The Galilee. It's a lovely area. So tranquil in fact that the Bible stories about storms on the Sea of Galilee seemed a little far fetched - until a storm suddenly blew up one night and you could see that it would be rather unpleasant to be out on the water. Our white car also got caked in mud as dirt blew in.

We visited the classic sites where significant things are said to have happened (apart from Capernaum, which is an impressive ruin, there is the usual guesswork going on). Either way, Jesus was pretty active in the region and you can see how the references to him walking from one place to another (and taking time out in the fields) all fit together.

We also popped into Tsfat (well, that's one transliteration, but there are plenty of others - Hebrew there's no standard way of writing Hebrew names in English), it's the home of Kaballah, which I'm told Madonna is very fond of. You can only imagine how much the Lonely Planet loves the home of Jewish mysticism - positively salivating. It's actually a nice town up in the hills, which has memories of the time which led to the creation of the State of Israel. There's a staircase which the British built to keep the Jews and Arabs apart. We didn't see all that many Arabs during our visit there.

Eve's culinary highlight came on the way home from Tsfat - a goats cheese farm down a dirt track which served platters containing ten homemade goats cheeses and other goodies.

Surely nothing good can come from Nazareth

On the way from the Dead Sea to Galilee we popped into Nazareth. It didn't take long to identify with the Biblical quote above. The sites are of the sort we don't enjoy so much - finding somewhere where something in the Bible may have happened and build an enormous church on it (and if there are rival places, build two churches!). The food, however, was nothing short of superb. After a yummy dinner, it was time to head to Galilee and our German pilgrim hostel (according to the Lonely Planet). Rarely could the word hostel have been so misused. It's a lovely spot and serves lovely cakes and draft beer on its terrace overlooking the Lake.

On to lighter things (there's a pun there)

Day 2 at the Dead Sea took us to the desert hills and luscious pools of Ein Gedi - a popular hang out of King David in days of yore. It was then into the sea itself - a brilliantly surreal experience which I'm told also did wonders for my skin. It's actually a bit tricky to only keep your head above water - your legs are automatically drawn to the surface.

We stayed just off the southern tip of the Dead Sea in a moshav - seemingly a slightly less communist version of a kibbutz. It sounds like on a kibbutz everything is held in common. A moshav apparently allows the successful to keep some of their profits. We were right by the Jordanian border (which may have been the reason why there were - admittedly young and relaxed looking - armed soldiers guarding the entrance to the town) - you could see the border from the terrace of our little cabin. It came as a bit of a surprise that about half the moshav seemed to hail from Thailand (Singha appeared to be the top selling beer in the supermarket). Never did get to the bottom of that.

Suicide or heroism?

Despite the foreboding title, this isn't a post about bombers. Rather it relates to Masada down by the Dead Sea. Herod built this amazing place up in the hills overlooking the Dead Sea. Terraces, stream rooms, saunas - the lot. When the Jews started to revolt against the Romans, the Romans cracked down heavily and the last remaining rebels took over Masada. Herod had stocked the place so well they had enough stuff to last them for literally years. However, the Romans weren't willing to wait that long and, after many months trying, were finally on the verge of breaching the walls. By the time they did, basically the whole populace was dead (a few people managed to escape the well organised suicide pact).

The Scrolls

They've built a cracking museum to display the Dead Sea Scrolls. Not only is the architecture clever and iconic, it's also pretty insightful. It appears that the chaps who had the Scrollswere a group who had had it with Jerusalem and the Temple. All a bit corrupt and defiled for their liking, so they went off to set up their own community which more closely modelled how they thought things should be. They were committed to the idea of the Human Sanctuary i.e. that God dwelt in people rather than the Temple - sounded similar to what another guy was saying a little later.

Moving feast

You realise how arbitrary some sites are when you hear some stories. Apparently the site of Stephen's stoning moved a few hundred years ago to a more convenient spot. Mount Zion had also moved it seems. The Temple Mount was the original Mount Zion, but the name has since attached itself to another raised bit of land just outside today's old city.

One place which doesn't seem to have moved is the City of David. A stone's throw from the old city if you've got a decent arm. The exhibition starts with what I'm sure some would find a slightly provocative video which ends with news of resettling certain areas. Anyway, the really cool bit is walking through Hezekiah's tunnel - a 3,000 or so year old construction to help bring water into the city in case of inevitable siege. About 450 metres of underground tunnel with accompanying ankle deep water - an extraordinary construction achievement.

Jerusalem - walls

Having put some thoughts in the previous posts, I thought I might mention some of the places we've actually been.

The Old City in Jerusalem must be one of the world's great cultural and religious melting pots. Four quarters are gathered within its walls - although the Armenians obviously weren't quite so up on their maths, so their quarter seems to be a fair amount smaller than the Christian, Jewish and Muslim equivalents. A walk around gave us a good impression of the place - one of the striking things is that the quarters are a bit rough and ready in terms of demarcation. Mosques, churches and synagogues can be found in each of the quarters.

We came off the wall and wandered on and stumbled upon the Wailing Wall. There's a sign up confirming that the Chief Rabbi is happy that walking through the scanner does constitute a violation of the Sabbath. However, going up to the Temple Mount is a no-go according to the Chief Rabbi. Not (as I understand it) because the Dome of the Rock Mosque is up there, but rather because you might accidentally step on the Holy of Holies (given that its exact location is unknown).

The Wailing Wall was a little quiet the first time we were there, but a return visit on the Sabbath was (as you would expect) a different matter (the guy at security was also a bit more fastidious, he seemed keen for me to declare that I had a knife with me - I had to disappoint him). A steady stream of people poured into the area in front of the Wall from the three separate entrances. There were very distinct groups gathered to pray and sing. One chap seemed to be some form of youth leader who got a whole bunch of people singing and stood on a chair so the women on the other side of the fence could join in too.