May 24-25 - Eilat to Tel Aviv

Sunday
Yesterday we relaxed in our cool time share and walked back to the Aroma Internet Cafe and spent several hours again updating, E-mailing, and gathering information. We stopped first at an ATM to get more shekels, so this time we could order some aroma coffee and felt more comfortable using the cafe’s facilities for so many hours.
Today we took the five hour bus ride to Tel Aviv where we will catch the plane to Athens tomorrow evening. The ride through most of the Negev Desert (hot, hot, but a nice air-conditioned bus)



followed the same route we followed going south to Eilat last Sunday, until we came to the junction where the road turns east to follow the Dead Sea to Jerusalem. Here we turned west and climbed a steep and winding road through the desert mountains toward the Mediterranean Sea. We saw many warning signs along the highway to watch out for camels! Soon after we got through the mountains we came to Beersheeba (the Bible often describes Israel "from Dan to Beersheeba." The city is large and beautiful with skyscrapers and flowers. North of Beersheeba, grain fields and sheep give way to truck farming, fruit trees, and many more cities.inued north. This highly productive area, reaching all the way to Tel Aviv, reminds us of Florida. The fields are huge,



and again, we saw no one tending the irrigation or working out in the fields (except for a shepherd with each group of sheep.)
We listened to hymns on the MP3 player as we drove through this lovely area. It was thrilling to hear hymns like "Mary, Did You Know," "Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God," "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High," "Our God Is An Awesome God," and "Father, I Adore You" while driving through the Israel countryside! A lovely Interstate highway,



polite drivers, and many cars were a contrast to the large number of scratched up, bumped up cars we saw from the hostel area in the Arab district of Jerusalem. The drivers in that Jerusalem area were always honking their horns and driving in a way that was hard on their cars!
We reached Tel Aviv and had little trouble finding the Mo Mo hostel using the city bus system. The bus went right past the hostel and the bus stop was at that corner. The hostel is fine but not as friendly as the one in Jerusalem. We were surprised to see two different young people that we had met at the New Palm Hostel in Jerusalem as we checked in at Mo Mo’s. We walked to a nearby grocery store and bought a few things to eat, worked on the free wireless Internet in our room, and slept well, noticing how much cooler it is here than in Eilat.