Sunday
We showered and finished packing and had a last cup of mint tea (I must remember to try the leaves from our mint plant at home in tea) and left the comfortable and interesting hostel beside the Damascus Gate of the Old City where we have enjoyed three days and nights immersed in the Arab culture. We saw two or three women carrying baskets on their heads.
We took a taxi to the Central bus station to avoid carrying our packs to the bus stop by Jaffa Gate.
Boarding the bus was chaotic, with no one seeming to know if it was the right bus, even the many soldiers and others who were boarding. We had asked one lady and she sort of took us under her wing, correctly getting us onto the right bus. After putting our bags in the bus bay, we sat in our reserved seats watching out the window and being a bit worried that some of the people milling around outside might take the bags. There seems to be no bag security of any kind - not a very good system in our opinion.
The ride to Eilat was about 4 ½ hours long, the past the Dead Sea again and through the Negev Desert.
The industry at the south end of the sea, where they take out minerals deposited there, was extensive and interesting, even though we didn't really know what we were seeing. From time to time as we traveled through the desert, we came upon groves of palm trees and a few oasis-es.
The Israelis have developed a highly refined means of watering huge fields of beautiful crops, using hose or metal pipes and carefully controlling the water use. No one ever seems to be around managing it, so it must be automatic, but we really can't see how it works. Schmulik says they are sharing their technology with the Jordanians.
We made one 30 minute stop at an oasis with a gas station, restaurant, and convenience store. We resisted the Ben & Jerry's and each had another Magnus ice cream bar.
They are so expensive that we are considering splitting one each time!
When we reached Eilat, we bought our return bus tickets to Tel Aviv. A very obnoxious, self-centered man took about 30 minutes arguing with the ticket agent and obstructing both lanes of people waiting to buy tickets. He was yelling and screaming and using his phone. A man "with him" just laughed at him most of the time. It was stressful to us because, though we were second in our line, we were worried that we couldn't get our Tel Aviv ticket and catch the once per hour city bus to Coral Beach where our condo is.
We did catch the bus on time finally, and it left us off just past the petrol station. We walked the relatively short distance with our backpacks in the heat to Club In and checked in and were given a room overlooking the swimming pool -- neat.
We shopped for groceries on site (we are not within close walking distance to anything, it appears), rested, watched TV, and watched the DVD on Israel's wars since 1917. If we'd have watched that from home, we probably wouldn't have come to Israel! The Israel we've experienced has been reasonably peaceful, though the Arabs are angry and loud and volatile.
We showered and finished packing and had a last cup of mint tea (I must remember to try the leaves from our mint plant at home in tea) and left the comfortable and interesting hostel beside the Damascus Gate of the Old City where we have enjoyed three days and nights immersed in the Arab culture. We saw two or three women carrying baskets on their heads.
We took a taxi to the Central bus station to avoid carrying our packs to the bus stop by Jaffa Gate.
Boarding the bus was chaotic, with no one seeming to know if it was the right bus, even the many soldiers and others who were boarding. We had asked one lady and she sort of took us under her wing, correctly getting us onto the right bus. After putting our bags in the bus bay, we sat in our reserved seats watching out the window and being a bit worried that some of the people milling around outside might take the bags. There seems to be no bag security of any kind - not a very good system in our opinion.
The ride to Eilat was about 4 ½ hours long, the past the Dead Sea again and through the Negev Desert.
The industry at the south end of the sea, where they take out minerals deposited there, was extensive and interesting, even though we didn't really know what we were seeing. From time to time as we traveled through the desert, we came upon groves of palm trees and a few oasis-es.
The Israelis have developed a highly refined means of watering huge fields of beautiful crops, using hose or metal pipes and carefully controlling the water use. No one ever seems to be around managing it, so it must be automatic, but we really can't see how it works. Schmulik says they are sharing their technology with the Jordanians.
We made one 30 minute stop at an oasis with a gas station, restaurant, and convenience store. We resisted the Ben & Jerry's and each had another Magnus ice cream bar.
They are so expensive that we are considering splitting one each time!
When we reached Eilat, we bought our return bus tickets to Tel Aviv. A very obnoxious, self-centered man took about 30 minutes arguing with the ticket agent and obstructing both lanes of people waiting to buy tickets. He was yelling and screaming and using his phone. A man "with him" just laughed at him most of the time. It was stressful to us because, though we were second in our line, we were worried that we couldn't get our Tel Aviv ticket and catch the once per hour city bus to Coral Beach where our condo is.
We did catch the bus on time finally, and it left us off just past the petrol station. We walked the relatively short distance with our backpacks in the heat to Club In and checked in and were given a room overlooking the swimming pool -- neat.
We shopped for groceries on site (we are not within close walking distance to anything, it appears), rested, watched TV, and watched the DVD on Israel's wars since 1917. If we'd have watched that from home, we probably wouldn't have come to Israel! The Israel we've experienced has been reasonably peaceful, though the Arabs are angry and loud and volatile.
No comments:
Post a Comment