Week 4 The Holy Land

Monday 1st February

A feeling of solidarity has sprung up between us pilgrims so that, despite being free to go where we please this week, most of us seem to be keen to stick together as a group. Today we've stayed in Jerusalem. There is, after all, a huge amount to see and do and we've covered a fair old mileage just walking along the Via Dolorosa, where high walls cast deep shade, going from the Wailing Wall to the Yad Vashem, the deeply moving Holocaust memorial, from the Tomb of Lazarus to the Garden Tomb.

The golden Dome of the Rock is a gleaming landmark from any height. We climb up the Mount of Olives as the sun is going down, leeching warmth from the air as it goes, and the view is breathtaking.

Tuesday 2nd

To Bethlehem today, walking up the hill of Manger Street, imagining we are weary travellers with a donkey, expecting our first child any moment now. The town is bustling with people and cars but it does not take much of a leap to wonder how they must have felt finding nowhere to lay their heads. Ancient walls mingle with modern concrete and it is all very tourist oriented and uncomfortably commercial. Inevitably. Some of us queue to see the grotto in the Church of the Nativity, which might have been a more spiritual experience if we had arrived earlier when it was less crowded.

From there we go down to the Dead Sea, where, walking along the coast road, with groves of palms on our left, we see a flock of starlings, or grackles, whizzing past in a flash of scarlet and black. We come to Kalia Beach where we float happily in the warm salty water and wallow in the mud, convinced that we will all be so much more beautiful afterwards. We relax with a drink and a snack and admire the obvious efforts to be eco-friendly with recycling and solar energy as well as their pride in allowing nature to show off its own unspoilt glory.

It is pomegranate season and as we approach Jericho we find roadside stalls piled high, feasts of ruby red watched over by Arab women because here we are on the West Bank, in the Palestinian territory. The Jordan valley is a green ribbon of fertility in an otherwise arid landscape and we enjoy the coolness wherever our path takes us near the river, although we keep a wary eye on Syria, across the river. 

In ancient Jericho we find that, although the city lies at 244 metres below sea level, to get up to the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St George, built precariously into the side of the cliff face on the Mount of Temptation, we have to climb to 350 metres above sea level. It is a long and winding path but well worth the effort. The monk who shows us around tells us in faultless English that it was here that Jesus sheltered during his 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness. The landscape all around is apparently peppered with caves where the hermits lived in monastic simplicity until they were wiped out by the Persians.

We would like to visit the pool where St John baptised Jesus but it is getting late and we must leave it for another time. On the way back we come upon a young shepherd (or is it a shepherdess?) leading a flock of brown and white flop-eared sheep. It is easy to see why both sides of the divide in this country feel so strongly. Each feels the strong ancestral pull of the land, each trying to care for their family and livelihoods. Whatever the international political perspective may be, here and now they are individual people doing the best they can as they perceive it.

Wednesday 3rd

It is not a very long walk, by our standards, to the sprawling town of Nazareth. Here the most striking thing, apart from the competition between the ancient and the modern town, are the competing interests of different branches of Christianity as to exactly where the Annunciation took place.

At the Sea of Galilee we are again more than 200 feet below sea level in a lush green landscape. A pleasure boat drifts to the landing stage at Tiberias, a roman spa town surrounded by hot springs. Here a massacre took place during the Jewish revolt against Rome at the end of which the defeated Jews were herded into the amphitheatre where the 'old and useless' were put to death and the rest led off to slavery. The amphitheatre lies under a hotel these days but we wander among the magnificent Roman remains that are left. Further along the  coast at Gennesaret we look in at the museum to see the preserved remains of a first century fishing boat; this and the ruins of the synagogue and of town houses at Caperneum brings all those Bible stories to life. 

We head back via Cana, where the prospect of water and wine speed us on to Jerusalem.

Thursday 4th

Southwards today to Ein Gedi, an oasis and nature reserve where waterfalls tumble into cool pools and our ever growing group (we're now 85) frightens off the wildlife. Pity: it would have been nice to spot an ibex. We potter about at our own pace, a little reluctant to press on too quickly along the shores of the Dead Sea to our next port of call, Massada.

On this rocky plateau high above the Dead Sea are the ruins of the fortress where the palace of King Herod with beautiful mosaics would be impressive enough but the archeology is entirely overshadowed by the heroism of the Jewish defenders against the Romans who burnt everything and committed mass suicide rather than fall victim to the might of the Roman army. 960 dead. Sobering.

Friday 5th

A day off in Tel Aviv. A return to the 21st century and the first retail therapy since Istanbul! Our new arrival, the 86th pilgrim, caught up with us in time to sample some delicious dishes at Humus Abu Assan near Jaffa Port.

Saturday 6th

At breakfast we were all a little anxious, anticipating our RV with Mikka, the Laughing Finn tomorrow night. The consensus was that we'd like to be a bit nearer the border tonight to be absolutely sure we'd be there in good time. 

The decision made, we packed up, said our goodbyes at our accommodation and assembled by late morning. We followed the coast road northwards, turning inland to to explore the Mount Carmel National Park where the prophet Elijah saw off the followers of Ba'al and the Carmelite order of nuns had their original convent. With fabulous views across the hills to the Mediterranean it was the perfect place to spend the last hours of daylight before spending the night in Haifa. This elegant city turns out to be a paradise for the foodies among us and our evening there is so pleasant as to calm the nerves that jangled among the pilgrims this morning. Tomorrow will be fine, we tell ourselves.