Home for the Holidays

We don't really have a place to call home, but since all the family is gathering in Bethesda, that is certainly home for the holidays.

Jon wanted to sing along

Last night was definitely a unique wrap-up to a great fall in the Mediterranean.  We started with a choral concert in one of the chapels connected to the Sevilla Cathedral.  Maybe not the most polished ensemble, but you put recognizable Christmas tunes in a spectacular setting, the result is a wonderful toast to the season.

Gretchen wanted to clap along

Next we wandered for a bit across town to a bar/beer hall which we discovered with Adam and Meg last year.  It was filled with youngsters.  The three American girls next to us had a pitcher of Agua de Sevilla.  It's a concoction of champagne, triple-sec, whisky and pineapple juice, topped with 3 or 4 inches of whipped cream.  You stir the whipped cream into the pitcher.


  The same flamenco singer, dancer and guitarist were there and the music was as electric and passionate as last year.  Live flamenco is about as sensual an experience as music can provide.

Keyless in Sevilla

So that puts us at our apartment building door about midnight.  And that's when we discovered that, instead of the apartment keys, J had pocketed the keys to the roof-top terrace.  No building door key and no apartment door key.  At midnight.  G got the giggles.  J got very quiet.  We checked into a nearby hotel and had a restless night thinking about the situation.  The next morning (after the hotel's breakfast buffet, included) a call to the rental agency quickly resolved everything and the owner of the apartment graciously came by to let us into our apartment.


















So what better way to say Adios.  We'll probably start gretchjon3.blogspot.com after the New Year from Buenos Aires.

They Ate With Their Coats On

Hospital de Santiago in Ubeda

This week we took a trip to the Jaen province of Andalucia, a  four hour bus ride from Sevilla.  Two towns east of the city of Jaen are known for their renaissance architecture.  First stop was Ubeda.   Brrrr.  The sun was out but it was windy and cold.  There were two interesting art exhibitions in the Hospital de Santiago.

Parador at Ubeda

Spain has a government owned and operated chain of hotels called Paradors.  They are a means of preserving monuments and palaces, and are known for luxurious historical charm.  We have visited many, but never spent the night.  This Parador is in a 16th century renaissance palace.

View from our room at the Parador

 The Parador at Ubeda was delightful.  The central courtyard had a glass ceiling which made it possible to heat the interior (thank you very much)  The ceiling in the room was original and maybe 20 feet high.  Our room on the seond floor faced the plaza.

Next to the Parador, Sacra Capilla del Salvador

At one end of the plaza was one of the many churches in Ubeda.  Spectacular "chapel".

Downtown Ubeda

We enjoyed walking streets and alleys of Ubeda, although the cold was uncomfortable.  Jon bought a stocking cap to cover his ears, and Gretchen pulled up a turtle neck over her nose (remember Bazooka Joe).  Lots of beautiful pottery shops with a traditional green glaze.

The olive groves from Ubeda

The view from the city wall shows the endless olive groves.  The Jaen province is considered the heart of olive oil production for Spain.

Baeza

After a night in Ubeda, we caught a 1 euro bus ride to Baeza (often referred to as Ubeda's twin).  We had a remarkable dinner at the hotel, a multicourse tasting menu including bull tail stew, bacalao, garlic and mushroom soup and an apple tart for desert.  The most unique course was shaved dried/smoked tuna on a bed of mushrooms and short angel hair pasta.  The waiter delivered it in covered soup dishes, and when he removed the lid, the tissue paper-thin tuna wriggled and moved like a nest of tiny flat snakes.  And it didn't stop moving.  We called the waiter back to ask whether the food was living and finally figured out that the air movement from the ceiling vent was causing the tuna to look like it was alive. Definitely one of the strangest plates of food ever, but tasty.

Organ recital in Baeza

The next day was Saturday the 4th of December.  We found a booklet advertising an early music festival with a month-long series of concerts in Ubeda and Baeza.  Scheduled for Baeza was an organ recital to be held on Sunday the 4th of December.  The tourist office was clueless, and decided that it was most likely that the date was the problem (ie the concert was the next day).  But we persevered, walked to the church and discovered that the recital would be held Saturday.  We sat with probably 50 others to hear old organ music, on an old organ, in an old church.  Fun time.

Next we walked to the bus station and rode home, arriving just 10 minutes before the start of the Oregon-Oregon State football game.  Gretchen's passionate rooting for Oregon State, her alma mater, couldn't derail Oregon from the national championship game in January

Top 10: Why We Returned to Sevilla

Last year we were in Sevilla for three months and we feel most fortunate to be able to end our tour of the Wine Dark Sea here.

Ronda

Number 10.  The Andulucian Region  While Sevilla is the capital of this region, there are numerous interesting places near here for a break from the sensory overload of the old city. The Roman ruins of Italica, the 3rd largest after Rome and Alexandria, is only a few kilometers from here by bus. Jerez, the home to dozens of sherry producers (the Castillian word Jerez comes from the Arabic Sherish), is an hour's drive.   Los Pueblos Blancos,  east of Sevilla, are small villages on hilltops with stunning views of the plains below.  Ronda is perhaps the most famous.   Their whitewashed buildings make them stand out as you drive across the country towards Cordoba or Granada, home to the famed Alhambra.

A University Singing Club

Number 9.  The "Old" City  The city center of Sevilla sits in a bend in the river Guadalquiver.  And the "historic district" is not a distinct area surrounded by a modern city, but rather the historic district is the downtown of Sevilla.  It is a maze of  alley-sized walking streets.  A few allow cars, but you don't find in the center any confusion or noise from car, motorcycle, scooter or bicycle traffic.  It is a walking city filled with tapas bars, cafes, small shops and apartments with roof-top terraces. 

What is particularly remarkable is that this city has not suffered a single destructive war or conflict since the Christians recaptured the city from the Moors in 1248 (after almost 500 years as a major Moorish center) .  Few cities in Europe are able to claim that they have avoided the wars which leave blocks and blocks in rubble.  Many buildings and monuments remain from the Moorish period.

Parading past the garbage swallowers

Number 8.  The Garbage Disappears  Not sure where it goes, but most of the plazas have these submarine-like turrets which swallow up the live garbage.  There must be an extensive underground system of tunnels, but we aren't particularly interested in taking the tour.  Above ground  are bins for glass and paper recycling. 

The smallest plaza in the city

Number 7.  Architecture and Plazas  Anyone who loves puzzles would love the layout of this city.  While historians say that a series of alleys were built to deter intruders, in modern times it makes for interesting walking and countless stops for photo ops.  Colorful tile and orange trees are found everywhere.  Very few modern structures clash with the classic "Southern Spanish Look."  Graceful arches lead to stately public buildings, homes with interior courtyards seen only from street front doors momentarily left ajar--- it is a wonderful place to get lost and wonderful fun to find your way out again to a familiar plaza.   What the Romans and  Moors began, the Spaniards only improved upon.

Plaza de Espana, perhaps the largest plaza in Sevilla

Triana Bridge

Tio Pepe, one of the Jerez sherry producers

Number 6. Wine Oh, let us count the ways!  Sevilla is first of all in the region that produces sherry.  Not that sweet sipping kind -- it is exported to England, where they truly appreciate it.  We're talking fino, manzanilla, amontillado or oloroso generally dry, and rather something in a class all their own.  They are served chilled and complements tapas perfectly.  We have also discovered a myriad of Spanish tintos (reds) from Rioja and Ribera del Duero, that again go wonderfully with the local food.  Many are 5 Euros or less per bottle.

Passion of the Flamenco

Number 5: Music  The breadth of the musical scene is remarkable.  We have been to symphony concerts in the magnificent modern concert hall, Teatro la Maestranza.  We have enjoyed sweaty, jam-packed, late night flamenco singing and dancing for the price of a beer.  Also the haunting, chamber music recitals in baroque gilded churches are some of our favorite memories.  The University of Sevilla sponsors weekly concerts at the Iglesia de la Anunciacion, just a few blocks from our apartment.  This week we enjoyed the university symphony from Uppsala, Sweden, probably about 100 players.  This group, founded in the 1600s, draws from the university students and faculty at large -- generally not from the music department.  A Swedish composer of one of the pieces was in the audience.  Just another weekly free event minutes away.

A Baroque Violin Recital

The Cathedral and La Giralda

Number 4.  The Bells.  The city is full of churches and sunset on our rooftop patio with snacks and a bottle of wine is perfect for listening to the concert of church bells as they call people to mass. At the center is the third largest Christian cathedral, after St Peter's in Rome and St Paul's in London.  The cathedral's tower, the symbol of the city, was formerly a minaret, and is called La Giralda.  The access to the bell tower is by means of a ramp, not stairs.  The ramp allowed horses to carry the prayer caller to the top.  Our apartment is five minute walk from the cathedral and a stone's throw from the second largest church in Sevilla, Iglesia del Salvador.










Number 3.  Daily Fresh Food Markets  The closest to us is at Plaza Encarnacion, which has been under construction for years, maybe for decades.  They are building a collection of huge, round towers, locally referred to as "the mushroom" and perhaps someday we will return to see what it does other than cover the market area.  Today the market is hidden in a back corner waiting for completion of the mushroom.  The alternative is a 15 minutes walk across the river to the neighborhood of Triana and a wonderful indoor collection of vendors selling the freshest and most beautiful fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, cheese, sweets and all sorts of delicacies.  At a tapas bar in the market,  when you order the waiter scurries to a nearby stall to pick out and purchase the ingredients.

Salmon and Vegetables Tapa

Number 2: Tapas  The story we heard was that King Alfonso X was concerned about the consumption of alcohol by his constituents, and therefore decreed that each glass of wine or beer had to be accompanied with a slice of ham or chorizo, placed over the glass.  From this the tradition of "tapas" or "lids" has overtaken the city.  Probably our favorite is mambru, a concoction of toast, fig jam, aged goat cheese, caramelized onions and drizzled with balsamic honey reduction.  Sevilla has a city wide contest of serious proportions -- each little bar and cafe has a specialty of some fresh, tasty treat sold either as a small plate (a tapa) or a entree (a racion).  Last weekend we had tortilla de camarones and chanquetes con huevos fritos y pimentos.  That translates to a crispy thin fritter, the size of a saucer and made with whole small shrimp, and a plate of tiny fried fish mixed with a fried egg and roasted red peppers.

Our Favorite Neighborhood Bar - La Bodega Alfalfa

Number 1.  Style  This one is tough to capture.  There is a grace and beauty to Sevilla.  You start with the mix of Moorish and Christian cultures, throw in the horse-breeding, wealthy farmers and add a sense of pride and well-being.  Walking Sevilla on a weekend afternoon you see everywhere families with mothers and daughters walking arm in arm, outdoor cafes filled with relaxed coffee drinkers reading the newspaper and plazas where old and young meet to enjoy a beer while standing at small, tall, round tables.  It's picture post-card perfect!

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Are We There? Are We Where?

A blur of days walking, gawking and eating in Italy, France and Spain separated by nights on Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas.   

Cruise #1 finished in Venice and we had a day to visit the city again, stopping for another lunch, time in an internet café, and a little souvenir shopping.  The goal was the Guggenheim Museum, but somehow that fell by the wayside--we wandered the wonderful alleys for most of the morning and then the wet and chilly day turned sunny after lunch.  We returned to the ship with four bottles of Italian red wine and a block of Tallegio cheese.  Almost enough to get us to Cadiz by way of Cruise # 2.

The morning after leaving Venice we were in Split, Croatia.  Red and white checkerboard everywhere, a symbol from the Croat flag and national soccer team.  The city is surprisingly prosperous and thriving.  The Roman emperor Diocletian built a huge palace complex here and just outside the walls of the palace the local farmers were holding a beautiful produce market.  We stopped for a slice of pizza, but were thwarted when they only accepted Croat “kunas”.  Venice spoiled us since it’s truly a multi-currency city.  We stumbled across a very pleasant surprise in the old part of the city.  Four young men singing unaccompanied traditional Dalmatian songs.  They had exceptional voices, but unfortunately stopped after we heard only one song.

Naples was next.  We decided that we had seen enough classic ruins in Greece, so passed on Pompeii in favor of the archeological museum  where the “stuff” from Pompeii was displayed.  The first floor of the museum is dedicated to the Farnese collection of Roman statues.   The contrast with the headless and armless statues in Greece was remarkable.  Most of these were copies of Greek works and many had been reworked and repaired during the Renaissance, adding heads and other missing parts.  Gretchen actually recognized and identified a statue of Emperor Hadrian’s boyfriend because of a statue we saw in Olympia, Greece.  We left the museum in search of a pizza restaurante and by chance found a little place filled with non-tourists and with a single empty table.   Fresh arugula on a proscuitto pizza is wonderful!  There was a long line waiting outside when we finished lunch -- that's a great recommendation.

The only downer about our first visit to Naples was a garbage strike

Luckily Rome is only a short train ride from the port of Civitavecchia –and although we have been to Rome before, this time we had the luxury of just meandering for the day—no schedule to adhere to, no sights to check off in the book—just walking and enjoying stepping on every 4”cobble the city had lain down in its history.  Of course we had to revisit Trevi Fountain and fling three coins over our shoulders—after all, doing this in 1990 had brought us back, right?  Our wish came true!

Wandered over to the Spanish Steps, then down to the river and past the Vatican.  'Nough walking,  climbed on a bus back to the train station and we were on the ship at 3:30pm ready to remove our shoes and put  our feet up.

Villefranche, France

G:  Villefranche, a small port between Nice and Monaco, was the next day’s stop.  We haven’t encountered that many rainy days on trips past, but this was one of them.  The small town was all buttoned up for the winter....hotels and restaurants closed.  We were the only ship in the port and it was the last cruise of the season for this area.   All morning and into the afternoon it rained—the train bound for Nice came before the one bound for Monaco so we took it, having seen neither.  We wandered about, carefully choosing a restaurant that was offering a daily special of “Moules  (mussels) & Frites”…..and were salivating as we waited for the server to take our order…..”Termine”, she said.  No more moules left.  We sulked, got up and walked out in search another restaurant.  We found them near the flower market in a not so busy restaurant and ordered one bowl and the most beautiful salad of artichoke halves, grilled red peppers, green beans and pine nuts garnished with cuke slices and cherry tomatoes  While we we were dining, a walking tour from our ship happened by, single file, umbrellas up.  We were exactly where we wanted to be!  And the moules were small and wonderful!

G:  There was even time for me to pick up a few pieces of beach glass and a sand sample to add to my growing,  weighty collection.  Never had to don a swimsuit or fight the crowds—there wasn’t a soul on the beach except a mother and son having a sandwich in the rain.....just the sound of the round smooth rocks tumbled by the surf.

Our last stop was Barcelona, a favorite.  Again we spent the day hoofing around.  Stopped for tapas at La Tramoia, a recommended bar/restaurant.  Gambas en garlic, fried small peppers, croquettes, choricitos and a nice rose.

Cairo for a Day

Next morning we were treated to a new and improved guide, Hosney, and we shared this “Santa Claus” van with Irene and Rob from England for a day in Cairo.  We jumped on a freeway for the 2 ½ hr ride to Cairo, where we wasted no time getting to the famous Archeological Museum, home of the King Tut treasures and all of the other spoils of the Egyptian tombs.  What we were NOT anticipating was the state of disrepair of this old museum, whose simple glass cases looked as they could be easily tipped over.  Faded typed 3x5 cards explained the items in the cases in Arabic and sometimes English.  There was much sand on the floors from peoples’ shoes and even though the floors and stairs were marble,  they were chipped and well-worn.    Dirty unpainted walls made this building feel like a train station in need of renovation. The dim lighting was antiquated while other painted objects  were sitting in bright morning sun.  In other words, such old artifacts were being subjected to the elements.  And for those items NOT in cases, it was even worse… signs 10 feet in the air on the wall said “Do Not Touch”, but no one saw them and many proceeded to touch every item they walked by.  But the items were nonetheless spectacular and we were awestruck.  Pictures were not allowed in the museum….so alas, our memories are in our heads until we can get our hands on a used book when we get home!  The really GOOD NEWS is that a NEW MUSEUM is being built at Giza to house the whole collection.  Only a small fraction of the goodies are displayed.  Oh, to return for  that!

As we drove through Cairo on our way to lunch, this contrast of cultures was one of the many sightings that left us with our mouths open.  Not wanting to waste time, we nixed the idea of a proper sit down lunch, opting instead for Hosney’s offer of a quick stop at a take-out restaurant.  Two gyros and two chicken shwarma later, he brought our lunch to us in the van and we were on our way to Giza and the pyramids.

The Great Pyramids are the last of the Wonders of the Ancient World left standing and they are impressive.  Now to locate the TV special I saw a few years back on how they were made.  National Geographic, maybe?  Now only the lower few layers may be climbed upon…  a short ride away provided  a nice vista of the pyramids illuminated by the late afternoon sun—picture courtesy of Hosney.

Another short ride down the hill and we arrived at the famous giant Sphinx.  He was as handsome as his pictures and although we were not able to get up close, we were able to enter the temple ruins just below him, imagining the days when  he watched over the temple.

Two young girls charmed us with their English skills just outside the temple, and G just had to have a beaded hat that they were selling.  They made our day!  We hated to leave the site, but we did want to get to one of the papyrus factories to see how paper is made from this plant stalk and then embellished with paintings of the people, hieroglyphics and motifs of the ancient world of the Pharaohs.

Egypt and Alexandria



West meets Middle East.



Our arrival in Alexandria was about two hours late for unexplained reasons.  We met our guide Christina at the dock.  She quickly pointed out that she wasn’t wearing a headscarf because she is an Arab Roman Catholic.  We were surprised to hear that about 20% of the population of Egypt is Christian, primarily Coptic.  But from looking at the streets, it seems that all the women have their heads covered.  Probably only 5% are completely covered with a burka. 

About 80 Million people live on 5% of the land – the Nile valley is where the water is and where the people thrive.  Alexandria sits just west of the Nile Delta on the Mediterranean.

The highlight of our time in Alexandria was a visit to the largest mosque in the city, Abu Al-Abbas.   Men and women enter through different doors, having first checked their shoes just outside.  Once inside, we were able to see each other over a movable wooden screen—running right through the middle of the HUGE open mosque.  There were stacks of loaner Korans available.  We didn’t spend much time, but were thrilled to have the experience.   It was clear that many women come and spend  their morning there camped out in chairs watching the comings and goings.

Carpeted throughout



Korans to Borrow



 Since we had only just arrived the in country hours before, would we get our shoes back without a tip to the “handler” since we had no Turkish lira as yet?   Our guide spoke to the handler and retrieved our shoes without incident.  Jon wasn’t so lucky.  He gave what odd pocket change he had, but it wasn’t enough…. the handler  wanted 1 Euro.  Jon just took his shoes and left, leaving his disgruntled handler behind.



Trams given to Egypt in the 1800s.  Still running



 After a trip to where the 200 BC Pharos lighthouse USED to stand, we drove along the bay visiting the new  Bibliotec/Planetarium, going inside neither.   The Royal Palace built by King Farok as a vacation home was at the far end of the bay—we were offered a photo stop of the outside, but it is closed to the public.  Then we entered the market neighborhood and were able to get our eyes full while we were stuck numerous times in traffic.

The garbage, the burned out cars, the old taxis from Russia,  the numbers of pedestrians  wandering through traffic to get to the deals  offered on the streets.   We laughed as a clothing merchant  heaved a huge pile of ladies clothing in to the air, letting it land on the table  to make the offerings look new to the ladies standing around him.  Then the pawing began….and the scene was repeated up and down the streets.



Shopping in Alexandria



We were surprised how drab and dirty the housing was in the areas we visited.  Some streets were so narrow, there was no daylight between the buildings.  Most windows were closed and shuttered –is there no fresh air available or is privacy more important?



Vısıt to Jerusalem

 

 

The wall ın Jerusalem dıvıdıng the West Bank from Israel



We were out bright and early the next morning having sailed south from Haifa, past Tel Aviv to the main port of Israel at Ashdod.  Again our tour guide Joe was waiting for us at the dock.  We drove east for more than one hour to the view point of Mt Scopus just outside of Jerusalem.  It gave us our first look at the symbol of this divided land – a concrete wall that separates Israel and the West Bank.



Vıew from Mt of Olıves wıth Jewısh Cemetery ın foreground



 Before entering Jerusalem we stopped at the Mt. of Olives.  The old city was directly across from us on the other side of the small valley.  We stood in a huge Jewish Cemetery which covers the hillside.  Gesemane is at the bottom of the valley beneath the walled old city and Mt. Zion just to the left of the old city.  Golgatha, the place of the crucifixion, is now inside the walls (built long after the Roman period by the Turkish Ottoman Empire).  These key New Testament places were much nearer to each other than we had imagined.



Gethsemane place of Jesus prayıng



 We started with a visit to the Basilica of Agony built over the, “the rock” where Jesus prayed before he was arrested.  The church is recent and is a very solemn and quiet place, in contrast to all the other places we visited which are noisy, crowded and far from feeling sacred or holy.  The olive garden next to the church (no relation to an Italian restaurant!), where the disciples slept while Jesus prayed and where Judas identified Jesus, boasts one tree that is 900 years old.



Colorful array of foods ın the Arab market



 We popped back into our van, drove closer to the old city, leaving the van at a convenient car wash/parking lot near the famous Damascus Gate.  Soon we were immersed in the very busy and noisy Arab market with its stalls selling everything imaginable, including these colorful bins of olives and vegetables.  Women in burkas pawing through bins of underwear were an unusual sight.  The market continued through an arch into the Jewish quarter, where the chaos quieted, order reigned, and cleanliness was welcomed.  Two very different cultures presenting their wares in two very different ways  separated by only an arch.   The Jewish quarter was destroyed when Jordan occupied Jerusalem in 1948 and then was rebuilt after the 1967 war when the Israelis reclaimed the city.

We walked along the Via Dolorosa stopping at the Stations of the Cross until we reached the Church of the Sepulcher, a huge structure with many, many chapels.  The first stop was the Coptic chapel, where we crawled down a tunnel into an ancient cistern.  Oh the joys of traveling in a small tour group of 6!  Water is and was a problem.  Israel is now in the middle of a serious draught.  The Sea of Galilee is a primary source of water, but if the level continues to fall it will become salty like the Dead Sea.  Just outside this Coptic Church, whose followers are Egyptian, Joe explained that six different Christian churches struggle to control the site believed to be the place of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus:   Coptic, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Jacobeans  (Syrian), Armenian, and Ethiopian (land of the Queen of Sheba).   Each has followers who reside here and have conducted turf wars over the years.  Even today they continue to act in a most un-Christian like fashion.   The problem of who would control the key to the church was settled by picking a Muslim family to lock and unlock the church – and pass the key down from generation to generation.  We climbed stairs to the rock where the cross was placed.  About 100 feet away from the crucifixion is a chapel built over Jesus’ tomb.  While we were there, the priests from each church took turns entering the large chapel, swinging their incense and then retreating to their individual chapels.



Dad gets a new hat



 The Western Wall or Wailing Wall of the city was truly memorable.  Men are separated from the women by a screen.  Jon donned the loaner yamika while I covered my head with a shawl.   The women, after quietly praying, backed away from the wall in small steps and bowing all the way for several yards before turning to leave.



Entering Bethlehem.  Very prison lıke



 Then the really interesting part of the afternoon began.  Our Israeli guide is not allowed into Bethlehem which is in the West Bank and governed by the Palestinian Authority.   Bethlehem is essentially a suburb of Jerusalem.  Joe arranged for an Arab guide to take over our tour of Bethlehem.   He instructed us to go through the checkpoint and “Ask for Salim.” A bus full of Palestinian day workers , all young men, were just entering the entrance of the checkpoint upon their return from working in Jerusalem, so we followed them into the prison-like entrance gate.  We were given “cuts” to the front of the line, for which we thanked the workers, just flashing our passports to the guard for quick access.  Then we proceded single file around a series of crowd control railings before finally reaching some waiting men on the other side of the wall.  One stepped forward and said the name of our tour provider.  Salim was waiting just as we hoped.   He was a cab driver and put three of us in a second cab while he took three and we were off.   When we arrived in the old city, we were handed over to our guide Nido and then we entered the church whose notoriety is that it is “CLOSE to where Jesus was born”.   Hundreds of tourists in large groups waited in line in the sanctuary to gain access to the small room downstairs just below the altar where the sacred spot is marked with a star in the floor.



Birthplace of Jesus ın Bethlehem



Our guide said, “Follow me, please”.  We entered the EXIT area just outside the small room, where  our guide spoke to the guards.  We were allowed to access the room immediately, two at a time, walking down a stairway against the exiting traffic.  We took a quick look around and snapped a picture.  We learned later that the wait in the regular line was more than two hours.  Again, it was nice to be in a small group with a “fixer”.

After the church we walked over to a small souvenir shop with our taxi driver.  Our guide disappeared once we got to the shop— I guess he didn’t expect tips.  As it was beginning to get dark, we were anxious to be on our way.  A new 2^nd cab was hailed for 3 of us and we just hoped we would get to the RIGHT meeting point with Joe, as we still had more than an hour’s ride ahead of us back to the ship.  After one wrong turn, we were soon on our way out of the Bethlehem during rush hour and, after a delay in traffic, finally spotted Joe and his van in a taxi stand between two freeways.  We were VERY GLAD to see him and vice versa, as we were approaching the “cutting it close hour” of getting back to the ship.

One final comment about Jerusalem.  So many of our memories are of televised terrorist explosions during the infatada or uprising by the Palestinians which started in 2000.  Today there is almost no evidence of security, police, weapons or army troops (except for a number a off-duty women in uniform who seemed to be tourists).  In Bethlehem we repeatedly heard how tourism completely stopped in 2000 and only started to recover in 2004.  Taxi drivers, guides, shop owners, restaurant workers all had a miserable time.  Joe, speaking with Israeli optimism and confidence, believes that the likelihood of another uprising is very remote because of the economic consequences to the Arab community.   Meeting  him gave us hope for the future of this sacred land.