Sojourn to Egypt and the Holy Land
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Last Day - Mykonos
Days 17 and 18 - At Sea and Kusadasi
We spent the afternoon walking around Kusadasi, getting a feel for this lovely seaside town full of restaurants, bars, caffes and all kinds of stores. Turkey's population is 90% muslim and although it feels very European, it is evident that women do not quite enjoy the type of freedom and public life men do. Nevertheless, Turkey is a vastly prosperous country, the only one in Europe which is totally self-sufficient when it comes to its agricultural and other food needs. It has a diversified economy and a land mass similar to two times California. We were in Istanbul a couple of years ago and it is an amazing place; Kusadasi is also great in a different way.
Seabourn had planned one of their signature events in the evening, a classical concert under the stars at Ephesus. It was a really magical event elegantly set up and catered and for Seabourn guests only. We had a lovely time listening to the Aegean Chamber Orchestra, sipping wine with the Roman amphitheater as the backdrop. As we returned to the ship we were greeted by the entire crew and the band at a dockside welcome party where we handed hot chocolate with Baileys. What a way to end the day!
Days 15 and 16 - Israel
Our first stop was at Mt. Scopus for a panoramic view of Jerusalem, the Old City within its walls at its centre, the golden Dome of the Rock shining in the early morning light. Next we drove to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus spent his last hours before being arrested by the Romans. We visited the Basilica of the Agony which was only built in the early 20th century but is a beautiful church replete with Byzantine mosaics.
We entered the Old City through the Dung Gate in the Jewish Quarter and our first stop was the Western Wall (also known as the Wailing Wall). Being a Monday, quite a few Bar Mitzvahs were taking place. It was interesting to see women relegated to an area behind a partition wall -well set back from the Wailing Wall itself to which they only have a very small area they can access- participating in their family celebrations from a distance until the men come out of the enclosed area near the wall and they all join together in the rest of the festivities, complete with funny sounding horns and lots of mazel tovs.
The Old City is divided into four quarters; the Muslim quarter, the largest one and in which the Dome of the Rock and the El Aksa Mosque are located, the Jewish quarter, the Christian quarter where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is, and the smallest of them all, the Armenian quarter. Unexpectedly, most of the city within the walls resembles rabbit warrens which are in fact souks (or markets), covered passageways and narrow twisting lanes which connect every quarter. Not so unexpectedly, religious souvenirs and paraphernalia of every kind and religion abound. Through the centre of the city lies the Cardo, the Roman road on which one can still see (below the current city level), ruins of the First Temple (or Solomon's Temple) destroyed by the Babylonians and the Second Temple (or Herod's Temple), destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Just outside the southern walls is Mount Zion, which traditionally has been said to be the site of King David's Tomb (apparently there is no way it could be according to more modern studies of historical records) and where Jesus and his disciples ate the Last Supper. The beautiful Dormition Abbey was built over a crypt where the Virgin Mary is believed to have begun her dying sleep.
We had a nice lunch at an Armenian restaurant and then some time to shop or simply browse.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Days 13 and 14 - At sea and stuck in the Suez Canal
The evening after leaving Aqaba we had "Rock the Boat", a fun pool-side party where we danced under the stars and had Baileys and cream puffs drenched in chocolate sauce. We had a blast but it had been a very long, tiring day and I've been under the weather fighting a nasty cold/cough for the past week or so.
We spent a day at sea on our way to the Suez Canal and upon arrival in the late afternoon we were told that we would likely start the transit at 3:30 am with a total transit time of about 9 hours. That evening the captain announced that transit had been delayed. A couple of updates later we learned that we would not be transiting until the next day and probably not until late at night, which meant we would miss the entire transit int he darkness of night. What a bummer! Our luck held though, and we finally heard that the Canal authorities had "tentatively" scheduled our convoy for 4:30 am and that unfortunately we would have to miss one of the upcoming ports. The whole delay (which is quite unusual) was due to some bad weather in the Mediterranean which had held back the south-bound convoys. The Suez Canal is one-way only and ships travel in convoys; once a convoy has completed the transit, the next one sets out in the opposite direction. Our convoy today consists of 36 ships due to the backlog created yesterday.
We have now just begun the second half of the transit having passed straight through the Great Bitter Lake. At this point there is very active construction going on for the canal expansion. We are due to exit into the Mediterranean at about 2 pm.
The Suez canal was designed by Lesseps, the same guy who designed the Panama Canal. Construction lasted 10 years and was completed in 1869, reducing the route between Western Europe and India by almost 8,000 kms. It stretches for 195 kms connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean and allows passage of approximately 40 ships each day, from tankers to cruiseships to container ships and private yachts. Revenues from the canal are approximately $5.5 billion a year and since the decline in the tourism industry of the past few years is now the biggest driver of the Egyptian economy. The expansion, which is actually a twinning of the existing canal, will double its capacity.
As we exited the canal along the Egyptian coast on the Mediterranean Sea we saw a seemingly never-ending number of oil rigs, much like we'd seen on the Red Sea before entering the canal.
Near Port Suez and the exit to the Med
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Day 12 - Petra, Jordan
We arrived in Aqaba before 7 am and had a pancake breakfast on our verandah as we sailed into port. Aqaba shares this bay at the end of the Red Sea with the Israeli city of Eilat. We were soon cleared to disembark and our tour bus was waiting to take us to Petra. The drive through Aqaba and the following two hours on the highway to Petra were filled with a myriad of information about Jordan by our tour guide Mustafa, a most colourful man; a Bedouin who was born and lived in the secret city of Petra until the tribes were relocated to New Petra, a nearby village built for that purpose. Mustafa interspersed local facts with personal stories about his childhood as the only one of sixteen children (all from the same father and mother) who left the community to go to school and eventually become a tour guide. Back in those days education was not compulsory for all children as it is now.
First the facts: Jordan's population is seven million, with another 3 or 4 million refugees (and more pouring in every day) from neighbouring countries besieged by wars and internal conflict; approximately 17,000 of its citizens are Bedouins, their goat-hair tents and goat herds can be seen throughout the countryside. Educating every child is considered so important to the future of the country, that school teachers are paid three times as much to go teach the children of Bedouin tribes who are always on the move. Without much by way of natural resources, the country relies on tourism and commerce. King Abdullah II runs a tight ship which provides free education, including university level, to all of its citizens, and taxes the heck out of every one of them with each tax Dinar paying for health care, education, the military, etc.
The landscape is stunning; the wadis evoque scenes from Lawrence of Arabia, wide and dark granite veins scar the mountains as sandstorms slow traffic down here and there.
The Siq is almost 2 kms long and there are horses and horse-drawn carriages available for tourists who can't, or prefer not to, walk on the uneven and often treacherous surface, and instead suffer the most teeth-jarring, spine crushing rides. The pictures speak for themselves, and as we walked along, I thought of all my geologist friends who would have a field day identifying all the different minerals which give the rock such amazing colours.
Finally, the Siq offers the first glimpse of the Treasury, the most famous of the structures in Petra. From then on, the city opens up to vast areas filled with caves, tombs, temples and even a theatre, all carved out of the rock. Only a very small percentage of the site has been excavated (it was "discovered" in the 1800s and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the 1990s) but what we see is truly unbelievable.
The people of Jordan are hospitable and friendly and we wish them a prosperous future of continuous peace.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Sailing the Red Sea
We've been sailing through the Red Sea where we saw not even one pirate. That was probably good, and likely due to all of the measures that have been put in place in the last couple of years which have stemmed the incidence of pirate attacks dramatically. For example, since leaving Oman our ship carried armed guards; they were seldom seen about, but conspicuous in their all-black outfits and the guns they carried. The ship never sailed at less than 18 knots (that is the speed at which no pirate boat can overcome another vessel) and carries several devices designed to repel any attacks. In addition, there are officers on perpetual watch, scanning the horizon 24/7.
Our armed guards left the ship this morning at 5, on a zodiac headed for who knows where. We are one day away from reaching Jordan where we'll go to Petra. In the meantime, we continue to extract every ounce of rest and enjoyment we can from this cruise; good lectures on interesting topics; many an outdoor nap, and lazy late afternoons on the hot tub forward of deck 6 where we get offered cool towels and refreshing drinks while taking in some of the Arabian sun and sea breezes.
Day 7 - Oman, Land of the Frankincense
Today we arrived in Salalah to a hazy, sandy landscape. There's a huge sand storm affecting most of the region and, contrary to the usual clear and sunny days, we're having a hard time seeing the mountains surrounding the city and beyond which there is only the emptiness of the desert.
Salalah is not what we expected (although I don't know exactly what we expected); While the capital of Oman is Muscat, Salalah is the birth city of the current king who decided to spend a few bucks in his home town and so has built a few palaces which provide employment to many as well as some respite from the architectural blandness. There are five five-star hotels along the coastline and a sixth one in construction but this is no indication of a vibrant resort community, more of the thriving -but modest- oil industry. More importantly, the king has built the infrastructure needed for a prosperous future; schools (there were three when he assumed power and now there are over 1,000 in the country); hospitals, desalination plants which have now replaced well water for the drinking water needs of the country. Tourism in Oman is but a cautious, budding industry and large camel herds can still be seen during a drive along the coast (along with some camel meat vendors).
During the summer months the monsoons secure a riot of new growth and the hillsides and fields are carpeted in lush greenery, in sharp contrast with the dry sandy desert most visitors expect. The region is very fertile and the cultivated fields of coconut, papaya, bananas and other fruits seem to go on forever with roadside fruit stands along the way.
Oman has a rich historical past dating back to the 3rd millenium BC. The Omanis were sailors and traders and the area produces some of the best quality frankincense, a substance much in demand throughout the entire middle east fueled by religious and medicinal uses among others. There are historical ruins of forts and other early trading posts, and then there seems to be a void of architectural expression until oil is found in the 20th century which brings about the development of the modern Salalah; from millenium old ruins to new palaces and factories of various kinds. We visited the ruins of the ancient trading port of Sumhuram (where the precious frankincense was loaded on ships for export to the east and to Yemen, Damascus, Egypt and Jerusalem. We also visited the fortified house of the Wali (local chief) in Taqa.
A few more days at sea and then Jordan.