Northward

Eilat was underwhelming. It's a tourist town - big hotels and malls and lousy beaches. But they do have a coral reef. Not a world-class reef (those are down in Egypt) but enough to dazzle this prairie boy. Snorkelling in a reef is a surreal experience. If you've never been, put it on your to do list.


I stayed in a sort of tent-hostel in the Negev, next to the Ramon Crater, which is not a true crater but a massive canyon formed by some bizarre process of erosion. I hiked in the crater and shared a Sabbath meal by candlelight in the camp. The evening was cool enough for a sweater, which was a first for me in Israel.


I visited a camel ranch near the ancient and unfortunately named town of Mamshit. I went for a camel ride and learned how the nomadic Nabateans (of Petra fame) grew rich packing caravan-loads of incense through the desert.


I did a sunrise hike at Massada, a mountaintop fortress that was the last stronghold of the Jewish revolt against the Romans. It was also the site of Herod's winter palace, and later a Byzantine monastery. I'm no longer awed by just any ancient ruins - Petra casts a long shadow - but Massada's history and its blend of starkness and opulence made an impression.


I spent a couple days at the Dead Sea oasis of Ein Gedi. The foliage-to-barren rock ratio wasn't quite as high as I expected, but it does have some very pretty hikes along streams and waterfalls, and it is (along with every other point on the Dead Sea shore) the lowest place on earth.


The Dead Sea is as weird as I'd heard. You step in and you can feel the water pushing up against your feet. When you get to about your armpits you can't touch bottom, and it's not really possible to sink. (Everyone in the picture is floating.) The water looks slightly oily, and feels sticky-filmy as soon as you're out of it. The rocks on the shoreline are covering with salt crystals. The place feels not so much dead as undead - a kind of Frankenlake. You wouldn't want to spend much time there.


I made a rather perfunctory stop in Jerusalem, staying just long enough to transfer buses, and catching a glimpse of the old city on the way through. I had a notion of delaying my Jerusalem debut as long as possible, perhaps touring Galilee before arriving in the holy city as a finale. Once again, reality harshes my melodrama.


I'm now in Bethlehem (a West Bank suburb of Jerusalem, which you may recall as the birthplace of such notable biblical personages as Mahlon and Kilion). I'm spending a couple weeks here, living at a Palestinian Christian home for children with special needs, and getting a taste of life on the other side of The Wall.