Jerusalem

Thurs, June 20

The Bible came alive for us today as we started our tour from the port of Ashdod in Israel heading to Jerusalem which is a city sacred to three major religions.

Our first stop was to see the Tomb of King David atop Mount Zion. Men and women entered from separate sides to view the impressive tomb.

The next stop was to the Western or Wailing Wall, the only remaining piece of Jerusalem’s Second Temple. This is the most holy Jewish site in the world, where people come to place their written prayers within the cracks between its massive stones. Men and women were segregated once again. (We have since heard that there was an incident there the day after our visit where someone was shot and killed but no other details.)

Also in this vicinity were boys’ celebrating their Barmiszvah’s, being the Thursday following their 13^th birthdays. Several boys were with their male relatives at the Western Wall with the women standing on plastic chairs to see them over the dividing wall. They were then taken through the streets under a canopy with their families all singing and playing music.

Moving on, we saw the room where the Last Supper took place as well as where Jesus was condemned to death by Pontius Pilate. Next was the Garden of Gethsemane with olive trees many centuries old. Jesus was praying in this garden when he was arrested.

We then entered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – this 12^th century church contains quite a number of chapels and shrines. Among the most important places are the elevated Chapel of the Cross, marking Calvary and I was able to touch the nearby Stone where Jesus’ body was laid when He was taken from the cross and prepared for burial. Under a large rotunda is the location of the Tomb of Christ, covered by a small chapel and is also the site of the Resurrection. We also visited the nearby Church of All Nations, relatively modern in comparison and built by all the nations of the world.

After such a busy morning, we stopped for lunch then continued on to walk through the old Jewish Quarter, from north to south and east to west. This included the Via Dolorosa (or Sorrowful Way) tracing the Stations of the Cross. Christ’s route from the seat of judgement to his crucifixion at Calvary.

Finally, on the way back to the ship we saw the field where David met Goliath. We had an excellent tour guide who entertained us with many stories from the bible. Such an awe-inspiring day.

Western Wall

Ladies side of Western Wall

sea princess ashdod jerusalem 077 (530x800)

sea princess ashdod jerusalem 093 (800x529)

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Christ’s tomb

Garden of Gethsemane

Dubai

Mon, June 10

What an enjoyable day in Dubai! We thought our excursion only covered a trip to the museum, the gold souk and a look at a mosque. What we got was so much more….

The morning started with a visit to the Dubai Museum in Al Fahidi Fort which was built in 1787 and opened as a museum in 1971. Much of it is presented as realistic life-size dioramas as well as artefacts and hands-on displays. Afterwards we headed to the ancient Al Bastaklya quarters, which is famous for its traditional wind towers.

We then traded our coach for an abra (water taxi) crossing the river to Deira where we were able to visit a spice souk, which was amazing, where Alex was able to buy some liquorice that he hasn’t seen since he left England and looked like a tree twig. We also strolled around the renowned Gold Souk – a large concentration of jewellery stores where I was very happy to haggle for some jewellery.

Finally boarding the coach again, we were taken to see the city sights, including the Burj Al Arab hotel in shape of a sail, the Burj Khjalifa, the tallest building in the world and the Jumeirah Mosque, one of the most photographed sites in Dubai and a wonderful example of Islamic architecture.

Water taxi

Water tower

Mumbai, India

Fri, Jun7

Our excursion began with a trip to Dhobi Ghat, known as the world’s largest outdoor laundry where much of the city’s laundry is done at quite a cheap rate.

Next we jumped on the train for a short ride which ended at Churchgate station. That was exciting – get on the train quickly or it just takes off without warning after a minute or so. We found out that there are some optional carriages for men, women and senior citizens to board separately. We realised why when it was explained that out of the city’s population of 18 million, 5 million people catch the train to work each day and 2 million catch the bus. Everyone is in hurry and getting on and off the train quickly was quite a feat. Also there are no doors on the carriages so it’s a mad scramble to get on and off.

At the station we were able to see the famous “dabbawalas”, known for delivering meals to thousands of people at their workplaces in the city. Metal containers are divided into 4 sections, each containing a box filled with vegetables, roti, curry and rice. Empty containers re then returned at the end of the day for the wife to pack her husband’s lunch for the next day’s pickup.

Taxis are plentiful and relatively cheap, and we saw them carrying 5 or 6 adults plus children.

We also visited Crawford Markets, which was divided into a bird and food market. Watch where you walk as it was not very clean and I noticed that pieces of cardboard were placed over holes in the concrete… we certainly had to watch where we were walking!

The last stop was at the famous Gateway of India where the coach dropped us off as there was no parking. It was quite nice to see it come back to pick me up after standing in the rain for ten minutes whilst Alex stayed in the bus.

My memory of Mumbai is of an exciting, noisy city, where everyone drives with one hand on the horn! There seem to be no road rules, motor vehicles ignore traffic lights and crossings and pedestrians duck and weave across the road. We were quite pleased to cross the road via the subway!

We loved our first visit to Mumbai where this excursion enabled us to immerse ourselves in the culture of India.