Israel on wheels | FindPenguins

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Trip start
October 18, 2018
Israel on wheels Traveler
Austrian airlines business lounge
October 18, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C
My first taste of the advantages of business class. FOOD AND DRINK
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Vienna airport
October 19, 2018 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C
Very old style airport with no chain restaurants. Sort of 1960's. Uncomfortable hard seats and weird couches that people can lie down on.
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Israel on wheels Traveler
Passport control at Ben Gurion
October 19, 2018 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Uhh oh... Actually turned out to be not too bad since, when our line stagnated, a nice couple on the Israelride. Let us into their line. Then we meet Dror, gave David's bike to a stranger (hopefully someone associated with Israelride) in an unmarked van and left the airport.Read more
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Dror and Eva
October 19, 2018 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Dror picked us up at the airport and brought us (after giving David's bike too the Israelride folks) to their apartment in Ashdod. We sat around talking about Israel worth Dror and his wife, Eva. They're delightful and very smart people with two daughters one of whom is doing her military service. The youngest daughter lives in their safe room, which brought me up short. A missile landed not far from there home yesterday. No one was killed so there was no Israeli response.Read more
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Taybeh hotel
October 21, 2018 in Palestine ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Stunning day which I will have to describe at some future date. Suffice it to say that I feel like my brain is devolving within my head.

Pictures: checkpoint, arafat museum. and tomb, planned town.
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Israel on wheels Traveler
Hebron
October 22, 2018 in Palestine ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
No words. Now leaving Hebron
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Israel on wheels Traveler
Bethlehem
October 22, 2018 in Palestine ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
Visit a camp and the wall worth graffiti
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Israel on wheels Traveler
Leaving Bethlehem
October 22, 2018 in Palestine ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
Last checkpoint leaving the west bank
TravelerDid you fave falafel in Bethlehem?
10/22/18Reply
TravelerNo falafel, bit a huge lunch in a restaurant called the tent, a"bedoin" restaurant. For some reason it seems to be high tourist season in Bethlehem. There were lots of tours.
10/23/18Reply
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First ride
October 23, 2018 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Everyone is excited and maybe a bit nervous about the ride. In any case, everyone is very friendly and some have done the ride several times already. There are some very experienced riders here (not in our group) and some newbies like us. I got my rental bike, bright red with lots of gears, and took a short ride to a site overlooking the old city. See the attached pics. They're big on identification here; note all the stickers on my helmet, and there are more on the bike, suitcases, day packs, etc. Plus, of course, the badge with our ten name (almost correct). I'm also attaching a picture to remind you of Israeli breakfasts. Eat your heart out, I certainly am.Read more
Traveler Great memories...creative breadstick arrangement
10/24/18Reply
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Israel on wheels Traveler
Second day of riding
October 25, 2018 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
Today's ride looked to be easier than yesterday with fewer longcareer hills. And it would have been except for a ferocious wind - sometimes's head wind. and sometimes a gusty wind from the right. We were on a pretty nice road (except for some gravel and water on the road) through agricultural land, which would have made a terrific ride except for the wind. It was an extreme pleasure to remove the sweat and dust in a hot shower.

After the ride we visited an experimental and educational greenhouse where we learned aboutv how they use bees for pollination, carrier pigeons, and ate the most fantastic cherry tomatoes I've ever had the pleasure of eating.

I don't know what happened to yesterdays picture. Here are some from today: a selfie of me in an orange grove, riders on the road, pigeons and doves at the experimental farm, cacti, tasting delicious cherry tomatoes of various kinds, and hissop, mentioned in the Bible as how the Jews were to paint lambs' blood over their doors. Nowadays it's called a star.Read more
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Israel on wheels Traveler
Day 3
October 26, 2018 in Israel ⋅ 🌙 12 °C
Well, because of rains in Israel the police felt the danger of flash floods was great enough to prohibit the ride to continue for a day. So instead, we covered the same ground but in a bus instead of on bikes. As it turned out it was a beautiful day with a lot of wind once again, and to be perfectly truthful I was ok with walking instead of riding, at least partially because our route was almost entirely uphill-gentle but constant.

So we toured Ben Burton's grave site and then the makhtesh at mitzvah Ramon, which was beautiful as well as fascinating. We're not moving tomorrow, instead the are various activities for Shabbat.

Here are some pictures from today: ibexes at Ben Gurion's grave, sheep and their shepherd where we ate lunch, views of the makhtesh, and a pile of crazy basalt rocks which garden(crystallize?) In regular geometric shapes.Read more
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From kibbutz elsatz
October 28, 2018 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
A full day. Didn't see any 🐪on the ride though I did avoid a lot of camel poop so I know they're around somewhere. We started the second to last riding day with a loooong downhill ride with lots of switchbacks from the edge of Mitzpeh Ramin crater (not really a crater but formed from geological processes) maybe five miles to the bottom. It was splendid! It was also beautifully desolate. I took only a couple of pictures and had another rider take one of me. Eventually, of course, we had to climb out of the'crater'. There are actually differs on this trip who enjoy climbing more than going downhill. The last hill varied from eight to ten percent for a long time. I had to stop and catch my breath it was so steep.

In the afternoon we arrived at kibbutz Ketura, the home of the Arava Institute for the environment. We took tours of solar electric field and a village demonstrating off the grid technologies, but the best part was talking to students, who come from all over the region and the US to study environmental issues. It's small, 300 students, but it's an exciting cross cultural activity.

Here are a few pictures, eventually I'll be able to show you pictures of me on my bicycle.Read more
Traveler Lookin good, Poppop!
10/29/18Reply
TravelerBill would like to see a photo of camel poop please if you see any more - but you don't have to go back just for that ;-)
10/29/18Reply
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Israel on wheels Traveler
Eilat airport
October 30, 2018 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
I'm sitting in the small airport on Eilat waiting for a flight to Ben Gurion where I'll spend the night, taking an early flight home tomorrow. Today was spent wandering along the ocean front, which is pretty tacky. Its local elections day. in israel today so almost everything is closed-not a bad idea for election day. I'd hoped tobrent a bike and go someplace where there is snorkeling, but it didn't work out. So I walked and swam win the hotel pool chatting with other riders and had lunch. Here are some pics from. today and one ofbum crossing the finish line after a six.mile downhill into Eilat.Read more
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