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Nancy and Doug Trips
Nancy and Doug Trips

Nancy and Doug Trips

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
Our lifelong travel bug has given us our most prized ‘possessions’ - the many memories from business and especially family trips.
 “Take only memories, leave only footprints.” Leer más🇨🇦British Columbia
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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Capernaum

    28 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Drove just 20 minutes from Tiberias to the next stop in "The Pilgrim's Tour"

    After returning from the desert, Jesus set up his base in Capernaum as it was on a main Roman highway from Egypt to Syria, and a border customs office, so he would be reaching lots of travelers with his message. He recruited several Apostles here and it is here that the famous miracles like walking on water and feeding the multitudes were performed.

    Simon"s (Peter's) house foundations were discovered here and a church built over it. There are excavations of the village, including the Synagogue. It is also a nice viewpoint of the lake where among the shade trees are benches where visitors can sit for a time.    Leer más

  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Tiberias

    28 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Tiberias is a good sized town tumbling down the hillside to the shores of the Sea of Galilee. It is basically a holiday resort town with a well developed waterfront of promenades, restaurants, ice cream shops and video arcades. All along the shore are beaches. Broke for lunch here at a comfortable patio along the promenade with the improbable name "The Big Ben Pub", but the mixed grill was actually quite good and prices close to normal given it was a tourist spot.Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Nazareth Village

    28 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    This is a living, working replica of a village as it would have been in the 1st century at the time of Christ. It is run by a nonprofit and it is worth going to Nazareth just to visit here. Using the same materials and methods, you get to see how olive trees are grown, pruned and harvested and the olives crushed and the oil pressed. There is carpenter, wool spinning, pottery and the houses in which they lived. The tour guide weaves in how the Parables from the Bible relate to the practices and customs of the times so that the listener or reader would be able to understand the point to the story. Very fascinating and one of the most worthwhile things of the trip.Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Mary's Well

    28 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    A few minute's walk into town is a spring-fed well. This would have been the source of water for the town, as it was small with only 500 residents' Orthodox Christians believe that Gabriel came to Mary while she was out fetching water rather than at home as Catholics say. When it comes to Mary, it seems like there is always more than one version.

    Anyway, now it is a nice fountain in a square surrounded by sidewalk cafes.    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Basilica of the Annunciation

    28 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    The next day, I got off to an early start to take my rental car and do a driving tour of the Galilee region, the heart of Christ's 'ministry'.

    The first stop was in Nazareth. The was Jesus's hometown, and is a stop of the pilgrimage route.

    It is a historical fact that after the Nativity, the family returned to Nazareth where Jesus grew up and worked as a carpenter. He left Nazareth in his early 30's when he was baptized (in an earlier footprint) and went into the desert for a bit of reflection before returning to the Galilee (but to Capernaum, not his home town) he left to start his ministry in nearby Galilee.

    This Catholic Basilica is built over alleged site where Mary and Joseph were living when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her she would give birth to the Messiah, an event known as the Annunciation. Early pilgrims decided this was the spot and identified it and soon chapels and churches were built. Under the church is a grotto with what are claimed to be the foundations of Mary's childhood home. An old church was torn down in 1954 and this beautiful new building was put up in the late '60's. Around the sides where chapels might have been, are artworks sent by many countries. While there, Mass was being conducted, so wandering around was inappropriate but I got to pause and listen to the singing of Ave Maria. There is nothing that beats the acoustic perfection of music in a Cathedral!    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero
    Damascus furniture of seashell, bone and wood

    Treasures in the Wall Museum

    27 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    This is a small museum that has bric a brac from the 1950s and before but also a series of recreations of various trades from 100 or more years ago, related to the, essentially pioneer, life of the Jewish settlers and kibbutzim. Thus a blacksmith, goldsmith, wicker maker, hat maker etc. A few tidbits of interest but it was well air conditioned and the ticket was part of the general Acre pass.Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Old Akko

    27 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Acre is a medium size town today. It has been used as a harbour all the way back to Phonecian times but was at its peak as the Crusader capital after Jerusalem was lost. Richard the Lionhearted recaptured it and it was the main poet if entry for trade and pilgrim traffic. It was a major city with a population over 50K at a time when London was 10K.

    The tourist center of the city is entirely enclosed inside the very impressive intact walls. You can walk around on the walls and the portion on the south where they run right to the water's edge is particularly striking. Walls were here from antiquity but the Crusaders made it into a major Fortress. After their fall Acre was mostly abandoned for a few hundred years until one Ottoman governor decided to rebuild it as you see it today and make it the provincial capital. Acre then gained fame as the place where Napoleon was defeated and he gave up on conquering Asia. Very nice walk although it got hot in the sun.

    The old city of Acre today is mainly Arab, and is an interesting maze of alleys and markets (and at least one falafel shop I found. Yum!)

    Feel I had a good look around Acre, putting in 16,197 steps.    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    The Knight's Halls Hospitaller Citadel

    27 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Today was devoted to touring Acre (Akko) across the bay from Haifa.

    Rented a car from Budget and got to Acre quickly enough but only found pay lot near the Visitor centre. The Visitor Centre is located in a nice courtyard and the Knight's Halls are right off the courtyard as well.
    This Fortress and the nearest buildings functioned as a hospice and a hospital for the many pilgrims who came to the Holy Land during the crusaders period in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Hospitallers were a military monastic order devoted to caring for the sick, so they were fighting monks!
    The site is an audio tour through the various rooms both under and at the Church level. Lots of history about the various Crusades, life in the town, life as a monk, etc.    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero
    Bahai Gardens from German Colony. Close as I got!
    Typical cafe in the German ColonyView down German ColonyEven the grain elevators look nice!Dovrin 7 near Paris Square

    German Colony and Downtown

    26 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Caught a bus from the top of the mountain to downtown, getting off near the top of Sderot Ben Gurion, which is a street they call The German Colony. Historically it had been settled by a German Protestant sect in 1868. They supported the Nazis in WW2 so the British deported them. The ironic footnote to this is that in 1965 the Israeli government compensated these German Nazis for the property they lost due to a British eviction.
    As this community was prosperous, the buildings are quite nice and today the street is lined with very nice shops an restaurants.
    Moving down to the Dock area then east you come to a lively area around Paris Square.    Leer más

  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero
    Wonder what these view homes cost?
    Louis Promenade viewBahai Shrine from the PromenadeLovely apartment buildings

    Louis Promenade

    26 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    A long walk from the cable car via some nice residential areas brings you to a pedestrian walkway with spectacular views of Haifa and the bay.

    It is also the top of the Bahai Gardens, the #1 attraction in Haifa. But wouldn't you know ... they are closed for the two days I am here.Leer más

  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Cable car

    26 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Across the highway is the terminal for the cable car up the mountain. Some nice views of the water and good restaurants looking over the water so stopped for an Italian main meal.
    Then a quick ride up being thankful for not having to walk up that hill.Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Clandestine Immigration & Naval Museum

    26 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Right next to the Maritime museum is the Clandestine museum. It starts with a video of the incredible efforts starting in 1934 after Hitler rose to power, through 1948 when the British left, to smuggle immigrants in to Israel. The Brits intercepted many and threw the concentration camp survivors into concentration camps!
    The interesting thing is that the Jewish fighters who ran the smuggling operation became the core of the Israeli navy the day after independence. In fact, they took the rusty old tubs the British impounded and converted them into fighting vessels.
    The museum then had a history and exhibition of the navy up until the present. There were actual ships to walk in and around, as well as a submarine I was able to walk through to see how cramped it was for the sailors who served on it.    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero
    OK. A joke right? Yes.Ram from the front of a galley

    National Maritime Museum

    26 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    Arrived in Haifa yesterday by train and my apartment was just a couple minutes walk from the Bat Galim Station. Nice quiet location in this beachfront neighbourhood tucked behind the large institutions of the naval base/port and hospitals.
    The plan was to start the day with a walking tour of the Bat Galim area I am staying in. First stop was a local restaurant for the traditional Israeli breakfast of pita, hummus, chickpeas, parsley and pickles and onion. As usual, couldn't finish it. Stepped out and the weather had turned ugly. Thunder lightning and heavy rain by time I got to the hospital campus which was the start point. So looked up a bus and went to the next museum. Still got soaked.
    The Maritime museum is a smaller museum that had a bit of the history of ships in the Mediterranean. Crossroads of three continents for trade and all that. Models of the galley warships and lots of other ships.
    There was a short video on the techniques if underwater archaeology that was the most fascinating exhibit there.
    Of course there has to be a pirate exhibition. Nice section on maps too.
    Overall a nice little museum that is worth a quick stop if time permits, but a "second tier" attraction that today had the advantage of being dry inside.    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Jerusalem Wrap Up

    25 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Leaving Jerusalem by train around 1pm. What a beautiful city. Can't say enough about it. One usually thinks that the really lovely cities are built around water features, but here is this dry place that is pretty at every turn. Now, it is not total desert -- the ridge of the Mount of Olives provides the divide between the coastal plain on the western slope and the Judean desert on the eastern slope, but it is a dry Med climate. But it is the soft yellow stone buildings, that almost glow, whether they are new or old, tumbling over all the hills and valleys, with tress and parks everywhere except in the Old City itself. Then the sense of history and significance to three great religions at every step it seems.

    Day 1 I arrived and just did a short wander around the neighborhoods -- Downtown Triangle or Ben Yehuda-Zion Square. Just the evening walk, so 11,268 steps.
    Day 2 was the Old City. Walked there and caught the tram back before the Sabbath shut down. Does this place ever shut down. Literally not a place to eat. Old City zig zags brought 15,388 steps.
    Day 3 not on the map as I left Jerusalem (chose Saturday to avoid the Sabbath shutdown) for a bus tour of the West Bank. Still managed 9,841 steps from where the coach parks to and in the attractions.
    Day 4 was a museum day at Yad Vashem and Israel museum. Tram up, Taxi between and a bus back. Most of the walking was in the museums and cam to 11,869 steps
    Day 5 was the Mount of Olives. Such great views starting at the top. Very difficult downhill walk on the knees, and was very sore the rest of the day, but was fine after a rest for dinner. 16,839 steps seemed like more
    Day 6 was just the morning then a train ride. Easy 11,073 steps.
    Bye Jerusalem!    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Machaneh Yahuda Market

    25 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Laundry and checkout day and had a couple of hours to kill before catching a train to Haifa so walked up to this market which is famous and recommended for a visit.
    It is quite large with multiple aisles indoors and spilling into the surrounding streets. Many stalls of all sorts of foods. Cafes and bars. Quite clean and not very chaotic in late morning.Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero
    Ritual bath

    Jerusalem Archaeological Park

    24 de octubre de 2022, Palestina ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    There are still active digs going on here as well as further ruins dating back to the Second Temple and even further. This is right below the Temple Mount.

    Planned to take the bus back, but the traffic hadn't moved for a half hour, so ended up walking, much of it along a lovely park at the base of the wallLeer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero
    Stepped Stone Structure 13th century BCKing Davids PalaceThe Siloam PoolThe Eastern Road Pilgrim's RouteMore digs outside the City of David

    City of David

    24 de octubre de 2022, Palestina ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    I continued along the Kidron Valley and came out below the south end of the old city to one end of the City of David site called the Pool of Siloam. Found out I could not access the site from this end -- the entrance is at the top of the hill and this is where you exit, so went up there by bus and paid my fee.

    This is still an active dig. Many discoveries have been in made in the past half dozen years that have confirmed the biblical stories of King David's city located just south of the current Old City walls. Incredibly old place with quite a story to tell.    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Kidron Valley

    24 de octubre de 2022, Palestina ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    The division between the Mount of Olives and the Old City, is also called the Valley of Kings and has the blocked up Golden Gate into the Temple. You walk along the western side of the valley below the city walls, and look back across the valley to the Mount of Olives where I was earlier in the day. There are various tombs and also looks across the area where so many people have been buried over the millennia.. It is an exposed walk in the heat, but interesting to be in this area.Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Garden of Gethesmane

    24 de octubre de 2022, Palestina ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    More steep downhill brings you to the Garden of Gethesmane where Jesus prayed on the last night before his arrest. The name translates as 'oil press' and is now a grove of ancient olive trees. A study conducted by the Italian National Research Council found that three of the olive trees in the garden are amongst the oldest known to science. Dates of AD 1092, 1166 and 1198 were obtained by carbon dating from older parts of the trunks of three trees.

    Beside the garden is the Roman Catholic Church of All Nations.    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero
    Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene

    Dominus Flevit

    24 de octubre de 2022, Palestina ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    From the viewppint, it was a brutal on the knees downhill walk that showed why I, like the hordes of tour grops, start the Mount of Olives from the top and work down. The walk goes past all the ancient graves in the Jewish cemetery, the most sacred burial place in that religion.

    The vey narrow entrance to the Dominus Flevit (Latin for the Lord weeps) leads to a courtyard that has some interesting ossuaries.

    The church itself is shaped like a tear, and is built on the site where Jesus is said to have wept as he predicted the destruction of the city of Jerusalem    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    The Church of the Pater Noster

    24 de octubre de 2022, Palestina ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    This is an interesting spot. There was a church built here in the 4th century by Constantine as the Church of Eleona to mark the Ascension. It was discoverwed in 1910 beneath a Roman Catholic convent.. In the cloisters of the convent have been placed a series of plaques with The Lord's Prayer (hence Pater Noster) in over 100 different languages.

    After this it was a short walk past the Tomb of the Prophets to the Mount of Olives Viewpoint. According to a medieval Jewish tradition, the catacomb is believed to be the burial place of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, the last three Hebrew Bible prophets who lived during the 6th-5th centuries BC. Archaeologists have dated the three earliest burial chambers to the 1st century BC, thus contradicting the tradition. Oh well ... still a pretty old catacomb!    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero

    Chapel of the Ascension

    24 de octubre de 2022, Palestina ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    The day starts with The Mount of Olives and the Holy Sites and churches there. The city bus got me most of the way to the top before the traffic jam caused by tour coaches made the road impassable and the bus driver turned around, so the rest of the way up was by foot.

    The first stop was The Chapel of the Ascension. It is located on a site traditionally believed to be the earthly spot where Jesus ascended into Heaven after his Resurrection. It houses a slab of stone believed to contain one of his footprints. Another stone with the other footprint was moved to the al Aqsa mosque as Muslims also venerate Christ.

    The little chapel was first built in the 4th century, modified in Crusader times, again in Byzantine times, and finally by the Muslims. The line to get in was long and dominated by tours.    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero
    The Dead Sea ScrollsA page of the Aleppo Codex

    The Israel Museum

    23 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    This is not A museum but a bunch of museums, each of which could be a half day visit. It has the world's most comprehensive collections of the archaeology of the Holy Land, a wing about Jewish art and life, and large collections of the fine arts, not only Israeli Art, but European Art, Modern Art, Contemporary Art, Prints and Drawings, Photography, Design and Architecture, Asian Art, African Art, Oceanic Art, and Arts of the Americas.

    I had unfortunately short visits to only three, just peeking in the doors of the art museums.

    The Shrine of the Book is a really cool cylindrical partly submerged in the earth that really exhibits only two things: the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Aleppo Codex. The Dead Sea scrolls of course are the oldest records of the Bible dating back to 300BC to 100AD. They are nicely exhibited along with some displays of the culture of the people who created them. The other copy of the Bible there is the oldest Hebrew version and until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Bible in existence having been written in the 10th century.. It was the property of the Synagogue in Aleppo Syria and was thought to have been destroyed when rioting Arabs attacked the Jewish people of Aleppo in 1948 and burned the Synagogue to the ground. However, somehow it was saved and hidden before being smuggled out in the 1950's.

    The Archaeology wing is now officially my my "Best Archaeology Museum Ever" with fantastic displays of amazing artefacts going all the back to prehistory and ending in the Ottoman era. They weave together the story of technological innovation and everyday life.

    The wing for Jewish Art and Life is a great educational experience where you see the history of the Jewish people presented through costumes and jewelry, stories of life through birth, marriage etc and many other aspects of Jewish culture.

    One other display is a huge model of Jerusalem at the time of Herod just before the destruction of the Second Temple. Quite impressive.    Leer más

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  • Nancy and Doug TripsMiddle East 2022Viajero
    Entrance to the Visitors Center at Yad Vashem
    The Holocaust History MuseumThe World That Was video artThe Hall of Names ceilingThe Hall of NamesThe Children's MemorialWarsaw Ghetto Square

    Yad Vashem

    23 de octubre de 2022, Israel ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    The tram takes you up to The World Holocaust Remembrance Center

    This is Israel's national site for remembrance of the Holocaust. A 50 acre park with paths and monuments, but the main feature is the Holocaust History Museum.

    An overwhelming and emotional experience that not only recounts the history but highlights many individual stories. Culmination is the Hall of Names where rows and rows of books with the names of every victim who has been identified are on shelves surrounding a deep well. Can't help but break down here.    Leer más

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