May 25th-Portovenere & Cinqua Terra

Italy just keeps getting more and more beautiful! This is Byron's Cove at the tip of Portovenero, reputed to be the muse of the poet's inspiration.

 Tripping down little stone alleyways, one can even get inexpensive & unusual home decorating ideas....

Yes, those are pasta curtains!

Approaching Venazzo, one of the five "Cinqua Terra" little towns clinging to Italy's Ligurian coast.

I think this is Montarossa, the first and oldest of the "Cinqua Terra", but I'm not sure...I got lost in the enjoyment of it all. 

May 24th-Tarquinia, Etruscan Heritage

    150 years ago, in this agricultural town of Tarquinia, which lies within 20 minutes from the port of Rome,  farmers unearthed the first hidden treasures of Rome's Etruscan heritage. Burial sanctuaries, Italy's "Valley of the Kings", told the story of Rome's early royal beginnings.

    After digesting another huge slab of beefy Roman history and hungry for more, our doctorate in antiquities & dead and dying languages -Giorgio Armani-tour guide lead us to a wee feast at a family owned farm nearby.

 Homemade sheep-cheese(pecorino) with honey, chopped cherry tomatoes on wood grilled semolina bread, paper thin prosciutto, asparagus fritatta, olive and mushroom timpanade, all offered with as much house red or white! We all sang our way back on the bus...definitely one of our best excursions we all agreed!

   George was always tempted by every gelato opportunity!

May 23rd-Sorrento & Pompeii, Italy



Mt. Vesuvius

      It is 79 A.D. It's 1:00 pm in the afternoon. Seven miles away, downwind, the earth shakes, the sky darkens and within hours, the entire town of Pompeii is engulfed in sulfuric gases that suck the oxygen from every living thing on the ground. An estimated 23,000 people perished, though only 2,000 have been "found" under the 75 feet of volcanic ash that blanketed the area for the better part of two millennium. When carefully unearthed, the volcanic ash tombs had formed perfect encasements which preserved life as it desisted. Around living beings, it cocooned bodies with every detail, as they decomposed inside. When found, several of these cocoons were carefully refilled with plaster to re-embody their long lost souls.

This young slave boy whose teeth have been eerily and perfectly preserved, speaks to us through the ages, of his agony of being chained to the wall  during the lunch and siesta hours.









This young pregnant girl died trying to shield herself

Beautiful temple remnants were unearthed. This bronze statue of Apollo found intact.



The Brothel



The Bakery

     Life rambles on...just twenty miles down these Roman roads, Sorrento swirls with the colors and aromas of eternal Italy. Our guide points out the 5 pm traffic of workers returning to work from their "siestas." No Problems! I'm not sure the European Central Bank sees it that way, but a good argument for that "Que Sera" attitude that makes life more fun around here.

Some gnocci ala Sorrentino (baked with homemade mozzarella and fresh tomato sauce) a glass of wine and sit in the main square to people watch all evening. 

   Sorrento boasts the powerful liquor and digestive Limoncello, made from these giant native lemons.

May 19th-20th Israel

Israel, sunny and beautiful with a taste of european flora in the Middle East, is just 300 miles long and at it's broadest only 100 miles wide. We are back into lands of clothes dryers, as Israeli flags are the only things flapping in the breezes. We visited 3 of Israel's largest cities where it is said: Jerusalem with its many religious sites...one goes to pray; Haifa, a bustling trading port with its terraced gardens

 and exquisite Northern Mediterranean venue....one goes to work; and Tel Aviv, Israel's "youngest" city and growing financial hub and cultural centerpieces...one goes to play.

And then we visited seaside Jaffa.....

   My favorite Israeli old world town is Jaffa, "Yafo" in Hebrew, is mentioned in the Bible in reference to Jonah and the whale. It has a bohemian, artsy flair that hides amid narrow stone passageways, up and down rambling hills.
   Of course, the biggest thrill is actually walking in Christ's neighborhoods...In Nazareth, The Virgin Mary's home is preserved in the base of the Church of The Annunciation, and within a stone's throw(literally), is St. Joseph's home, her neighbor and husband. In Bethlehem, the actual birth cave is enshrined in the Church of The Nativity.

The day we visited, our guide was so excited to see the most unusual sighting of this white dove above Jesus' head...he felt it a sign of the Holy Spirit.



The River Jordan is also home to some interestingly large rodents

 We dipped our feet into the Jordan River, near the site of Jesus' baptism by his cousin, St. John The Baptist. We lunched shoreside of Lake Galilee...where St. Peter needed a helping hand on stormy waters...We passed Cana, site of the wedding feast, and also stopped at the Church commemorating the multiplication of the loaves & fishes that also still preserves the first christian baptismal font(pictured below) built in 5th century AD when Constantine proclaimed freedom of Christian worship.

 In Jerusalem, we walked the Via Dolorosa which culminates in the Church of the Cruxification that houses the mount where He was crusified and the slab believed to be where He was lain after being taken down from the cross. It was all very moving...

   Our guide made time for a short visit to the Wailing Wall, where we left our intentions with a prayer and then backed away to show respect. From Mt. of Olives we had a clear view of Old Jerusalem and the Golden Domed Mosque built on King Solomon's Temple site and believed to be Mohammed's place of ascension to heaven. Not far, the garden of Gethsemene, where Jesus prayed before being taken into custody. The mount where the Last Supper took place...It is an amazing place that inspires me to revisit, and revisit the Bible. All this tourist haven bustling with the ever-vigilant military presence...The Wall, the checkpoints are necessary evils...I'm not sure it's what Christ envisioned as "Peace on Earth"...though in many territories, the diverse populations seem to blend seamlessly.


Wailing Wall Intention



A colorful bazaar in Jerusalem's Old Town.....where.....

My ADHD side caught this little patent infringement!



It was all good...Peace on Earth Good will to Men & Women



May 15th-17th-Luxor & Cairo, Egypt



Karnak Temple at night



Now! The real LIVING HISTORY that is Egypt. It's hard to wrap your head around 2,000 B.C. in the structures within arm's length. The unexpected truth of our whole experience in Egypt at this time is the overwhelming feeling of patriotism, of possibility, and the overall graciousness by which we, as American tourists, were received. The energy of revolution/evolution was in the air.  It was strange to have to separate our anticipated angst from the on-the-ground reality. The media does exacerbate the tensions in our world. As anxious as we were, I'm so glad George & I took the leap of faith...even committing (knees knocking) to the propeller charter plane from Luxor to Cairo that unexpectedly gave us a bird's eye view of the Pyramids....so worth it!
    Since filling you with dynasty and funerary facts might lead to an endless epic...Please just enjoy the pix!



Ramses II




Original color in freeze above 72 foot Karnak Temple columns





Reclamation work at Luxor




Cairo-burned out National Democratic Party Building




Luxor temple Pharoh depicted with his queen




Ritual Cleansing bath at Karnak Temple



First sighting of Great Pyramid above Giza suburb








Good-Bye Egypt....shocrun(Thank you!)

 

May 14th- Safaga, Egypt

Here we are in Egypt!! Judging from the news, I guess our timing could have been better...but don't feel too sorry for us yet. Before we go into the lion's den (Cairo), on the full moon, we decided to have one relaxing day at the beach. Safaga is the oldest seaport in Egypt. It dates, from hyroglyphic scrolls, to the era of Cheops in the "Old Kingdom", somewhere between 3,500-4,000 years ago. They've had a long time to perfect the "beach resort" concept....and voila!



Ersatz Egypt!