Jordan

On Thursday, we visited Petra and Its amazing 3000 year old Nabataen world heritage site. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade temple episode was filmed here. We were very lucky that we did Petra early in the day with only spotty light rain at times. That night the skies open up and we had high winds and heavy rains. Our hotel was up in the mountains above Petra and we were so socked in you could only see 30 feet in front of you.

Next day we drove to Wadi Rum and took a 4 hour drive with a Bedouin in his 4 Wheel Toyota Jeep. We drove about 72 miles into the mountain desert and saw more Nabataen writings and lots of T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia for the movie fans) sites going back to 1914-1917. I took some of these sites with a half truth, like George Washington slept here. Jordan was fascinating.

Israel

After an 11hr flight from JoBurg; 10 hrs at waiting at CDG, a 4 hr flight to Tel Aviv, picking our car up at 01:00 (AM) and driving 45 minutes without really knowing where you are going, we got to our hotel Dan Panorama in Jerusalem . It is just around the corner from Dan King David and a short hilly walk to the Old City.
We even got up at 8am next day to visit the Old City. Lynne prayed at the Wall and then we spend the rest of the day walking around the Jewish Quarter and Jerusalem.

On Saturday, we went back to the Old City and visited the Christian Quarter.

On Sunday, we visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum which was rebuilt in 2005. Both Lynne and I were very moved by this visit.

A lot has changed in 12 years since we were here. All for the good, but it is obvious at whose expense as you walk around the expanded Jewish Quarter in the Old City. We spent four days in Jerusalem and Lynne’s feet got so swollen from all the walking around, she had to buy a large pair of Crocs.

On Monday, we left for Masada and spent two days here. The first day Lynne and I went swimming in the Dead Sea at the Ein Gedi’s public beach.

Next day we took a tram to the top of King Herod’s Masada Desert Fortress and walked around the ruins from the Roman conquest of the Jewish revolt in 70AD.

Next, we went to King David's Dead Sea Hideout in En Gedi and hiked to the waterfalls. Lynne did a swim at the upper and lower falls.

We left Masada around 9am on Wednesdays and got to Eilat a little around 12 noon, our stopover for Jordan. This was much faster than I expected. Roads much improved since 1989 when Lynne and I were here last. Eilat is a mixture of Miami, Las Vegas and Coney Island, all at their worse. We left for Petra and Wadi Run on Thursday
On Saturday, we drove to Tel Aviv via Beer Sheba since the road at Masada along the Dead Sea was washed out from the heavy rains. I had to turn around and drive south for about 30 minutes to catch the junction to Beer Sheba which is longer but a much better road to Tel Aviv then going by the Dead Sea and Jerusalem. Sunday was a laundry day for us and staying out of the heavy rain.

Our second week in South Africa

Sunday, we spent the day in the Cape Town area visiting the Jewish Museum where we also had lunch.

Monday, we drove through the wine country towns of Paarl, populated by the Dutch/German Huguenots, and Franschhoek, populated by French Huguenots. We wanted to visit the famous French restaurant Le Petite Ferme, but did not make it since there were forest fires and we were advised not to turn into the mountains. The whole area was socked in with smoke and ashes.

Tuesday, we drove to Hout Bay on the Cape Peninsula. There is a lot of commercial fishing here, but also tourist eating places. We took a boat to Seal Island which is a rock outcrop where hundreds of seals sit and sun themselves. The boat trip was an hour and even Lynne enjoyed it. There was a large group of high school students and a lot them got sea sick; it was a funny site to watch them go though the sea sick stages, but not for them.

Wednesday, we went up Table Mountain that overlooks Cape Town. It is only 3566 feet/1087 meters and a very a steep climb. But we took the cable car. I don’t know if we are getting lazy or our age is catching up with us. We spent a good half day trekking around the top and taking photo shots of Cape Town and the surrounding area.

Thursday, we took a good long walk over the Campus Bay. We had lunch and a little beach sun.

Friday, we once again went touring around Cape Town. We took a long walk from our place in Sea Point to Castle of Good Hope in the city center which is the oldest building in Cape Town.

On Sunday we flew to JoBurg and spent Monday catching up on R&R at the airport hotel.

Our first week in South Africa

We arrived in Johannesburg on Friday tired but well. We stayed at the InterContinental Johannesburg Sandton Towers, a luxurious hotel where the king bed was bigger than the studio apartment we had in Paris.

Saturday we went to Pilanseberg National Park and did a drive through in an open safari rover.

Our train trip to Cape Town which was supposed to be 25 hours but was 5 ½ hours late, making it a long ride. Our sleeping compartment was very roomy and comfortable. The dinning was first class and they even gave us an extra dinner since we were so late, like Amtrak, but first class service unlike Amtrak.

We love Cape Town. This place is so much like South Beach. We even have a ‘New York’ bagel place that sells kosher food. Our driver who picked us up was Moti Mokovitch from Israel. Our flat has a little private garden area which has a patio for dining and two lounges for sunning. There are so many little neat places to eat, but we have been doing dinner at our flat, since this place has such a great patio and we can just veg-out after being in the sun all day.

Tuesday, we picked up the car, food shopping, and walked around the bay area.

Wednesday we did Robben Island where our guide was a former political prisoner with Nelson Mandela. After that we visited the V&A Waterfront Mall. We walked there from our place along the beaches and it took about an hour.

Thursday we drove to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope where the baboons just room around or bother the people for food if one is stupid enough to toss food their way.








On the way back home, we stopped at Boulders to see the penguins.

Friday we visited the South Africa Art Gallery, The Gardens and a lot of walking around the old part of Cape Town.

The people are great and I am amazed at the reserve of the hawkers, who don’t bother you if you say you are not interested. The only exception was at the V&A Waterfront Mall, a young man tried to walk into me while asking for some money, but I just jumped aside and he went his way.