Itinerary for the first ten days (we are on day 7)

Day 1: twelve chill hours in London

The olympic village is behind me and I am signaling one for our first day. We are going to count the days like we did for the John Muir Trail and, perhaps, in the end make a time lapse video. Thanks to Wilson's cousin, Deborah, for the idea!

Day 2: 5:30 am arrive in Tel Aviv -- beach, Old Jaffa (many millennia year old city), and more beach

 

The view of Tel Aviv from Jaffa

Day 3: Drive up to Mediterranean coast to see:

steep Haifa -- pilgrimage spot for the Ba'Hai religion that was founded in 1844 around 30 years after the Mormon religion




ancient Akko -- Arab city -- third oldest continuously inhabited city in the world (the oldest is Jericho, which is in the West Bank, 25 miles east of Jerusalem).

Nazareth -- we slept here two nights at an amazing hostel that was built during the Ottoman period and had 30 foot mosaic ceilings

This was a view from inside the hostel but in one of the outdoor living spaces.

Day 4: Drive up to Galilee and Golan Heights:

We trail ran around the remains of ancient caves and a fortress in the cliffs above the sea of Galilee.

Back to Nazareth to see the sites like Mary's well, look at over the hills, and eat some delicious hummus and falafel.

We then hiked another trail through waist deep water to swim under a waterfall in Yehudiyya Park in the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights were captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 six-day war. 90% of the Syrian residents were driven out of the Golan Heights. In the Yehudiyya Park, we hiked past abandoned stone buildings. There was no explanation for the stone buildings in the park's literature.

Day 5: Jerusalem!

Wilson is going to blog more about the above, today, and yesterday. But the very quick run down is:

Day 6: Climbing, the Dead Sea, and an ecolodge in Negev

Day 7: Jordan -- Wadi Musa and Petra (I am blogging from a rooftop in Wadi Musa Jordan right now).

Day 8: Wadi Musa and Petra

Day 9: Amman

Day 10: Jerash