Today turned out to be a remarkable day. We set out from our cabins at Kibbutz Kfar Haruv to another kibbutz located 37 miles further north in the Golan Heights right at the cease fire line between Israel and Syria.
At Kibbutz Merom Golan, we met El...
Day 9: Elijah, Nazareth, knafee, Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights (long)
Today we said goodbye to Haifa and drove out of the city to a major biblical site in the town of Muhruqa in the Carmelite Mountains.Here, the Carmelites established a church as a shrine to the prophet Elijah. On this site, an important story, in the bo...
Day 8: Akko and Rosh HaNikra
Another UNESCO World Heritage site visited today, the crusader city of Akko. It is spelled three different ways ( including Acre). Ibrahim is a deep lover of all things historical and could go on for hours making history come alive. But he also knows...
Day 7: Caesarea National Park, best falafel in Wadi Nisnas, Baha’i Gardens
Today’s overview of Haifa took us first to Caesarea National Park, a major Roman ruin area on the coast between Tel Aviv and Haifa that is still being excavated. Originally an ancient Phoenician port, it was rebuilt as a Roman city by King Herod in ...
Day 6: Goodbye Jordan, Hello Israel
Another 7 AM departure, and time to say goodbye to the amazing city of Petra -- and to Jordan. Traveling through the other side of the Al Sharah mountains, we passed through the tribal housing area, and then wound our way up and down the scenic mounta...
Day 5: Petra!!
Petra is considered to be one of the new seven wonders of the world, and we eagerly anticipated coming here. To put it simply, it is something that must not be missed. It was the highlight of our trip thus far.The ancient archeological city of Petra i...
Day 4: Travel to Petra via Mt. Nebo and Madaba
It is approximately 143 miles from Amman to Petra and we travelled down the Desert Highway, one of three main north/ south highways in Jordan. As soon as we got out of the city, the landscape changed dramatically and we saw few towns, a lot of desert ...
Day 3: Jerash, Ajloun Castle, and a home hosted dinner
Thursday, Day 3. Jerash and Ajloun Castle, home hosted dinner
The day started early with an hour long trip north to Jerash, an ancient 6500 year old city about 27 miles from the Syrian border. Jerash is said to have the best preserved expanse of R...
Day 2: Discovering Amman
We started getting a feel for the Jordanian culture on our morning bus tour around the capital city of Amman. It is home to more than 4 million of the 12 million people living in all of Jordan. In 2000, the total population of the country was half of...
Days 0 and 1 - Amman: Travel and Arrival
Sunday into Monday was a travel day- a very long one. We were happily surprised that it went pretty easily. A couple of blips: first, a major NY bike race that made leaving Manhattan to get to JFK rather difficult, and much later, some challenges at...
Jim and Wendy Damoulakis
A journal of our major travels
Jordan and Israel
May 2023
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London and Scotland
Sep 2022
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Machu Picchu and Galapagos
May 2019
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Portugal and Spain
September 2018
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Southwest US
September 2017
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China
June -July 2015