Thursday 23 July, 2009. Day 35.

We were up at 3:00 am. The cab arrived at 3:30. I loaded the box with Spithas on the cab, sat in the front seat and we drove to Eli’s office. Eli was driving his car ahead of us. Eli parked his car in the parking lot. Next Eli took the front seat and I squeezed myself in whatever space was left in the back and the cab dropped us off at the airport. Eli was headed for Laos and an hour later at 7:00 I was Greecebound.

By 9:30 I was outside the Athens airport on the train to the subway and then a short cab ride home.

THE TRIP IS COMPLETED.
THE TRIP IS OVER.

My thanks to the audience that kept me company throughout these 35 days and most of all a great thanks to SPITHAS who stood by me in every twist and turn.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME.

Wednesday 22 July, 2009. Day 34.

An equally uneventful day that was spent more or less like the day before.

Tuesday 21 July, 2009. Day 33.

An uneventful day where I got up really late and spent the entire day between taking walks on the beach, watching TV, and eating. The only thing of note was that I disassembled the bike and put it in the box, ready for the flight.

Monday 20 July, 2009. Day 32.

Got up at 7:00 and by 9:00 we were at Eli’s office. I had coffee, called Greece and made arrangements for my ticket to fly back to Greece. I then headed for the bus depot to catch the bus for Jerusalem. It was an easy ride and in about one hour we were at the central bus station of Jerusalem. Kind of disheartening though. What took me the best part of a day, that is ride from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, was done in less than one hour by bus. But such is life. From there I took the urban bus to the old city

I entered the city from Jaffa gate, the closest one to where the city bus left us.


A nice young girl that was riding the bus came up to me and started a conversation by asking me if I were a biker. I told her I was and really perplexed I asked her how on earth she knew. She pointed at my shoes. Really once you spot the shoes I wear, the only pair I had with me in the trip, you can tell. She was from Germany and had been several months in Jerusalem and was about to return home. She was interested in doing something like what I did. Hence her knowledge and interest about bikes. In return I got a lot of info about the city from her. Especially helpful was when she told me that the tourist organization office was next door. After parting with the girl I promptly went there and got info and a couple of very helpful brochures.

My first destination was the Holy Sepulcure in the X-ian quarter. I followed the map and on the way I saw a store with Greek inscriptions.
I thought I would get more accurate info from them and went in. The shopkeeper was indeed Greek. His family had been in Jerusalem since 1922 when they left Asia Minor to save themselves and got permanently settled in Jerusalem. He had studied architecture in Greece and his Greek was very good. To my surprise he spoke Greek, Arabic, and no Hebrew at all. When I asked him how he can live in a Hebrew speaking state without knowing the language, he said that in the Arab quarter where he resides he doesn’t really need Hebrew. He gave me information about Jerusalem and when the time came for me to continue he showed me the way to the Holy Sepulcure, which turned out to be really close.


The interior is imposing.

I followed the crowd which at the time happened to be a group of Russian “pilgrims.”

I stood in line waiting to enter the holy of holies (my religious education is rather poor and my description may be inaccurate)

One Russian man taking me for Russian spoke to me in Russian in a rather irate tone indicating my fliers which, he was right, were not buttoned up, so I buttoned them up. Next that same man reprimanded me for taking photos. When my turn came to enter, I asked the monk that was regulating traffic and could speak Greek whether I could take pictures inside the Sepulcure. He told me that I may, if I am quick. In turn, the monk asked me why I was with the Russian group, if I were Greek. I told him that I was freelancing rather than traveling with a group and I just mingle with crowds. Next I entered the Sepulcure with that man and his family and I did take pictures.

After that I wandered around in the church and took some other pictures of objects that the crowd was treating as holy which myself did not know what they were or what they symbolized.

Next I followed the Via Dolorosa


Which led to Lion’s gate:


I exited from Lion’s Gate and proceeded towards the Mount of Olives.


I went back into the city form the same gate and walked by the Greek Patriarchate

The next stop was the Wailing or Western Wall


Women’s section

Waling Wall with view of the Dome of the Rock

I then walked to the nearby Dome of the Rock. Unfortunately the mosque was closed to the public to reopen tomorrow. Nonetheless, the guards allowed me to approach the gate and take a couple of photos.
It was time to return. So I reversed morning’s trajectory back to the central bus station. I took the bus to Tel Aviv and was there in about one hour. I was so tired that I slept during the entire ride. I went to Eli’s office and from there we drove to his palace in Herzaliyya. The rest of the evening was uneventful.

Sunday 19 July, 2009. Day 31.

The Israeli weekend is on Friday and on Saturday. Sunday is a regular working day. Got up at 7:00 and by 7:30 was driving to Tel Aviv with Eli. After hanging out at Eli’s office for coffee I went out looking for a bike store to find a box to pack Spithas for the airplane.

Tel Aviv is a very beautiful and different from the usual city. It has a tropical atmospere which reminded me of Miami. Its avenues are really wide and its high buildings do not look as high because of the ample space around them. It is a relatively new city that started to sprawl in the 1950s and its developers really took into account the lessons and the mistakes of city development that past experience made available.
It was not that difficult finding a store and the employee was really accommodating. I walked back with the box which I left in the car at the garage. After that I went out to explore the city. I started walking towards the sea front with the intention to explore the beaches. As I was walking I heard a voice shouting my name and when I looked across the street it was Ales, the Slovenian journalist from yesterday. I crossed the street joined him and we decided to find a place to sit and have a refreshment and lots of conversation. We actually our conversation lasted for almost two hours. Then he had to leave to get ready for Egypt which was his next stop, and I still had to see the beaches.

The beach front is full of expensive hotels, there is continuous going back and forth of people, and the place is really alive.


After walking around the beach front I grabbed a hummus sandwich from a stand and walked back to Eli’s office which is on the 36th floor of the highest building of Tel Aviv and can be seen in the background of the photo below.

At 15:00 Eli and I got in his car and drove about 60 kms to Natanya where Eli teaches at the University. He had to give a test. I walked around the grounds to acquaint myself with the establishment. It is a neat place and it must be the semitropical weather that makes it hard for me to see it as place of work but rather as a vacation spot. When the time came for Eli to give the test I went in the classroom and helped him proctor it. It’s the first time I’ve helped proctor a test outside of the US.

At around 18:30 another professor dropped by Eli’s office and we all discussed the possibility of jointly working on a project.

After that we got on the car and drove back. It was way past the rush hour and it took us a lot less to drive back that it took us to get to Natanya.

Saturday, July 18, 2009. Day 30

Stats:
Trip Total: 2125
Day Total: 82.83
Today I checked my email at the hostel and among tons of emails I unearthed one that gave me claim to fame. If you remember, a couple of weeks back I gave an interview to two journalists when I entered Anamur. The email I received had the electronic address of the article which is: http://www.anamurgundem.com/iste/haber_detay.asp?haberID=299

Got up at 9:00 and went into the city through Damascus gate.

The day was quiet as all Saturdays are in Jerusalem. I walked looking around. The within the walls city looks the way it did centuries ago and if one ignored certain things like the modern peddlers, an occasional radio, and the tourists, one could subject oneself to the feeling of being in a medieval town.

I went back to the hotel packed up and got ready to go. Before heading out, though, I decided to have a cup of tea and went to the hotel's living room. There, I engaged into conversation with Ales, a young Slovenian journalist who was reporting on the Middle East. He was very knowledgeable, and even though I did not agree on certain issues with him, I concluded that he was well informed. I ended up leaving at 11:15. I asked people how to get to highway 1 and biked in the direction they indicated. There was a lot of uphill in the beginning which later changed into downhill. It had to. Tel Aviv is at sea level. The highway was very modern and the road pavement was excellent.

About one quarter of the way I heard a siren behind me and stopped. It was the police. First time in my trip that the police stopped my biking. I leaned the bike against the wall and walked over to the police car. The two officers were very polite. First they informed me that bicycles are not allowed on the highway and then asked me where I come from. I answered their question and also handed them my passport. They said that I would have to get off the highway. When I told them that my destination was Tel Aviv and I did not know of any other way to get there, they went on the radio and then told me how to use the back roads, adding that this would only increase my biking by five to six kms. I realized I had no choice and did what they had asked me to. What impressed me was that both officers were in their late fifties. Typically after a certain age, police officers no longer go out patrolling but do clerical work at the office instead.

The already beautiful scenery became more beautiful or at least I could appreciate it more by riding on peaceful back roads. I rode the back roads for many kms and at some point, almost by mistake I got back on highway 1. Actually it was not such a smart move. The road was full of speeding cars and there was a lot of roadwork because of which there was no shoulder at all which really exposed me to a lot of risk as the police officers had warned me.

I kept on biking and when I got close to Tel Aviv I was a little confused as to how to go to Herzliyya, where Eli’s house is. I guessed and my guess was right. The town was given this name to honor Theodore Herzl. I was a bit unsure on how to proceed and exited the highway to find someone to ask and people were very happy to oblige. I got on highway 20 and biked on. The signs I saw as I biked on were clear. I was on the right track for Herzliyya. What surprised me is how accurately the distance was reported on Israeli signs. As you may see for yourselves, Israelis are fond of precision. In all my travels it is the first time I saw distance reported with such precision, 5¾ kms.

So, I was almost there a mere 5 kms from Herzaliyya. But of course!!! Nothing comes easy and you guessed right!!! I had to have a flat just 4 kms from Herzaliyya. I was so upset with the flat and with its timing that I debated with myself whether I should change the tube or just push the bike for 4 kms. Realizing how foolish the second thought was I just pushed the bike to the neighboring underpass to at least have some shade and went through the usual procedure on which continuous practice had made an expert of me. This time I found the culprit. I found a nail half an inch long in the tire. I pulled it out and replaced the tube. Bike on man bike on. I was at Eli’s half an hour later. Eli welcomed me and made sure that a continuous flow of cool drink was available at all time, of which I made extensive use.

I showered, settled in my room and later Eli’s sister Orna, whom I knew form NYC showed up. I was glad to see her and when she left Eli and I went for a walk to the nearby Marina which happens to be the biggest of Israel and it is situated among luxurious buildings.

Friday July 17, 2009. Day 29

Stats:
Trip Total: 2040.2
Day Total: 99
Up at 7:15. My stomach was not well yet and had to wait for a while before heading out. I hit the road at 8:15. Friday is the typical day off in a Muslim country and almost everything was closed. I was headed for King Houssein bridge which is the passage to Israel and according to my instructions I had to find my way to the airport highway, follow it, and at some point deviate and follow the signs to King Houssein bridge. As there were very few people to ask I really had a difficult time finding my way, plus there was a lot of uphill, which I did not really mind as it was the beginning of the day and I was rested. After a few errors and back and forths I finally found the correct way. And then the happy miles were on. The great downhill that led me to below sea level started and so did my biking happiness. The people had changed too. The few times I stopped to ask, people were ironic and I could sense some enmity. The landscape, however, was very beautiful, really craggy and imposing. Some pictures are in order.

At some point I crossed a place where the signs indicated that I was at sea level. What an experience. I did not even need to know how to swim.

My fear was that I would miss the 13:00 deadline when the border closes to reopen the following day. I made it in time.

I had to pay 10 JDs of exit tax and was not allowed to bike across the bridge. I had to follow everybody else and get on a bus to the Israeli side. Once I arrived there I saw horror. There were long lines of people waiting and everybody in the bus speculated aloud on how long it would take to cross into Israel. My estimate was two hours. I was very close, it took two and a half. When I found the appropriate line to wait I took my bike and stood there. Needless to say that people were cutting the line leaving me behind. At some point I asserted my right from a man dressed in Arab garbs who raised hell. As I felt that the authorities would not be totally on his side, and as I could communicate in English, I stood my ground. The arrogant Palestinian calmed down and asked more politely to let him go because his son was ahead and they should be together. I relented and let him go. Finally, when my turn came, a very polite girl asked me questions about me and my bike and I answered as best as I could. Nonetheless my answers were not very accurate. For instance, when she asked me for how long I was going to stay in Israel, I told her that I did not know because when you bike you cannot make accurate commitments about time and places. Despite my vague answers she announced “I will stamp your passport!” I was so exhausted from biking, dealing with the raucous Palestinians, and waiting that I just said OK. Later I realized my mistake of forgetting to ask to insert a separate page in my passport and stamp that.

The next step was to try to find my way out to the road and bike on. A couple of Israeli officials that I asked very politely showed me the way out.

On the road again. Trying to find my way to Jerusalem I was below sea level and the scenery was really imposing.

The distance to Jerusalem was 42 kms. The original seven to eight kms were easy kms on flat land. And then thirty kms of continuous uphill started. As you can see in the picture below I managed to surface and get above sea level again. In my wildest dreams I would not have thought that I could have stayed underwater for four hours straight!!!!!!!!!!

At some point I decided to take a break and stopped at a gas station. The attendant was very helpful and several people that stopped to refuel came up to me and interested in my biking talked to me, asked questions, and most importantly gave me info. I decided that I should give Eli a phonecall and let him know that I was in Israel. Somehow his number would not go through on my cell phone. I tried texting him but the SMS did not go through either. Perplexed I asked from a couple that had stopped to refuel, if I could use their cell phone to make a short call. They were very accommodating. Eli was surprised, welcomed me and gave me info on how to go to Tel Aviv once I made it to Jerusalem. At the end of the phonecall I thanked the couple who asked me where I was coming from. I told them and asked them the same question. I was embarrassed to find out that they were not Israelis as I had originally thought but from Germany instead. That meant that the cheap phonecall was not at all cheap but rather an expensive international call for them.

I biked on and finally reached Jerusalem


I followed the signs to the center and started looking for a hotel. One of the couples that I asked for info who happened to be French was very helpful. They recommended the old city and as we were really close to it they walked me there and showed me a couple of hotels. I ended up staying at the Palm hostel right across from Damascus gate. After I settled in I went out for a walk while it was still day and to forage.