Sunday - November 16th

Jerusalem!! Our day began early...again! There was so much to see! We started with a tour of the Temple Mount & the Gold Dome. Then we were off to the Mt of Olives where I ended riding a camel! What a hoot! After this big thrill, we walked down the Mt of Olives into the Garden of Gethsemane. It was amazing to see olive trees that have been producing for over 2,000 years!

I can't believe we are coming home this week! We still have so much to see, yet we know we haven't even scratched the surface in the Holy Lands.

Please pray that we continue to have safe travels (especially on November 20 & 21 as we return home!) Blessings!

After this, we walked to Mt Zion, through the Jewish quarter where our guide treated us to a fallafel (sp?). It was actually pretty good. From there we entered the Western Wall. It was fascinating to watch so many people of many faiths enter to worship and touch the wall. Our last stop was the Southern Steps. Then back on the buses for a 2 hour drive to the Dead Sea. We arrived after dark, so we'll get to swim/float in the Dead Sea tomorrow.

Saturday, November 14

I cannot believe all the sites we took in - the Jordan River, Capernaum, Mt of Beatitudes, Sea of Galilee - then heading to Jerusalem to see the Garden Tomb. We had the chance to take a 45 minute boat ride on the Sea of Galilee (which is actually a fresh water lake). Once we were on the Sea, we stopped the motor and had a few minutes of praise & worship. I will never be able to adequately describe this experience. I've never experienced water so calm. The sun was literally dancing on the water. It was an unbelievable moment!

(The photo is of a boat just ahead of us with some American tourists (it was great to see our flag flying!).

After a delicious lunch of St Peter's Fish (wait til you see that crazy photo!), we hopped on the bus to Jerusalem. We arrived in time to enter into the Garden Tomb. This is the site believed to be where Jesus was buried and on the 3rd day rose again!! There were several groups of different nationalities having brief worship services of their own throughout the garden. At various times they were singing "How Great Thou Art" in their respective languages - this was so precious - what a moment!!

Friday, November 14th

The cruise part was finally over today - time to disembark and head to the airport. We were flying from Athens, to Tel Aviv, Israel. A tiny fiasco with the luggage and our chartered flight (many people didn't get their bags, miraculously...mom & I got all 4 bags!). We were thrilled to be leaving a country where it seems you can smoke almost everywhere :(

That evening, we were staying in a kibbutz. We were delayed arriving, and got there after the Sabbath had begun, so no pictures until sunrise, no smoking (yeah), no elevators, etc. However - the meal we were served was INCREDIBLE!! So many incredible vegetable dishes, real chicken, a kosher soup that was out of this world! It was the best meal we'd had so far. We even got to bed at a reasonable time - for the first time since arriving, we both slept about 7 hours!

Thursday, Nov 13 - Crete & Santorini

The first stop of the morning was Crete - which honestly...the only highlight was finding yet another Starbucks so mom could get her soy chai latte fix.

Then we headed to Santorini!! We want to go back for sure! We had a precious amount of daylight to get in as many pictures as possible. This is the type of city that you imagine when you think of Greece. To get to the top, you either have to take a cable car (which we did, or ride a donkey...you can guess which one is faster!). If only we'd had more time there. Tourist season would be over in just a few days there, so everything was on sale! Got to love that!

Wed, Nov 12th - My 38th bday!

We got to sleep in til about 8am - what a luxury! Most of our days have been quite packed - early breakfast, meet our group for daily instructions, be ready to travel to our destination by 7:30am, etc. So it was quite nice to sleep in on my birthday! We toured Rhodes, a smallish island in Greece. Sadly, we didn't just love the sites of the city, but enjoyed walking along the quaint streets with 2 other ladies from our group. Surprisingly, they did all the shopping! Mom & I just "window shopped". And, as most of the 'street hustlers' ( a polite term for the men trying to sell you a bazillion types of trinkets from the minute you step off the street) say, "Hey pretty lady, it's free to look".

When we returned to the boat, we both enjoyed a nice nap, then headed to dinner. That evening, the wait staff surprised me by seranading my with a fun rendition of Happy Birthday. Then they brought out a special birthday cake for just our table! Sadly, neither of us had our camera - but we'll get pictures from one of our cruisemates!

Tues, November 11th

Ephesus, Turkey! WOW! WOW! WOW! To walk the steps where Paul once addressed the Ephesians - incredible. The ruins are beautiful - they've just begun to unearth the ruins. The excavations are incredibly expensive, so it will be a long time before it is all discovered. (Mom was thrilled too to find a Starbucks near the port - so she could have her beloved soy chai latte!

Our second stop that day was Patmos - to visit the site/cave where John was believed to be imprisoned. The tradition is to build a church on top of a site where an event was believed to have occured. This picture is of the church dome on top - just as the moon was rising.

Sun, November 9th - Parthenon & Akropolis

Our first day to really explore Athens! We drove to see the Parthenon. What a hike! The weather was a little dreary - so had to be a little careful walking up to the top - but what a view!! Athens is so reach with history! Then it was time to head the ship & cruise towards Mykenos.

It was dark when we reached Mykenos, and really weren't able to see that much (boo hoo!). We were thrilled with the suite on our ship - a REAL shower - a big one! YEAH!!