Overland to London - Kizkalesi to Side

 

Kızkalesi, the Maiden's Castle, on an islet on the Turkish Mediterranean Coast

Day 75    Fri 8 August          DAMASCUS – ADANA

Departure time: 5 am               Tach reading:  135,935         Distance run:  583 kms

 Another day spent backtracking through Syria to Turkey. We will stop again in Hama by the Great ‘whispering norias’ for lunch then press on, this time by-passing Aleppo to go straight to the Turkish border. Once across that border we’ll be back in civilisation, of sort – reasonable food, reasonable people and reasonably priced beer. Depending how we go crossing the border, and also allowing for the one hour time change, we will maybe head to Silifke, although it seems more likely that we will be stopping tonight in Adana.

 Day 76    Sat 9 August         ADANA – SILIFKE (KİZKALESI)

Departure time: 8 am               Tach reading:  136,518                  Distance run: 258 kms

 Reasonably short journey today along the Turkish Mediterranean Coast. We will stop an hour or so in the coastal city of Mersin to shop and hopefully change some money then press on to the BP Mocamp at Kızkalesi. Tom wants to have some work done on the coach, mainly to correct the steering noise which, no doubt, you have heard over the last couple of days.

Kızkalesi Castle walls looking towards the Mainland

    Kızkalesi is 27 kms from Silife and the name means the ‘Maiden’s Castle’. This site is that of ancient Armenian Corycus and both castles, in the bay and on the mainland are of Armenian origin, although Crusader and Byzantine additions are evident on the mainland castle. The name Kızkalesi has its origins in the legend of the King of Corycus who had a daughter of extreme beauty of whom it was prophesised at her birth that she would die from the bite of a snake.

        Ataturk introduces the alphabet,     
Tekirdaǧ

To avert the catastrophe, the king had a castle built for her on a little offshore. The prophesy proved to be true when the princess died from the bite of a snake accidentally introduced in a basket of fruit sent over by her father. The same story is also told of Kızkalesi, a 18^th century tower on an islet off Seraglio Point in the Bosporus in Istanbul. The two castles here, part of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, held out until 1375, when they were captured by the Karamanoğlu Turks.      A point to note is the spelling of Kızkalesi. You will note that the first ‘ı’ is undotted, while the second is. In the Turkish alphabet, introduced by Kemal Atatürk to replace Arabic script,  there are two ‘i’s’, representing different sounds.  ı – undotted is pronounde as the second vowel sound in ‘partial’; i - dotted is pronounced as in ’bit’ – the capital is always dotted. Also you will see ‘ç’ and ‘ş’. These are pronounced ‘ch’ as in church and ‘sh’ as in ship respectively – consequently the correct Turkish spelling is ‘şiş’ (sheesh) kebab.

 Day 77    Sun 10 August        KİZKALESI – AYDİNCİK

Deaparture time: 7am              Tach reading: 136,776                      Distance run: 334kms

 TODAY NEVER REALLY HAPPENED (pax comment)

Choosing to ignore the above inane and stupid remark (and it wasn’t even Lindsay who wrote it!), I will continue with today’s commentary.  Today was really planned! Tom and I decided that, as London is creeping (the key word) closer, we would show you what Overland travel is really like. Admittedly we may have gone wrong somewhere near Silifke, and upon nearing the town with the charming name of Mut,

  Managed to find this photo of Mut on Wikipedia!  

we decided that we didn’t really want to go to Konya, so decided to follow our Turkish tourist map.. First by heading to Ermenek in the Taurus Mountains, then by heading south on a marked major road to Anamur. The Mut to Ermenek road may have been steep, but it was reasonable, but as for the other, it was formed on the paper of the Turkish tour map only! After much pushing by the pax, praying & cursing by Tom and myself and having Turks, who didn’t know where we were going, directing us. Gülnar, the place on everyone’s lips all afternoon, was as welcome as an oasis in the Sahara as we approached it at sunset.  

Poor old OMJ besides having a liberal coating of fine white dust – both inside and out – had brakes that were not working properly, no telmar, alternator broken and a driver in the first stages of lung cancer having smoked 10 packets of Turkish cigarettes in the course of the day. Even after Gülnar, on the tarseal, the day wasn’t over and one more push was required. Finally we reached the coast road and free camped in a lay-by near the town of Aydıncık.

 Quotes on the Day:

              Juliette to Long John: “Can I have some of your fly???”

       Tom caught on the hill (with dodgy brakes):  “Get out of the way, you fucking idiot!!”

             Frank at 5.30pm: “When’s lunch?”

Day 78 Mon 11 August          AYDİNCİK – SIDE

Departure time: 7.30am                      Tach reading: 137,110           Distance run: 246kms 

    After breakfast we will leave our little camping spot and head to Anamur, stopping on the way for a swim at one of the sandy beaches. We will stop in Anamur while Tom has the brakes fixed, before we proceed on, along this rugged stretch of coach to Alanya. 

The harbour at Alanya on the Turkish Mediterranean Coast

This area of Turkey, particularly around the town of Gazipaşa, is the centre of the Turkish banana industry and it was at Gazipaşa that banana culture was first introduced, the climate beneath of Taurus Mtns, which blocks the cold winters, being particularly suitable for this fruit.  Alanya, in the days of the Greeks & Romans, was a pirate stronghold which was destroyed by the Roman General Pompey in 68 BC. Today it is dominated by a great ruined castle which was built by the Seljuk Turks in the 13^th century. 

OMJ & pax getting a well-needed wash just out of Side

We will have a brief stop at Alanya, then press on to the seaside town of Side, also an ancient pirate stronghold cleared out by Pompey. Side has the remains of an ancient Roman city and a well-preserved Roman theatre, all of which are very close to the Neptun Motel where we camp.  The Zeppelin Disco is on the seafront not far from the Neptun. It is quite an unreal experience staggering back to the Neptun, through the ruins, with a skin full of Efes beer local wine or perhaps something a wee bit stronger.

The Roman theatre in the centre of Side

text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Instagram accounts  @dustonmyfeet     and    @antipodeanneil

My paperbacks and ebooks on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are

Overland to London - Siege of the Syrian Embassy, Amman

 

The old city of Amman for the Citadel

Day 69 Sat 2 August 1980      AQABA – DAMASCUS (hopefully)

     As a result of our meeting last night, it has been decided by a majority vote to cut short our stay in Aqaba and spend the extra time on the Turkish coast at Side. This arrangement does suit Tom and I, and I hope those who wished to stop the day in Aqaba aren’t too disappointed. I feel the Turkish coast will be ample compensation.

          The drive today and tomorrow will be long, both in distance and in time, as we do have two borders to go through between Aqaba and Adana. Provided we can get an early start, we should be able to reach our objectives without arriving too late (all being well!) [Ha].

          Today we plan on stopping to shop for this evening in Jerash, just before the Syrian border. Hopefully we won’t experience any problems at the border (Famous last words!), but even so please destroy all receipts, stamps, coins etc. from Disneyland.

 Comments: Kathmandu – London via Amman, via Amman, via Amman, via Amman,                                                                                             via Amman ……

 Sam answered: “I was thinking that we’ve spent 12 hrs on the bus today & we’re still going backwards.”

 HAPPINESS is having a Syrian visa! [Half the fun though is trying to get one].

 Day One of the Sundowner’s P48 Syrian Visa crisis

 Day 70 Sun 3 August            AMMAN

    Thanks to the kind Syrian border officials, we have to stay in Amman to get new visas (they say our current visas, in Arabic, which I obtained in Ankara, are just for one visit & will not be moved on this), and our frustrating vigil outside the Syrian embassy begins. 11.30 sees Mr Neil and Mr Tom emerge from the scrummage outside the embassy, still with passports and no forms – embassy, it turns out, ran out of visa forms last Thursday. Mr Neil and Mr Tom are not saying too many nice things about the Syrians at this stage! Be prepared to wait! At least this campsite at Suweilih is clean. 

Day Two    -  “LET’S NUKE THOSE BUNCH OF CAMEL JOCKEYS!” (pax comment)

Day 71 Mon 4 August           AMMAN

Day 2 at the Syrian embassy. Finally, after ‘accidentally’ clouting a couple of Arabs, ejecting two forcibly with the help of an Italian, from the melée, bruised down one side and successfully resisting the efforts of a guard to remove me from the gate, I eventually gained admission to the embassy and got the 31 visa forms. Thanks to our scribes – Carol, Jane and Simon – we completed the forms, only to have the nice man refuse to accept them and tell us to come back tomorrow!

Day Three  of the Syrian Embassy siege

Day 72    Tue 5 August         AMMAN

           Day 3 Syrian embassy. Today the queue was even ‘orderly’ with each person being admitted in turn. This time we lodged our applications, and now must collect passports on Thursday. Allah willing, we should be away that afternoon.

 Day Four Syrian Embassy siege

 Day 73    Wed 6 August        AMMAN

Today, by way of a change from the charming city of Amman, we will go on an excursion to the town of Kerak, about 150 kms from Amman, overlooking the Dead Sea. Kerak is another ancient settlement. It is mentioned in the Bible as Qir Moab, but it was  during the days of the Crusades, as Crac des Moabites, that it reached the peak of its importance when the seigniory of Kerak and Montreal (present day Shaubak) became part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Christian feudal state after the French model, which lasted from 1099 to 1187. 

The town of Kerak, within the city walls of the Crusader castle

        Around 1136 Payem, the cup-bearer of King Fulk of Jerusalem, rebuilt the fortress and much of what remains dates from that period. In 1183, while the castle was occupied by Renaud de Châtillon, the Saracen Saladin (Salah-ud-Din) laid siege to the town. On 20 November 1183, when Saladin attacked Kerak, a marriage was about to take place between 11 year-old Isabella, daughter of Queen Maria Comnena of Jerusalem, and 17 year-old Humphrey of Toron, stepson of Renaud de Châtillon. Despite the siege, the wedding ceremonies continued and Lady Stephanie, wife of Renaud, in true medieval spirit of chivalry, sent dishes from the bridal feast to Saladin. Saladin, in turn, asked in which the tower the young pair were housed then ordered that it should not be bombarded by his siege engines, nine great mangonels that were in continuous action.

Town of Kerak from the Castle

   Kerak withstood the siege this time, but in later years Renaud de Châtillon attacked Moslem pilgrims in breach of a truce. Saladin never forgave him and in 1187, after the decisive Battle of Hattin near Tiberias which spelt the end of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Renaud was captured and after refusing  to change religions, was personally beheaded by Saladin. Guy of Lusignan, another captive Crusader whose life Saladin spared, witnessed the execution and was reputedly told by Saladin:  “It is not the want of kings to kill kings, but that man had transgressed all bounds, and therefore did I treat him thus.” After Saladin’s death in 1193, his younger brother, al-Adil took possession of Kerak.  

                    Arches & halls in Kerak Castle                         

 In later years Kerak was a bone of contention between the rulers of Egypt and Syria and for a time became a refuge for deposed Mamluk (or slave) Sultans of Egypt, several of whom met violent deaths in the castle. After the capture of the area by the Ottomans, Kerak drifted into obscurity. The main bulk of the castle is Crusader in origin with additions being built by the Mamluks and the Ottomans. Perhaps a word or two should be written about the Crusades, that period of religious wars were the baron knights of Europe reached the peak of their glory and popular imagination about the exploits of the Crusaders has been stirred ever since.

 The Crusades

          In the middle 11^th century, the weakening Byzantine Empire, long regarded as the Protector of the Sacred Places of Christianity, was being assailed, and losing ground, to the advancing Seljuk Turks from Central Asia. Also, the regeneration of the church and intensified religiosity fed the fires of indignation over the fact that Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre was in the hands of Barbarians (Moslems). Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus, in 1095, sent a request to Pope Urban II for help in recovering lands lost to the Seljuks, and after the Synod of Clermont in late 1095, Urban II convinced the knights and princes of the West that a holy war, or Crusade, was justified. Jerusalem became the password and the White Cross became the symbol. First to set out, in 1096, was a disorderly rabble under Peter the Hermit, a priest of  Amiens. After much fighting and looting (massacring Jewish communities in the Rhineland) on the way they reached Constantinople in August 1096. 20,000 men, women and children were ferried across the Bosporus only to be massacred or captured by the Seljuks  at Nicomedia (present day Izmit).

Montreal Crusader Castle, Shaubak, Jordan

     The next year the 1^st Crusade, led by men like Godfrey of Bouillon, Baldwin of Flanders, Raymond of Toulouse and Tancred, set out and within two years had defeated the Seljuks in Asia Minor, had captured Antioch (Antakya), besieged and captured Jerusalem and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem under the kingship of Godfrey of Boillon. A principality  was established at Antioch and earldoms at Edessa (modern Urfa) and Tripoli (in Lebanon)  

    Semi arch in Montreal Castle, Shaubak   

   In 1144, the conquest of Edessa led to the 2^nd Crusade (1147-49) under the leadership of Conrad III and Louis VII of France. The Crusaders were defeated at Dorylaeum and undertook fruitless campaigns against Damascus and Ascalon.

          In 1187, Saladin conquered Jerusalem and defeated the Christians at Hattin which led to the 3^rd Crusade (1189-92) under the leadership of Richard I Cœur de Lion of England, Philip II Augustus of France and Frederic I Barbarossa who drowned crossing a river in Asia Minor after winning a brilliant victory over the Seljuks at Iconium. Richard I and Philip II captured Acre and Richard concluded an armistice with Saladin, a coastal strip between Tyre and Jaffa was ceded to the Christians and pilgrimages to Jerusalem were to be allowed.

The 4^th Crusade (1202-04) was called by Pope Innocent III with Egypt as its objective. The Crusaders first had to conquer Zara in Dalmatia for Venice before the Venetians would assure transportation, then the Doge Dandolo of Venice directed the Crusaders to Constantinople which was conquered twice, the second time with merciless plundering and slaughter.

Children’s Crusade (1212) with the naïve intention of peacefully converting Moslems to Christianity. Corrupt merchants transported thousands of boys and girls from Marseilles to Alexandria where  they were sold into slavery.

The 5^th Crusade (1217-21) led by Andrew II of Hungary and Leopold VI of Austria. After an inconclusive campaign in Syria, the Crusaders besieged and captured the port of Damietta in Egypt and after an abortive march on Cairo, were forced to surrender by the Sultan of Egypt and leave Egypt.

The remains of the keep of the Crusader castle of Wu'eira, overlooking Petra

    The 6^th Crusade (1228-29) led by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, who had been excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX. He obtained Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth from the Egyptian sultan by treaty.

In 1244 Jerusalem was reconquered by the Moslems

The 7th Crusade (1248-56) was led by St. Louis IX of France against Egypt, now the strongest Islamic power. The Crusaders took Damietta, but then Louis was captured  along with a large portion of his army and ransomed against a third of France’s annual revenue.

The 8^th Crusade (1270) was again led by St. Louis IX of France, this time to Tunis where he died of dysentery along with a large portion of his army. This was the last organised Crusade against the Moslems, and the Holy Land was definitely lost to Christianity with the fall of Acre in 1291

Day Five  of the Syrian Embassy siege

 Day 74    Thu 7 August         AMMAN - DAMASCUS

Departure time: 8.30                 Tach reading: 135,704       Distance run: 231 kms

   

 Byzantine & Ottoman ruins on the Citadel,
Amman

 Again chaos at the Syrian Embassy, with Tom making little headway, despite scaling the compound walls,  but the womanly charms of Swiss Terry gained immediate access to the precincts of that notorious building, but again to no avail – no passports before one pm. Even though Terry’s ‘fainting’ spell gained admittance to the embassy building we didn’t get the passports. Just after one, I was called out in the street by an Embassy official and given a bunch of passports. There were a few nasty moments when I realised i had been given only the Canadian and Australian passports,  however shortly afterwards another official turned up with the rest - sigh of relief! A whistle saw Tom back over the compound wall and a ‘very poorly’ Terry suddenly miraculously recovered to the complete bamboozlement of a couple of concerned Syrian officials and we were finally off, en route to Syria.  Then complete chaos on the border – this seems to be a way of life with the Syrians. 4 hours on the border then on to Damascus, arriving at the camp ground at 11.30pm.  Many thanks to the cooks for being able to provide a good quick makeshift meal on the coach.      HEAR!  HEAR!

Pax comments:     I suffered withdrawal symptoms when I left Amman …

                              I cried for days after I left Amman

                             My life is so empty now that I’ve left Amman …

                             I mean, there was just so much to do there …

text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Instagram accounts  @dustonmyfeet     and    @antipodeanneil

My paperbacks and ebooks on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.

Overland to London - Jerusalem via Petra to Aqaba

 

'Djinn Blocks' at entrance to the Siq, Petra

Day 67    Thu 31 July          JERUSALEM – PETRA

Departure time: 6.30 am

We will leave Knight’s Palace Hotel at 6.30 for the drive to the Allenby Bridge. Hopefully delays won’t be long. Tom will meet us at Jordanian Customs, then we will drive to Amman to change money before pressing on to Petra, the rock-hewn city of the Nabateans and once an important stop on the caravan routes between Egypt and the East until the establishment of Palmyra and Jerash by the Romans. Nowadays, the descendants of the Nabateans, Bedouin tribesmen who claim descent from Ishmael, son of Abraham, inhabit Petra, still live in the ancient caves, or in tents, depending on the season.

The Siq is the main entrance to Petra & after a 5 kms walk,
El Khazneh (the Treasury) appears

         The entrance to Petra from Wadi Musa is by way of a narrow gorge, 5kms long, known as the Siq. As one comes to the end of the Siq, between two cliffs over 100ft high, the famous Treasury (El-Kazneh) appears, hewn out of the red sandstone cliff. Once past the Treasury the Valley opens out with caves – mostly old tombs – monuments, a theatre all cut from the red sandstone of the valley, making this area one of the wonders of the modern world. Further away, in the hills at the far end of the Valley is El Deir, the Monastery, which is accessed by a stiff climb. Many of the buildings in the Valley are of great interest and access is free to most of them.

   

The Street of Tombs, Petra

The rock-cut Roman theatre in Petra

Coloured striated sandstone interior of a tomb, Petra

Tom has bought food for tonight and each of you will carry in what you need. We are able to spend the night in the Valley, so every person will also carry in their sleeping bags. Horses or donkeys can be hired to go in and out. I will have to check on costs when we arrive there. There is a Rest House at the beginning of the Siq and we will be leaving the coach there.

 Day 68    Fri 1 August          PETRA – WADI RUM – AQABA

 

         It seems no work of man’s creative hand,

          By labour wrought as wavering fancy planned;

          But from the rock as if by magic grown,

          Eternal, silent, beautiful, alone!

          Not virgin-white like that old Doric shrine

          Where erst Athena held her rites divine;

          Not saintly-grey like many a minster fane

          That crowns the hill and consecrates the plain;

          But rosy-red as if the blush of dawn

          That first beheld them were not yet withdrawn;

          The hues of youth upon a brew of woe

          Which man deemed old two thousand years ago

          Match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,

          A rose-red city half as old as Time.

                                                  Dean Burgon

     The ruins of Petra were re-discovered by the Swiss traveller Johann Burckhardt in 1814. He had heard rumours of ancient ruins in a valley near the tomb of Aaron, Moses' brother. During his travels in Arabia, Burckhardt dressed as an Arab used the name of Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah. Expressing a desire to sacrifice a goat at the Tomb of Aaron, he persuaded a guide to take him through the valley to the tomb. He describes to first site of the 'Treasury': "An excavated mausoleum came in view, the situation and beauty of which are calculated to make an extraordinary impression upon the traveller, after having traversed for nearly half an hour such a gloomy and almost subterraneous passage as I have described. The natives call this monument Kaszr Faraoun, or Pharaoh's castle; and pretend that it was the residence of a prince. But it was rather the sepulchre of a prince, and great must have been the opulence of a city, which could dedicate such monuments to the memory of its rulers ..." Johann Burckhardt  - Travels in Syria and the Holy Land. 

Overview of Petra

    Time this morning to further explore this fantastic city before we make our way back up the Siq to our coach, just as the day’s tourists are beginning to arrive. We will head off towards Aqaba on the Red Sea by way of spectacular Wadi Rum, famous for its associations with Lawrence of Arabia during World War One. It was here that some of the desert scenes of the David Lean movie Lawrence of Arabia were filmed. We will stop by the small Desert Fort, now occupied by members of the Bedouin Desert Police Force and have time to explore a little in the vicinity – spectacular rock formations, Nabatean ruins, a Bedouin encampment. 

The Desert Police Fort at Wadi Rum

     Bedouin policeman, Wdi Rum      

        The drive to Aqaba is through Wadi Yutum to Jordan’s only port on the Red Sea. Aqaba is situated at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba (part of the Great Rift Valley which extends from the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon to Mozambique in southern Africa) and opposite the Israeli port of Eilat – just a few hundred yards away, but to reach Eilat from here one must cross the Jordanian-Israeli border at the Allenby Bridge. 

    Aqaba has been an important port since the days of the Phoenicians. It was the southernmost town of the Biblical Kingdom of Edom and was occupied ny the Romans and Crusaders. During the Ottoman Empire, it drifted into the backwaters of history until captured by the Arabs, under Lawrence of Arabia, in World War One. Between 1958-60 a new port was constructed here. One of the casus belli of the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict was the blockade, by Egypt, of the Straits of Tiran, the southern entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, to deny shipping access to the Israeli port of Eilat. Now Aqaba (1980), besides being a port town, is also a resort area famous for its Red Sea coral gardens

Bougainvillea on the beach at Aqaba

COMMENTS:    Thanks to Tom & Rolf (& locals) for handling our breakdown predicament (at Qatrana) so calmly & efficiently.

text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Instagram accounts  @dustonmyfeet     and    @antipodeanneil

My paperbacks and ebooks on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.

Overland to London - Jerusalem

 

Old Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

Day 63    Sun 27 July          DEAD SEA – JERUSALEM

Departure time: 7.30 am

            The border is around ½hours run from the Dead Sea Swimming Club and the length of time with formalities can vary. We will hire JETT buses (Jordanian) to cross to the Disneyland (Israeli) border post. (Israel was referred to as Disneyland on all correspondence as officially there was no ‘open’ border and other Moslem nations would frown on foreigners visiting Israel. The Israelis co-operated by issuing their visas on a piece of paper which would be collected at the border when we re-crossed into Jordan). Checks on both sides of the Allenby Bridge (over the River Jordan) – named after the British General Allenby who captured Jerusalem from the Turks in World War One – can take time. On the Disneyland border there will be searches on all luggage and once cleared we will take taxis to the Knight’s Palace Hotel in the Old City of Jerusalem, which will be our base for the next few days.

Outside the Damascus Gate, Jerusalem

 Day 64    Mon 28 July                JERUSALEM

    Jerusalem is perhaps the best known and certainly the most controversial city in the World. Jerusalem is the holy city of both Christianity and Judaism and the 3^rd holiest city of Islam (after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia), and consequently all three religions have laid claim to, and occupied, the city throughout its long and turbulent history. Jerusalem is one of the World’s oldest cities, dating from around 4000 BC when a tribe of Canaanites built a town here. In 1000 BC King David captured the city and under his son Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel reached its peak.

  In the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem  

    After Solomon’s death in 930 BC, the kingdom split into two, Israel and Judah, with Jerusalem being, the capital of the latter. The city was destroyed, first by the Assyrians around 600 BC and again by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in 587 BC. This time the inhabitants were taken into captivity in Babylon where they remained until the Persians under Cyrus the Great destroyed Babylon in 538 BC and allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem. Next came the Macedonians under Alexander the Great who occupied Jerusalem in 332 BC and after his death this part of his Empire, which included all the Middle East and stretched across Persia to India,  fell to his lieutenant Seleucus I Nicator. Greek rule was generally benign until 169 BC when Antiochus IV Epiphanes desecrated the Temple of Solomon, forbidding Jewish religious practices. This led to the Maccabean Revolt in 167 BC followed by several years of guerrilla warfare before the Seleucid Greeks were expelled from Jerusalem and Judea, which was ruled by the Hasmonean dynasty, until Jerusalem was conquered by the Romans in 63 BC.   

       Narrow streets of old Jerusalem             

 Herod the Great rebuilt the Temple of Solomon and it was during his rule that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem around 30 AD and between 66-70 AD there was a major Jewish revolt against Roman rule which was ruthlessly put down by the Roman general Titus, who had the Temple of Solomon completely destroyed except for what is now known as the Wailing Wall. One of the famous actions of this revolt was that of the Zealots, whose last stronghold was Massada, a fortress built on a mountaintop and after resisting the Romans for sometime, the 960 surviving defenders of Massada, according to the Roman historian Josephus,  committed mass suicide rather than surrender to the Romans. Massada has passed into the annals of Jewish nationalism.

After the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132-5 AD was suppressed by Hadrian, Jerusalem became the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina and Jews were forbidden enter or live there. The Jewish diaspora dates from this time, although a limited number continued to dwell in the countryside. Thus, no Jews lived inside Jerusalem from this date until after the 6-day War of 1967 when Israeli forces captured the Old City from the Jordanians.

The Dome of the Rock Mosque on Temple Mount, Jerusalem

In the subsequent centuries Jerusalem came under Arab, Crusader, Saracen, Ottoman, Egyptian and finally British rule. In 1099 the Crusaders of the 1^st Crusade established the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem which lasted until 1187 when the city was captured by Saladin. British forces, including troops from Australia, New Zealand and India, led by General  Edmund ‘The Bloody Bull’ Allenby, occupied Jerusalem on 9 December 1917, after which Jerusalem and Palestine became a British Mandate under the terms of the newly formed League of Nations.

On 14 May 1948, the British Mandate in Palestine expired and the present State of Israel was born. After a brief but bloody war, Israeli forces managed to seize control of West Jerusalem, but were foiled in their attempt to occupy the Old City with its religious shrines by Jordan’s British-led Arab Legion. The city remained divided, the Old City remaining in Jordanian hands until captured by Israeli paratroopers (fighting as ground forces) in 1967. Jerusalem now remains the main ‘apple of discord’ between a permanent peace with the Arabs, along with the Palestinian problem, and the decision in the last day or two (of this 1980 tour) by the Israeli Knesset, to formally annex the city and move the capital to East Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, has not helped matters and Prime-Minister Begin could be in for a hard time.

Things to see and do during the free time you have in Jerusalem.

Christian pilgrims carrying a Cross along the Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem

 Follow the way of the Christian pilgrims through the old city by walking the Via Dolorosa, the ‘Way of the Cross’. The Stations (I &II) begin on the site of the Antonia Fortress where Jesus was condemned by Pontius Pilate, was mocked, crowned with thorns and given the cross. The Chapel of the Condemnation and the Chapel of the Flagellation mark the site of these events. The Via Dolorosa proceeds through the city, the stations being marked – Jesus falls for the first time (III),  Jesus meets Mary (IV) Veronica wipes Jesus Face (VI) to Station IX where Jesus falls for the third time. The last stations X-XIV are all within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the traditional site of Calvary, or Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. Here Jesus is striped of his garments (X), nailed to the Cross (XI), dies on the Cross (XII), body taken from the Cross (XIII) and finally Jesus’ body is laid in the Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Sepulchre of the Church. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is an unimpressive building.

The site of Calvary, or Golgotha, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

The site of Calvary was identified, in 326, by Helena, Emperor  Constantine’s mother and he enshrined the site by removing Roman remains and building the first Basilica in 336. This Church was destroyed by the Persians in 614, rebuilt but destroyed again in 1009. Byzantine Emperor Monomachus began reconstruction in 1048 and it was finally completed by the Crusaders in 1149. After the Crusaders were defeated in 1187, Saladin allowed Christians to use the shrine under the condition that the key to the shrine – the right of entry – remained in Moslem hands, which it does to this day - the same family, I believe. The upkeep of the Church is shared among the various Christian sects – Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Armenians, Copts and Ethiopians who do not always seen eye to eye, hence over the years the Church has deteriorated structurally.

Entrance to the Tomb of Christ in the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

Between 1936-44 the British had to install steel reinforcing to prevent the Church from collapsing. In 1958, the various Religious groups were finally able to agree on a programme of repair.  

    The site of Golgotha is rather gaudily decorated with statuary, icons, gold and silver candelabras and a sleepy Greek Orthodox priest, for a small consideration, will indicate a low altar under which you can stoop to stick your hand into what is supposedly the hole in which the Cross was erected. Another priest will charge you for a votive candle to place in the [empty} Tomb of Jesus – it will be immediately snuffed out when you leave and resold!

The Temple Mount, Mount Moriah,  is the holiest site for both Jews and Moslems. It was upon Mount Moriah, around 2000 BC that Abraham of Ur, patriarch of all the ‘People of the Book’ – Jews, Christians and Moslems - prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac on a flat rock on the summit, until an angel intervened. King David, about a thousand years later purchased the rock off a local farmer who had been using it as a threshing floor. His son, Solomon, built the first temple which held the Ark of the Covenant. This Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 587 BC. The second Temple of Solomon was built after the return of the Jews from Babylon and was enlarged and enriched by Herod the Great in the first century BC. This was the  great Temple of Solomon destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. When the Moslems under Caliph Omar captured Jerusalem in 637, the Caliph was shocked at the amount of rubble and filth on Mt. Moriah. As punishment for neglecting such a holy site, he made the Christian Patriarch Sophronius grovel in the muck. He then set about clearing the site with his own hands and had a wooden mosque built on the site. Caliph Abd el-Malik commissioned the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the late 7^th century. During the Crusades it became a Christian shrine served by the Knights Templars, but after the re-capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, it became a mosque once again. Outside, the Mosque is covered with blue tiles from Persia and the ‘golden’ Dome is actually an aluminium bronze alloy from Italy.The sacred rock within has an indentation, said to be the footprint of Mohammed as he leapt to Heaven.

El Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount, Jerusalem

The El Aqsa Mosque, built by Walid, son of Caliph Abd el-Malik, is the holiest Islamic shrine outside of Mecca and Medina. ‘El Aqsa’, or ‘distant place’ is mentioned in the Koran in a vision of the ascension of Mohammed, and means being far removed from Mecca. During the Crusades, it was briefly the Palace of the Kings of Jerusalem then the headquarters of the Knights Templars. An interesting relic from this period are the tombs of the assassins of St. Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificent restored the Mosque in the 16^th century.

The Western, or Wailing Wall. holiest site of Judaism, Jerusalem

The Wailing or, Western, Wall is the holiest Jewish site and is the last remaining section of the Temple of Solomon, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. This site returned to Jewish hands after the Six Day War of 1967.

   Yad Vashem, Holocaust Monument    

Mt Zion is the site of King David’s Tomb, one of the holiest sites of Judaism and the site of the Basilica of the Dormiton, the traditional site of the Virgin Mary’s death. It was only after Persians sacked Jerusalem in 614 that Mt Zion was associated with Mary’s death. 

The Mount of Olives, outside the city walls, gives good views of the old city and here are a number of churches associated with the Ascension of the Virgin Mary, as well as the Russian Orthodox Mary Magdalene Church with its onion domes and the old Jewish cemetery.

Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested after his betrayal by Judas. The so-called Tomb of Mary is also here.

Yad Vashem is a new shrine to the memory of the Jewish holocaust of World War Two where 6,000,000 perished. This is outside the old city and accessible by local bus.This moving exhibition was completed in 1957 and is well worth a visit.

Day 65    Tue 29 July                JERUSALEM

       Today I’ve arranged the hire of a bus and driver to follow the footsteps of Christ to Galilee and the Nazareth area.

Manger Square, Bethlehem

Many of you will probably have, or intend to, visited the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square in Bethlehem and may have followed the path Christ took as he carried his heavy Cross to Golgotha, or visited the Garden of Gethsemane where he was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. 

Old Jericho & the Mount of Temptations, 1980 & 'The Fall of Jericho' by German artist 
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld 1794-1872

Today’s trip will visit other places connected with the life and preaching of Jesus, as well as places featured in the Old Testament. First stop will be Jericho, on the Israeli-occupied West Bank,  believed to be the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city dating from around 9600 BC and the protective walls of the old city are the world’s oldest. It was these walls that Joshua and his Israelites supposedly shattered by the blowing of trumpets and the Canaanite inhabitants massacred: So the people shouted, and the trumpets blown. As soon as the the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people raised and great shout, and the walls fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. Then they utterly destroyed all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and asses, with the edge of the sword.” (Joshua 6:20-21). Overlooking both Biblical and modern Jericho is the Mount of Temptation where Christ fasted for 40 days and from which Satan tempted him with ‘all the kingdoms of the World.

                 Sea of Galilee at Tiberias                

From Jericho we drive on through the disputed Israeli-occupied West Bank, following the River Jordan valley to Lake Tiberias, the Biblical Sea of Galilee. We pass through the town of Tiberias, 100% Jewish as we are now back in Israel, and we will visit the Mount of Beatitudes from where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, then to Caperneum, the ruined town from which Christ held his ministry. Nearby is Tabgha where Christ fed 5000 followers by the breaking of bread and fish. We will stop for lunch and a swim in the Sea of Galilee at Tiberias before climbing out of the Rift Valley to Nazareth, home of Joseph and Mary and the town where Jesus grew up, training as a carpenter under the tutelage of his father. We will visit the Church of the Annunciation on the site of where the Virgin Mary was said to have been visited by Archangel Gabriel who told her she had been chosen, by God, to have his son.

After leaving Nazareth, time permitting, we will call into the ancient Canaanite site of Megiddo, Biblical Armageddon, before driving into the West Bank passing through the ‘Valley of Dancers’ between Samaria and Judaea, where the young men of Shiloh used to come to dance with the daughters of Benjamin. We pass through the Palestinian towns of Nablus and Ramallah. The Arab mayors of both these towns, has their legs blown off in car-bombs earlier this year (1980). We should arrive back in Jerusalem early evening.

Canaanite ruins at Megiddo, the Armageddon of the Book of Revelations

Day 66    Wed 30 July               JERUSALEM

    A free day to further explore Jerusalem, or perhaps visit Tel Aviv or take a tour to the ancient sites of Massada, last stronghold of the Zealots in their war against the Romans in 74AD, and Qumrun, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the late 1940s. Below are a few words about Judaism and Zionism.

Tel Aviv from Jaffa & the ruins on Massada

    Judaism, the religion of the Jews, is the world’s oldest monotheistic religion, the creed of which is based on the concept of a transcendant and omnipotent ‘One True God’, the revelation of His will in the Torah and the special relationship between God and ‘His Chosen People’. The Torah is the Hebrew name for the Law of Moses (the Pentateuch) which was divinely revealed by Moses on Mt Sinai during the Exodus from Egypt. An important influence on Judaism may have been the monotheism of Akhenaten, the ‘heretic’ Pharaoh and father of Tutankamun, who advocated the worship of a single entity – Aten, the solar disc. There are striking similarities between Psalm 104 and Akhenaten’s Hymn to the Sun.

      Ruins at Qumrun, where the Dead      
    Scrolls were found in caves in 1946   

The Talmud is a book containing the civil and canonical laws of the Jews. Judaism is essentially a social and family religion which, more than almost any other, concerns itself with the observances of every aspect of daily life. Details are laid down in the most minute way for the behaviour of the orthodox. The home is the main Jewish institution and Jews cannot surrender their religion. Circumcision takes place 8 days after birth and a boy becomes a man at his Bar Mitzvah at 13. Among festivals are Passover, recalling the Exodus; Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year; and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The priest is called a rabbi and the place of worship a synagogue.

          Zionism is the belief in the need to establish an autonomous Jewish home in Palestine which, in its modern form, began with Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), a Hungarian journalist in Vienna who was forced by the Dreyfus case (Alfred Dreyfus was a French Jew and soldier who was unjustly convicted of espionage) and the pogroms in Eastern Europe, to conclude that there was no real safety for the Jewish people until they had a state of their own. These persecutions reached their apogee during the genocide of Hitler’s Nazi regime and th death camps of Europe during World War Two. Today Zionism is supported by the vast majority of Jewish communities everywhere and it is now an active  international force concerned with protecting the welfare and extending in influence of Israel – mainly at the expense of the Palestinians!

Free evening in Jerusalem; perhaps time for a beer ot two at Bob's Bar before returning to the hotel to prepare for an early departure for Jordan tomorrow morning. 

Text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Instagram accounts  @dustonmyfeet     and    @antipodeanneil

My paperbacks and ebooks on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.