Jordan River valley drive After our Galilee adventures we began our drive south through the Jordan River valley. At the base of the lake we saw quite a few farms, especially bannana plantations under netting. As we drove south through the river plains the number of vegetable and other farms increased. Within about 30 minutes we were waved through a security checkpoint and were then driving through the West Bank. There were some farms bunched near the border, but they quickly dwindled as the … [Read more...]
Israel 2012: Galilee, part II (Mt. Tabor, Tabgha and Capernaum)
May 13, 2012
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After lunch in Nazareth we fought our way back into traffic and eventually made it out of town and headed south. Our destination was Megiddo, an important archaeological site that has seen 26 different civilizations and is the Biblical site of Armageddon. Unfortunately, when we arrived just after 3pm, the park workers told us they were closing early for Shabbat. As this was not mentioned on the National Park website, we're pretty sure the employees simply wanted to close early. Frustrated, we … [Read more...]
Israel 2012: Galilee, part 1 (Cana and Nazereth)
May 11, 2012
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As mentioned in our overview, we started our trip in northern Israel. For two nights we based ourselves in Tiberias, giving us close proximity to many of the Galilee sights in Nazareth and Capernaum. As with nearly all ancient sites in Israel, there are disputes as to where events took place; we generally tried to just enjoy a site for what it represented. We started our first day driving to Nazareth with a stop in Cana/Kafr Kanna, the Biblical site of Jesus turning water into wine. … [Read more...]
Israel 2012: where we stayed
May 10, 2012
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Prima Galil Tiberias, Tiberias We choose the town of Tiberias because it was on Lake Kinneret (i.e. Sea of Galilee) and located between the various sights of Nazareth and Northern Galilee. The Prima Galil was a reasonably rated and priced hotel for the area. They do offer free wifi (strongest in the bar area) and include breakfast. Check-in was reasonably easy, and as we had with each Israeli hotel, they placed Eric's parents next to our room without us even asking. There was no offer to … [Read more...]
Israel 2012: overview
May 8, 2012
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For Christmas 2010 we gave Eric's parents a travel book on Israel to whet their appetite to join us on a visit in 2012. Then, in the fall of 2011 we discovered a good deal on tickets via British Air for this April and booked them. Eric's parents quickly decided to join us, beginning our family adventure to Israel! We flew overnight from Raleigh to London, and after the lengthy commute from T3 to T5 in Heathrow, met Eric's parents for a quick breakfast in the BA lounge, then the onward flight … [Read more...]
Chile 2012: Daylight Savings Time in Chile (or lack thereof…)
April 23, 2012
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Sigh. It all started on Sunday, our last day at Tierra Atacama. We awoke at our normal time of 8am-ish and started packing up our bags before heading to breakfast around 8:45. Our Cejar Lagoon tour wasn't until 9:30, so we had plenty of time. However, at around 8:35am, our phone rings -- it's our guide telling us he's waiting for us in the lobby. Considering both our phones (and Google!) said that the local time in Chile was 8:35am, we were a tad surprised to learn it was actually 9:35am. … [Read more...]
Chile 2012: where we dined in Santiago
April 22, 2012
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La Pizza Nostra - We went here on Sunday night on the suggestion of the hotel (many restaurants are closed on Sunday in Santiago). Though we arrived around 10p, there were a surprising number of people still coming in for dinner. We split a pizza which was pretty good, and as with many parts of Chile the price was comparable to the US. We also sampled two Chilean beers. Since this was out first night in Santiago it was also our introduction to the many street dogs of the city. As we … [Read more...]
Chile 2012: Exploring Santiago
April 20, 2012
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We had an evening flight out of Santiago which gave us the whole day to explore the city. Our first stop was the sculpture park located just across the river from our hotel. I really enjoyed seeing the pieces from both Chilean artists and international sculptors. We continued up Pedro de Valdevia Norte through a quaint residential area to the base of San Cristobal hill. As we passed the visitors center we grabbed a map and started our climb to the top. Within minutes, we were joined … [Read more...]
Chile 2012: Daytrip from Santiago
April 17, 2012
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For our first day in Santiago we wanted to get out of the city and eventually booked a trip with AndoAndes. They had very good reviews on TripAdvisor for their main hiking excursion to the nearby San Francisco glacier. However, I didn't want to spend the whole day hiking, so we negotiated back and forth to find an outing that would give us both waterfalls and wine tasting. The original plan was for us to be picked up at the hotel at 9am but we got a reminder email two days before with a … [Read more...]
Chile 2012: Atacama Desert, Cejar Lagoon
April 15, 2012
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Our flight didn't leave until the early evening on our last day, so we were able to take a quick trip over to the Cejar Lagoon for a soak in some very salty water. The guide took us the scenic way over sand-covered roads and we even stopped briefly for a taste of a certain nut common to the area. It tasted a bit like brown sugar, very delicious. Once we arrived at the lagoon, our guide set up two chairs, snacks and a large container of fresh water to rinse off once we exited from the … [Read more...]