Ride Coordinator: Eileen Vergino
Report by: Sanborn Hodgkins
What an amazing trip! We began in Jerusalem with a short morning ride and an afternoon tour of the Old City. Many of the riders later said this was one of the highlights of the trip. Our tour guide Amir was extremely knowledgeable. We learned a lot! It was like going back in time: so well preserved and maintained. Jerusalem is important to three very different religions. Several people noted that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was fascinating and it was very intense to go to the Western Wall where there was so much focused religious energy.
The first day we rode out into the desert, dropping down to the lowest point on earth: 419m! It was hot and dry and windy. Two nights in the Ein Gedi Kibbutz allowed us to swim in the Dead Sea, enjoy their excellent spa, and have a day tour to the remote intricate ruins of Masada. Several people noted that the Ein Gedi kibbutz wasn’t at all like they expected kibbutz to be: so lovely, such a fancy spa, elaborate dinners.
We rode through the desert every day. The first day had a super steep uphill on Scorpion’s Ascent (no cars though!) and plenty of gorgeous desolate scenery. Miles and miles of desert stretching in every direction. We visited a field research station where we saw tomatoes and eggplants grown on tall trellises with almost no water. We stayed in a couple other kibbutzim, each quite different: one was like a relaxed hostel and the other was vegan. We stopped at David Ben Gurion’s home, which was remarkably simple and unassuming. The weather was sunny and warm, but not hot. December is a great time to cycle in Israel.
After a week, we arrived at the Red Sea and rode over to the border crossing and entered Jordan. Such a different country! It’s not a wealthy country, so the towns were small and fairly primitive. We saw no other bicycles, only small cars and trucks. Every morning, and several times during the day, we’d hear the muezzin calling everyone to prayer. It was a mesmerizing sound, spreading out from the loudspeakers across the houses.
It was hard riding up out of Aqaba on the highway, but our efforts were rewarded by a night in a Bedouin tent and a jeep ride into the amazing “Martian” desert of Wadi Rum. Next we had a full day at Petra: walking down the canyon and seeing the famous temple, then wandering through the widely spread-out ruins. It’s an awe-inspiring place.
The next day, we rode up to the Dana Nature Preserve and stayed in a hotel perched on a cliff. After that we stayed in the Dead Sea Hotel for two nights, which gave us a full day to do a loop of Mt Nebo. Many of us agreed it was the best ride of the whole trip! It was very hard to get up to the summit, but worth it. The small Christian church on the top is stunning. Then we rode on undulating terrain before dropping down to lunch overlooking the Dead Sea.
The final day was a bus ride into Jericho and a tour of the palace ruins in town and the ancient Greek Orthodox church perched high up in the cliffs above town. Strange and marvelous place.
Several people commented that the trip had really expanded their understanding of Arab and Jewish culture and history. We learned so much about Israel, kibbutzim, the bible, history. Especially a huge demystifying of the Arab world, both in Jordan and in the Palestinian areas in the West Bank. What was “normal” shifted to include men with yamulkas, women with head coverings, Hebrew and Arabic languages, muezzin calls, thick grainy coffee, and hummus! We ate it at every meal.
AND two links worth having: One rider kept a blog (http://www.sanbornfoto.com/Wordpress) if you look back to the Nov-Dec 2018 entries you can see more photos & info. Also, the 2017 Tripper Report does a great job describing the trip, with almost the same route.
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