Jerusalem
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Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
Malha Mall archaeological site -- a village from about 1800 BCE
Construction in Israel is always a difficult endeavor. In a country with as long a history as ours is, every time a spade or backhoe touches earth, there is the chance (or even the likelihood) that you will come across finds of archaeological significance. And when you do, construction grinds to a halt until the archaeologists can come in and examine the finds, determining whether they are significant, and whether construction can even continue there at all.
In recent years, building expansions have uncovered an ancient church at the site of a modern prison and an ancient cemetery near a hospital. In both cases, the building plans were halted until solutions could be found. Sometimes the archaeological site will be preserved at the location so people can see the finds in situ — where they were found, and construction will be abandoned. Other times, they will be covered and preserved underground, with the construction proceeding above the site. And sometimes the material will simply be removed and catalogued for later research.
I’ve recently visited a few of these types of sites, all within the boundaries of modern Jerusalem. It is yet another reason why I love living here. I am constantly surprised by the history and archaeology that you practically trip over every time you walk around this magnificent city.
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Posted in Israeli Tourism, Miscellaneous, Tour Guide Course | 3 Responses »
Tags: archaeology, Arnona, Bronze Age, Byzantine Era, church, Derech Hevron, history, Jerusalem, Malha, Stone Age
Thursday, November 11th, 2010
Logo of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism
I’m going to try to start doing regular posts where I summarize recent news stories with relevance to the tourism industry in Israel. These might have to do with plans the Tourism Ministry is making, events or news about hotels or airlines, or anything that might affect the tour guiding business directly. If any of you come across relevant news stories that you think I might not have seen, please feel free to forward my way! Thanks! And as always, I’d love to hear any responses or opinions in the comments section.
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Posted in Israeli Tourism | 1 Response »
Tags: airlines, business, Canada, Chanukkah, Christian pilgrims, El Al, holidays, hotels, Jerusalem, Jordan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Tourism, Misezhnikov, Palestinian Authority, Russia, Tel Aviv, tourism, UK
Sunday, November 7th, 2010
British Pillbox Bunker in Jerusalem, on the corner of Derech Hevron and Asher Viner
Now I know some of you are seeing the title of this post and thinking, “Isn’t it just something you put pills into?” And right you are, moreso than you know. Because while I am referring to a modern architectural feature all over the land of Israel, the pillboxes I am talking about also relate to what you’d see at a pharmacy. The pillboxes I’m talking about though are British pillboxes — military bunkers which you are sure to encounter on virtually any tour of Israel.
And while I am describing pillboxes, I’ll also tell you about another related structure from the same era that similarly dots this country: the Tegart fortress.
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Posted in What Is...? | 5 Responses »
Tags: Ad Halom, Arab riots, architecture, British Mandate, Gesher, Givati, history, Jerusalem, pillbox, Tegart, War of Independence
Monday, November 1st, 2010
The Catholicon (Greek Orthodox sanctuary) of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
One of the fun things that I do as I prepare to become a tour guide in Israel is practice! It helps me learn to plan a tour, make it flow seamlessly and learn such things as timing, reading the audience, use of visual aids and organization of material. So it is really a very necessary aspect that, while not an official part of my tour guide studies, I still take quite seriously.
A few weeks ago, I took two women around for a day-long walking tour of the Old City of Jerusalem (mostly). They were two friends, one of whom was Jewish and one of whom was Christian, though neither was particularly religious. The Christian was here on her first trip to Israel, while the Jewish woman lives here, though not in Jerusalem. My goal for the day was to expose them to the sheer wealth of history that fills Jerusalem, as well as show them the diverse cultures and religions that are found here. Ultimately, I wanted them to see what a beautiful, complex and historic city I live in. I thought it might be interesting and useful to describe the itinerary we had for the day.
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Posted in Israeli Tourism, Tour Diary | 2 Responses »
Tags: archaeology, architecture, Hezekiah's Tunnel, history, Holy Sepulchre, Ir David, itineraries, Jerusalem, Kotel, Mamluks, Stations of the Cross, Tayelet, Temple Mount
Monday, August 30th, 2010
Inside one of the natural grottoes at Rosh Hanikra
In my last post of a few weeks ago, I asked for some advice in helping my friend Lara to plan a great itinerary for her first trip to Israel. Many of you here, and on my Facebook, made wonderful suggestions of things to do, places to go, and even food to eat. In total, Lara was here for 16 days, and I spent a large portion of that time with her. Your collective assistance was a great help, and I wanted to share with you the bulk of her trip, so you can see the kind of balance we included.
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Posted in Israeli Tourism | 2 Responses »
Tags: Akko, Ein Gedi, felafel, food, Hezekiah's Tunnel, Ir David, itineraries, Jerusalem, Rosh Hanikra, shakshuka, shwarma, Tel Aviv, tourism, wine, Yaffo
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Lake Kinneret / Sea of Galilee behind the palms
A good old friend of mine is finally making her first trip to Israel next week. She’ll be here for 2-3 weeks, and I am excited to be showing her around a lot, and helping her plan her time here. Someone else (a friend of a friend) contacted me to suggest places for her to visit when she comes here in the Fall. And many other times people ask me similar questions when they hear I am studying to become a tour guide.
Itinerary planning is a job and skill in itself. And it is a major task in the tour guiding profession. But it is not yet something which I have studied or have a lot of experience with. And yet, I am going to have to get started on it now to help Lara have an awesome fun time here! So while I’ve started to think about it, I’d love to hear from you guys as well.
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Posted in Israeli Tourism | 11 Responses »
Tags: Ein Gedi, history, itineraries, Jerusalem, religion, tourism
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
A piece of Edomite glass (C 2100 years old) that I found on a dig in Beit Guvrin.
Last week’s and this week’s classes have both dealt with general overviews to the land of Israel, dealing with such things as roads, borders, broad history, and the like. I’ll break down some of the other information in a future post, but I thought it might be helpful for me to give you a brief history of the different periods of history that we encounter here. This way, if I later refer to something as taking place in a certain period, I can refer you back to this brief overview!
Some of these are broad eras that apply to all of civilization, and others are specific to this location. The latter is the case the more modern we get. Also, in some cases, the period may start at different times in different parts of the world. (For example, Muslim period begins at different times in different parts of this area, depending on when the Muslims conquered various lands.)
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Posted in Primers, Tour Guide Course | 5 Responses »
Tags: Assyrians, Babylonians, Bar Kochba, British Mandate, Byzantines, Canaanite, Greeks, Hasmoneans, history, Holy Temple, Israel, Jerusalem, kings, Mamluks, Muslims, Ottomans, Persians, Romans
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
"Light around the Bend" - Roman amphitheater at Beit Guvrin
There’s been plenty of coverage, of late, about the latest Israeli tourism numbers in 2009. And anytime there is a drop in the number of tourists from the previous year, it will be at least somewhat worrisome to people who make their living (or hope to down the road) within the industry.
At the same time, however, there seems to be a lot of good and/or hopeful news in the figures as well. That, and the fact that I am still two years away from fully depending on this industry for my income, give me reason to remain my typically optimistic self.
So let’s examine some of the numbers, as well as a number of trends and changes in the Israeli tourism industry.
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Posted in Israeli Tourism | 6 Responses »
Tags: budget, Bulgaria, Eilat, Jerusalem, Jordan, Ministry of Tourism, Misezhnikov, Petra, statistics, Tel Aviv, tourism, Turkey
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
A piece of the wall that surrounded Jerusalem in the time of King Hezekiah.
Our siyur (tour) this past Tuesday started in my backyard, almost literally. We met at the Tayelet / Haas Promenade, a mere 5-minute walk from my apartment in beautiful Arnona, Jerusalem. This scenic outlook offers an excellent spot to view the geography of ancient Jerusalem. From there, we went to a semi-hidden and little known spot called Ketef Hinnom (Shoulder of Hinnom, a valley in Jerusalem), then hiked through Gei Ben-Hinnom / the Hinnom Valley, and came out at the bottom of Ir David / City of David. We spent the rest of the day winding our way up, down and back up again inside this complex and interesting archaeological site.
I am not going to go into too much detail about Ir David, especially since I already discussed it a bit in this post here, but I did want to discuss a few interesting points from throughout the day. I also want to discuss two recent news stories that relate to things we learned about.
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Posted in Tour Diary, Tour Guide Course | No Responses »
Tags: archaeology, David, gravesite, Ir David, Jerusalem, Ketef Hinnom, Tayelet, Tel Aviv, writing
Monday, December 28th, 2009
Ancient burial caves in the village of Silwan, across the Kidron Valley from Ir David / City of David
This past Friday’s class focused mainly on Biblical Jerusalem. By exploring its history both through the archaeology and through the Biblical texts, we were able to formulate a picture of what makes this small piece of real estate so important in the context of world history. I’m sure I’ll have more to add once we actually take our tiyul around the area of Ir David / “The City of David.” But I did want to discuss a few interesting points that came up.
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Posted in Tour Guide Course | No Responses »
Tags: Abraham, David, Ir David, Jerusalem, Joshua
