Athens and Jerusalem

Week 18 June to 24 June
Our flight to Athens took us through Frankfurt, and upon arriving at Athens, we were instantly hit by the heat. Our hotel was in close proximity to the Acropolis, so we went early in the morning before the heat set in, to walk up the hill, observing the sites on the way. Many repairs were being made to the various structures with modern machinery.  It is truly amazing how people of that time managed to do what they did without the machinery of today.

Theatre of Dionysos

The Erechtheion

Getting a better perspective

The Parthenon

We were particularly impressed at the amount of dedicated man hours that people must have put in to make a dream become a reality for their gods. When the time came for our descent, the sweltering heat had already set in. (9am) We retired to our air-conditioned room until later in the afternoon. Either it is global warming or it’s our age!!

The election had taken place just the day before we arrived. Since there had been some political unrest in Athens in recent times, we were somewhat apprehensive about what we might strike there. Our fears were completely unfounded, apart from a little graffiti designed to incite rebellion, there was no other real evidence of any unrest.  From the media we were told that a lot of the turmoil in Greece has been created by a tax avoidance culture. In our short stay we befriended one of the local café owners, and observed evidence at first hand of this claim.

From Athens we flew to Tel Aviv through Istanbul, tasting first-hand the wonderful hospitality of Turkish Airlines. This would have to be the best airline we have flown on so far. They could not do enough to help.  Upon arriving in Israel, we took the Sherut (a shared minivan taxi) to Jerusalem. It was awe inspiring to realise the amount of change that this nation must have experienced in the last 60 years. The infra-structure is incredible.

View of road from Sherut

There was a joy in our hearts travelling through the countryside, seeing the names of places of Biblical fame. The Sherut brought us to our hostel just outside Damascus Gate of the Old City, and the joy rapidly dissipated. The first exposure to the dishonesty was recognising after the Sherut had taken off that we had been overcharged – unfamiliar currency.

We had booked a room with air-conditioning, an ensuite, and linen. Our hearts sank when we saw the sign indicating the hostel entrance. But more shocks were to come. Going through the sleazy entrance, we lugged our bags up the stairs and made our way into the dark office. Here we were met by a charming smiling man who welcomed us in. We gave our names. “Did we want air-conditioning?” he asked. He then proceeded to get out his calculator, and presented us with the bill for our 6 nights’ in advance accommodation.  But hey – the room we had booked was advertised as having air-conditioning, but now we were being told that there was an added charge (50 shekels per night) to be able to use the air-conditioning. When we later figured out the actual charge in NZ$, after paying in advance up front for 6 nights’ accommodation, it was almost double the advertised charge, and included other “add-ons” that were either deceptive, or outright illegal ….. We should have taken note of the notice behind the proprietor’s desk which read, “No refunds.”  The proprietor then tried to negotiate an exorbitant trip package, and got quite belligerent when we refused. We were taken to our room, only to find that the large sliding door onto an outside patio, extremely accessible to any of Jerusalem’s diverse inhabitants, did not lock. Our host assured us it was totally safe, but by this time we realised we were dealing with someone who could not be trusted at all, and we asked for a room change.
As for the ensuite – later we discovered that there was no hot water in the “shower”, if it could be called such, consisting of a hose hanging down with a shower head, located in the toilet area, to drain out of a hole in the toilet floor.  

The "Ensuite"

And the linen? We were supplied with smelly towels, and pillows reeking of stale sweat, no sheets or pillow cases. Welcome to Jerusalem!!
The hostel was very close to the Old City, so we set out to the information centre to get maps etc.

Outside the Old City Wall

The streets in the Old City are narrow, and lined with merchants, ready to lure you into their dens and haggle over the price of items. Fortunately we needed to buy very little so observed as we passed by.


Hustle and Bustle inside the Old City

The first day saw a visit to the Wailing wall followed by a walk around the Western side of the city overlooking the Kidron Valley.

Declaration of the Future

The Wailing Wall

Excavations outside of the Old City Wall

Looking Across the Kidron Valley to Mount of Olives

We also met up with a German man and his daughter (both Christians) staying in the hostel, and we commiserated together about the lodging. They blessed us by taking us to the Yad Vashem holocaust museum, quite an experience for them as Germans. We were greatly impacted by the 5 hours that we spent there, looking at the film footage, listening to testimonies, seeing the artefacts and the photos. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos there.

The Garden Tomb was very close to the hostel, and the atmosphere there was completely different – it would seem that this attraction is actually run by Christians, and would have to be one of the highlights of the things to see.


Golgotha, the Place of the Skull

The Garden Tomb

The Reason Why We can Live

Another must see is the Temple Institute, a trust that is preparing for the building of the third temple. This trust is currently making the vessels and articles to be used in the new temple, and it was interesting having it explained to us what the various articles were and what they represented. Again we were not allowed to take photos there.

Holland

Week 11 June to 16 June
It is not until you go to Holland that you realise just how flat it is. Also surprising was how wet the soils were. I guess that it is because the land is so flat and so close to sea level. This flatness lends itself to having the bicycle as the main mode of transport around the urban areas. Someone told us that there are more bikes in Holland than people! In the cities, they not only have their own roadway (cycle track), they seem to have their own sets of lights at intersections!
There has been a growing challenge as time has gone on to grapple with the day to day necessities. Whilst in North America and the UK, getting instructions, directions, and reading labels and signs was not an issue. The only difficulty was trying to find the stuff that we wanted, as packaging and some items were completely different. In the UK, we felt more at home in relation to this, but when we got to Germany, our lack of ability to speak German had its challenges. However, in Germany, not only has the communication with people been a problem, being able to read signs and reading the packaging on goods in shops has almost been impossible. Upon arriving at the Amsterdam airport we were pleasantly surprised to find all the signs and directions in English. We were soon to find that this was not the case outside of the airport, although their signage often had English on them as well. Although we did not have much need or opportunity to buy things, having Jetty’s help was great.
This week has seen us spending most of the time at a Conference in southern Holland. We were personally chauffeured by Jetty to the conference centre close to Zelhem. This place was beautifully set up, with not only the conference hall, but many other subsidiary buildings, rooms, a restaurant, shop and swimming pool. It clearly was a holiday park, with caravan sites and many chalets, which appeared to be privately owned. 

Inside the Chalet

Another View

We, with one other person (Judi Middleton), had the run of one of these, and we were able to enjoy the space of this place – it had beds for 7 people. We had earlier met Judi in the UK at two different conferences, so spending time with her having her in the chalet was a real blessing.

Judi

This Conference was extra special. We had heard about it whilst in the States, and our hearts leapt, so we strongly wanted to come. God opened the doors and made it a reality for us. There were around 300 people there from at least 20 different nations. Most of them were either Iranian, Armenian or Afghan. Although the schedule was intense, (up to 6 meetings a day), and the conference went for 5 ½ days, we had wonderful fellowship with many different people. We kept saying to ourselves that it was a real privilege to be blessed with the opportunity to be there.

With Gernot, from Germany

It was sad saying our goodbyes on the Sunday morning as we headed back to Amsterdam to spend the night there. Our plane was to fly out on Monday morning for Athens.

In Central Amsterdam

 In both Germany and Holland, we were pleasantly surprised to find that most shops don’t open on Sunday, which is in complete contrast with the States where often shops never shut. Fortunately we found a Turkish food outlet close to our motel and treated ourselves to a great Turkish Pizza, which was very much like a large wrap.