Two final activities awaited us on the last full-fledged day of #Israel2016, the first of which was a trip to the Orchard of Abraham's Children in Jaffa. The Orchard is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2011 by Ihab and Ora Balha; its primary mission is to create a sense of community and connectedness between Israelis and Palestinians.
Read MoreDue to scheduling snafus and the fluidity of our schedule in general, we were able to drive back toward Masada this morning and climb the beast in much better weather (only in the 70s this time around). To do so, we left the hotel in Jerusalem right around 5:30 AM and made our way southeast for about an hour and a half into the Judaean Desert where Herod the Great's solitary fortress stands.
Read MoreToday began on a somber note with a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust remembrance center. We were given audio tour guide devices and headphones, and then let loose to examine the exhibits in the Holocaust History Museum — one portion of Yad Vashem — at our own pace.
Read MoreAs opposed to the previous day, Day 14 was chock full of sightseeing and activities. In the morning we set out with our ever-faithful, ever-trumpet-toting tour guide Yair to the Mount of Olives, where a grand view of the city of Jerusalem can be enjoyed by the eyeballs. The Mount of Olives, named as such due to the olive groves that in times past graced its slopes, is, according to the Acts of the Apostles, the place where Jesus ascended into Heaven forty days after he rose from the dead.
Read MoreIn a word (or two), Day 13 was low key. The agenda called for climbing Masada in the morning, but, as expected, the heat kept us from attempting to do so. Instead we spent about a half hour at the Masada Museum in Memory of Yigael Yadin — an Israeli archaeologist whose many finds are on display, such as ancient water/wine jugs and some exceedingly-vintage coinage.
Read MoreWe awoke before the crack of dawn today, at which time the temperature was mild — only in the 80s — in Aqaba. By the time we'd arrived at the Israeli-Jordanian border, it was easily over 100 degrees. Such intense heat makes it a bit difficult to do anything outdoors, which is why it proved advantageous that a visit to the Dead Sea — the lowest point on Earth — was the only real activity on today's docket.
Read MoreOur Jordanian tour guide, Mustache — whose real name is Isam — rendezvoused with us at the Captain's Hotel this morning, tearing, I imagine, into one of the made-in-front-of-you omelettes that the chefs were serving up (I know I did). Isam is privy to vast amounts of knowledge regarding the history of the Kingdom of Jordan; it spills from his lips and over the speaker system on the tour bus during our rides along the desert highways, much to the chagrin of those of us who would prefer to catch up on some sleep while we are traveling.
Read MoreFor probably the past year, I have been following an account on Instagram called "Visit Jordan" and the place I see featured the most is the one in the image above: the ancient city of Petra. It's made appearances in films like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Mummy Returns (2001), and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) — and it is truly something to see in person.
Read MoreWe rose relatively early this morning to ship out from Nazareth and undergo the comprehensive security measures at the Israel-Jordan border crossing. There were lines to be waited in, passports to be stamped, luggage to be x-rayed, and metal detectors to be walked through; when all was said and done, a little more than an hour had gone by before we'd climbed onto the new bus along with our new tour guide in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
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