YOB: International Adventures 2010 (Part 5) Mykanos/Israel

By Lara

Most of the day on Sunday, we were at sea. I distinctly remember writing in my journal, napping, and being cornered by Karen for an hour in the lounge. Most of the time, I just let her talk. It was easier that way. She had quite the monologue about cruise ship disasters. I did a lot of trying not to think about it.

We got to port in Mykanos mid-afternoon. All of the houses were whitewashed with blue roofs and shutters. It makes for an eye-pleasing effect. There was a rather long period of waiting for the shuttle bus to take us into the main village of Mykanos. I mostly remember being windblown. Aine and I may have pretended to be in 80ies videos. I remember there was singing.

The village was beautiful. Karen led us on a walk-through to the windmills. The streets were all whitewashed and cobble-stoned. The weather was ideal. The water was inviting. The churches were quaint.

Half way through the town, we met Petros. Petros is a giant pelican and something of a local celebrity. I thought he was adorable until he yawned his beak inside-out. That was creepy.

While most of the rest of the group visited the shops, I tried to find some quiet places to just sit and drink in the experience. Everything was so bright and beautiful. Also, it was Sunday, so I popped into one of the churches to take a little bit of reflection time and prayer. Greek Orthodox churches do tend to be a little bit more ornate than is my taste, but they are still churches and they are part of the experience.

During my wandering, I saw so many interesting flowers and buildings and boats and people. It was a nice break from being on the cruise ship. I found myself a little ice cream shop to snack in. I bought my parents a post card. I sent Dad an email from a little internet cafe. It was very peaceful.

After about two or three hours, I wandered back to the shuttle bus. I purchased some water bottles for much cheaper than they sold them on the boat. I ate dinner with some international strangers in the main dining room, and I went to bed.

I may as well write about the next day too. Monday was all day at sea. Yes. That was exactly as boring as it sounded. I spent a lot of the day in bed. It was good to nap away the boring. Plus, I had to get all rested up for ISRAEL!

I was excited about Israel. I was less excited about getting up early, but I managed. We disembarked and got on our tour bus with Moses. I may have been alone in my feeling that it was ironic that a man named Moses was leading us to the promised land. I kept it to myself. Anyhow, he gave us a very diplomatic history of Israel in which he stressed that there isn't really that much tension between the Arabs and the Israelis. Remember this. It becomes important.

There was some traffic in the new part of Jerusalem. The bus driver took us to a scenic overlook for a photo opportunity. Then we left our Israeli tour guide on the side of the road, drove a couple of miles, spent about 40 minutes driving through the heavily secured gate dividing Israel from Palestine, and picked up our Palestinian tour guide once we were cleared. In another highly ironic moment, I noticed that the wall (a wall that was reminiscent of the Berlin wall in its hey day) was decorated with a mural that said, "Love, Friendship and Peace." Interesting.

Our Palestinian tour guide took us shopping. The shop where we stopped had many lovely things that no one really needs. I was quite impressed with a four foot by four foot replica of Jerusalem made out of mother of pearl. It was stunning. Who buys that sort of thing? How would one get that home. AND once there, where would you display it? There were also life sized nativity scenes carved out of wood. I'm serious. Life sized. I have a feeling that the baby Jesus sculpture was too big to carry on the plane and too heavy to check. I didn't buy anything while I was there, but I kept the card they gave me with their website. I was afraid that people wouldn't believe that they too could possess a mother of pearl replica of Jerusalem.

From there, we drove into Bethlehem to stand in line at the Holy Church of the Nativity. It was interesting to be there, but Greek Orthodox churches tend to be a little more... ostentatiously decorated than is my personal taste. While waiting in line, I did walk over to photograph the original mosaic flooring from the church that Constantine's mother commissioned.

Once the crowd of Spanish (or South American) tourists in front of us had all purchased and lit candles, we walked down some stairs into a little cave where tradition has it Jesus was born. There is a stone "manger" there... and lots and lots of things to burn incense in. It wasn't quite the moving experience that I was expecting. I left the subterranean marble enclosure feeling slightly disappointed. The courtyard of the church was beautiful, but we didn't have time to linger. As we walked through the narrow streets in search of our bus, I thought about the irony of the song "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Bethlehem is neither little nor still. Maybe it was two thousand years ago.

We were driven to a buffet restaurant for lunch. It was good. I had a lot of rice-based food and tiny little baklavas. I was glad that I stopped in the bathroom while I was there because we were trapped in our bus for almost an hour and a half trying to get back into Israel. There were merchants swarming the tour buses selling things through the windows. Someone bought a camel that said, "I love you. I love you." Sigh.

When it was our turn to go back through the gate, it was slightly intimidating. One policeman and one soldier carrying loaded machine guns got on the bus and looked at everyone. Then they searched under the bus and opened all of the compartments before letting us move on. I know that the Israelis have every reason to be paranoid, but I felt a little bit uncomfortable. I wonder how the people who aren't used to daily ID checks by armed soldiers felt.

We picked up Moses again on the side of the road. He took us around the old city of Jerusalem. There was a lot of traffic, so we drove through Gehenna. That was actually pretty cool. We drove part of the way up the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane and the church that Constantine's mother commissioned to be put there. I have to say that the Garden of Gethsemane was the most moving thing I saw in Jerusalem. From reading scripture, I had always assumed that the garden was much further from the city than it is. It's actually about a mile from the gate that Jesus had used to enter the city on Palm Sunday. That puts things into perspective, doesn't it?

Let's see, we got back on the bus in order to go higher up the Mount of Olives. It was another scenic overlook of the city. The annoying family from New Jersey got a camel ride while the rest of us listened to the tour guide or took photographs.

Due to the heavy traffic, Moses informed us that we would have to walk quickly over a rather large area if we wanted to see all of the things that tourists want to see inside the city walls of Jerusalem. We agreed. The next hour and change is a bit of a blur. I was walking very quickly and trying not to get lost. However, I did manage to appreciate the beauty of what I was seeing.

We managed to get to the Wailing Wall. It was another place that was interesting but not particularly moving. I wish I had realized while we were walking on it that the next portion of our fast-paced tour was actually the Via de la Rosa. We didn't find out until we arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

The church is dark and ornate and dense with the smell of incense. It is the place where tradition has it Jesus was crucified and buried. I'm still a little bit fuzzy on the actual geography of that claim. One of my Catholic friends asked me to take a photo of her touching the marble slab upon which Jesus was apparently laid out. I obliged. I took a photo of it myself. Still. It wasn't an emotional experience for me.

We all walked briskly back through the Jewish portion of the city to find our bus. I'm sure that Moses chatted with us some more about history, but I was lost in thought. I really wish that my father could have been there with me in Israel. I know that he could have given me some more perspective, and I'm sure that he would have appreciated the experience. I was a little bit sad the rest of the evening.

It was an amazing excursion. I really wish that I'd had more time to reflect while I was there. It would have been more satisfying to meditate on the spiritual history in the moment.

Once the bus reached the port, and we confirmed that the ship had not left without us, we ate a little bit of dinner and prepared for the earliest wake-up call yet. I didn't even get to journal Israel before I experienced Egypt.

[Editor's Note: If you missed them, be sure to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4
of Lara's International Adventure 2010 series.]