| Submitted by: John Mittler, Finland |
| Submission Date: 28 March 2007 |
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Two teenage hitch-hikers were knocking the windows of cars at red traffic lights on highway 6, but again they were travelling to a different destination than me, and only stayed for five or ten kilometers in my car.
It was 21 o’clock when I arrived at the parking lot of Mitzpeh Ramon youth hostel. The trip meter of the car showed 900 km, of which 670 km had been driven today. Taking a well-deserved hot shower in my room, and then surfing on the Internet and watching a basketball game on television, I made the observation that while the low-budget accommodations in Israel are mostly intolerable slums, the Youth Hostel Association runs its business decently. Their price is seldom the cheapest offer, but it most probably will be the best value for money.
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Fri 22 December 2006 (Chanukkah VII)
At 6:30 in the morning I visited the Ramon Crater observation platform, and took some panoramic photos of this massive canyon. Then I started driving towards the Big Crater (50 km northwest of Mitzpeh Ramon), but as I approached the low valleys of northeastern Negev, the weather became so foggy that visibility was limited to a hundred meters. This was not good news for my photographic activities, so I changed my travel plan and turned towards Beer Sheva — leaving the lower valleys of Negev for the afternoon when the morning mist would have cleared up.
On the way to Beer Sheva I took a few photos of the numerous outlawed Bedouin villages, which are lacking any municipal services or public funding. The Jewish state would love to absorb these people into towns with a Jewish majority and a Jewish culture. Bedouins are not Jews, however, neither do they have any intention to become such. They prefer to preserve their traditional lifestyle and live in their desert villages, even if it means political and economical isolation from the Jewish state. Modern sewers may be rare in these villages, but satellite televisions are not.
After eating breakfast in a small Arab cafeteria at 8 o’clock, I visited the so-called “old city” of Beer Sheva. I was unable to find anything old or interesting there, however, so I continued to Tel Beer Sheva national park, which is a few kilometers east of modern Beer Sheva. This place was not open yet, but I took a 360° panoramic photo set from the hill next to the national park.
Twenty minutes of driving towards east brought me to Tel Arad national park at 9 o’clock, where I spent 15 minutes exploring these extensive but rather modest ruins. Then I continued to modern Arad (10 km further in the east), looking for the road to Metzadah, but all the roads north that I tried seemed to lead somewhere else than to Metzadah.
There was an elder gentleman walking by the street in Arad, perhaps 80 years of age. I stopped my car and walked to the man, hoping to get directions to Metzadah from him.
“Excuse me, do you speak English?”, I said to the man. But he shrugged his shoulders and said: “Yiddish, Yiddish.”
Then I tried with: “Attah medabber Ivrit?”, hoping that he speaks some Hebrew. But again the man shook his head and said: “Yiddish.”
I master the basics of numerous lanugages, but unfortunately Yiddish is not among them. I decided to try German, and said: “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?”
The face of the gentleman brightened a bit, and obviously he understood what I was saying. He replied in impeccable German: “Was wollen Sie?” We discussed in German for a while, and I received the information that I needed.
I drove from Arad to Metzadah via the western mountain road, stopping briefly at Kfar Nokdim to admire the camels that are available for desert rides of various lengths. (I had planned to try riding a camel and a donkey during this journey, but my tight schedule did not leave me time for desert rides, and the five-minute walks offered near tourist resorts would not count as “riding” anyway.)
At 10:15 o’clock I arrived at the western entrance of Metzadah national park, but my schedule did not allow me to enter the site (which would have taken at least one hour). I took a few panoramic photo sets from the western mountain road, and then I drove back to modern Arad, where I spent half an hour dining and strolling in the shopping mall.
The time and weather were ripe now for entering the low valleys of northeastern Negev, which had been filled with fog on the cool morning of this winter day. The Gorer plain 10 km south of Arad caught my attention with its landscape and location, which seemed not at all unfavourable for human settlement. I stopped my car on highway 259 to take these panoramic photos of the region. (The chimneys of Rotem industrial area spoil the view towards south, but the tall sand piles hide most of the factories, and the rest of the factories could be hidden behind another sand pile or two.)
Driving yet further towards south, I arrived in the Small Crater at 12:20. I only took a few photos of the rocky landscape, and then continued to the ancient Nabatean city Mamshit, which is located northwest of Small Crater, just south of Dimonah.
After exploring the ruins of Mamshit for 20 minutes, I headed towards the Big Crater. Several examples of low-cost industrial architecture caught my attention along the road, devaluing many landscapes in the region. Photography was forbidden in some areas, however, because of the presence of military facilities, so I only took this one photo of a civilian railway bridge. (The ancient cultures knew how to build esthetically pleasing bridges, but this knowledge was apparently lost somewhere during the 20th century...)
At 13:40 I finally arrived in Big Crater — which was supposed to be my first destination in the foggy morning. The arid landscape failed to impress me, but with some water and vegetation the area would certainly become attractive. I photographed this 360° panorama at the center of Big Crater.
Half an hour later I paid a visit to the small pond called Yeroham Lake, which is located ten kilometers west of Big Crater. Despite its small size, the lake is a refreshing oasis of life in the middle of the vast and dry desert. More such oases would be most welcome in different parts of the Negev, to give mankind and animals some moments of joy in the midst of the endless desert.
My next destination was the national park of ancient Avdat, 20 km southwest of Yeroham Lake. I spent half an hour exploring this ruined city, and then continued further south to Mitzpeh Ramon, where I was planning to sleep another night.
The last but not least enjoyment of the day was a visit to the Alpaca farm near Mitzpeh Ramon, where I arrived at 15:15. The lady at the ticket office gave me a small paper bag of fodder, and instructed me to take some of the fodder on my palm and offer it to the alpacas. The animals would then come and eat from my hand.
I followed the advice, and offered some fodder to a sweet little alpaca, but the unruly creature stole the entire paper bag from me, tore it to pieces, and ate it all up in a few seconds. Being thus defeated and humiliated, I retreated to other parts of the farm to take photos, pat the animals, and listen to a lecture about alpacas and llamas.
At 16 o’clock I was back at Mitzpeh Ramon youth hostel. This was the Shabbat eve, all tourist attractions were closed, and the sun was about to set, so I spent the rest of the day relaxing, dining, surfing on the Internet, and watching sports on television. The trip meter of the car showed 1270 km, of which 370 km had been driven today.
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Sat 23 December 2006 (Chanukkah VIII)
I packed my luggage into the car at 6:30 in the morning as usual, and began the journey towards Eilat and the Red Sea, which are 150 km south of Mitzpeh Ramon. The highway number 40 went first through Ramon Crater, and then through numerous other valleys, until it joined highway 90 on the low plains of Aravah Valley, along the border of Jordan and Israel.
At 8 o’clock I arrived at Yotvatah Chai-Bar zoo, which is located 40 km north of Eilat. The place was not open yet, so I continued to Timnah national park 10 km further in the south. Also Timnah park was still closed, so I drove back to Yotvatah and waited until the zoo would open at 08:30. Meanwhile I took a few panoramic photos of the region, which has plenty of low vegetation concentrated in funny humps on the sandy ground. It remained unclear to me how much of this landscape is natural and how much is manmade.
Visiting a zoo is rarely a happy experience for anyone who understands how lively and enthusiastic the animals would be in freedom, compared to the sleepy and meaningless boredom in captivity. I took the risk, and bravely entered the gates of Yotvatah Chai-Bar zoo — ready for the worst. The worst was not to be seen here, however. The animals were generally more lively than the average residents of an average zoo.
Taking a good photo of the leopard below proved to be very difficult, because the animal was constantly in movement. Also a pair of jackals were actually running in their small cage, which is quite rare activity for any large animal in any zoo. (More commonly they just sleep and eat and sleep.) Later on I realized that my timing for visiting the zoo had been fortunate, just before the feeding hour. After a good lunch these predators would turn into the usual sleepy zoo kittens — also in the wild.
After an hour of zoology I continued to Timnah, where I explored the rocky landscapes and ancient copper mines for another hour. Then I continued driving towards Eilat, and took this 180° panorama of Aravah Valley just a few kilometers north of Eilat. (The Red Sea and the beach hotels of Eilat can be seen on the right edge of the photo.)
Two female students were waiting for taxi at a bus stop along the highway, but they were also trying to hitch-hike to save the taxi money. Their gamble paid off as I stopped my car, and they called the taxi company to cancel their reservation. The students were travelling to a study center some kilometers south of Eilat, but fortunately I was heading for Coral World yet further south, so this became effectively a free taxi ride.
I arrived in Coral World at 11:50, and this tourist attraction succeeded in entertaining me for nearly two hours, including a glass-bottom boat ride along the coral reef, numerous aquariums, and a sea-themed movie with seats moving and shaking in unison with the action in the movie. As I walked past a family of tourists, the small children were begging to leave the place and go somewhere else, but the mother replied sternly: “For this price we should spend the whole day here.” Welcome to the world of capitalism, little ones... you will learn that sometimes money talks in mysterious ways.
The next three hours I spent exploring and photographing the beaches of northern and southern Eilat, mainly in the regions of New Lagoon and Coral Beach. Then I checked in at Aviv Hostel, and relaxed for two hours in my room. (This proved to be another low-budget hostel with a good price-quality ratio, having hot water in the shower and a television in the room. Neither of these are available in many places in the same price category.)
At 18:20 I entered the King’s City, a large theme park that contains mainly science-related tricks for schoolchildren and teenagers (while I had expected a more historical theme, for the same age groups though). Some historical entertainment was available too, enough to entertain me for two hours. A three-dimensional movie about ancient Egypt was shown in an auditorium with shaking seats, which also sprayed air or water on the faces of the spectators, when the three-dimensional figures in the movie seemed to nearly touch the audience or splash water on them. The air spray was a nice effect, but the water spray was rather pathetic and certainly uncomfortable for many.
After the visit to King’s City I finished the day with yet another show with special effects, watching the Alien Adventure film at the IMax 3D theater. |
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| Copyright © - "John Mittler" |
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