The 1971-72 Global
Semester, Day by Day
Thursday, September 2, 1971
We got into Tel Aviv at sunset, about 6:30 PM. Passport
check was a mess. The regular guys were on strike so the
police were doing it and it went slow. We finally got on
the bus and got going at about 7:30 or 8:00 PM. It was a
wild ride to Jerusalem. We felt like we were in the Israel
Grand Prix. It was supposed to be a 2 hour trip but it only
took 1-1/2 hours thanks to our driver. Our hotel is
situated in the Arab part of Jerusalem, sort of between the
Mandelbaum gate and Herod’s Gate. It is also near the
“Garden Tomb” where some people believe Jesus was buried.
Our supper, which wasn’t arranged for due to some mix-up,
consisted of bread, butter, jelly, cheese, and tea and
orange juice.
Friday, September 3, 1971
Breakfast was the same as last night’s supper. Only tea is
free at breakfast. OJ is extra (1/2 pound = 11¢). Three
meals are provided here and lunch and supper are large
ones. All drinks are extra and the meat is lousy but we get
enough to eat. We were told not to drink the water so we
put Halozone in it for teeth brushing.
Friday was a day of sight-seeing by bus. Our guide,
Joseph, is a
middle-aged, short, stout, very likable Jew. He is very
informed and wants us to be also.
We saw the Mandelbaum gate, the
Hadassah Medical Center, the synagogue with the famous
stained glass windows, the Jewish War Memorial and World
War II museum, the Theodor Herzl museum, the Hebrew
University campus, the museum where the Dead Sea Scrolls
are kept, the model of old Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives,
the City of David, the Pool of Siloam, the Garden of
Gethsemane, the church on the spot where Jesus ascended
into heaven, the valley of Jehosophat, the King’s Garden,
and the Wailing Wall.
Saturday, September 4, 1971
Walking tour of the old city of Jerusalem. Through Damascus
Gate into the days of the Roman empire. The area is dark,
narrow and crowded. The smell is terrible – rotten fruit or
something.
We have to take our shoes off
at the Dome of the Rock. Our bags are checked by soldiers
at the entrance. Inside there are thick red Persian
carpets, mosaic work, and a shrine over the rock.
We walked along to the
different churches where the stations of the cross are.
They are really unbelievable: all garbaged up with lamps
and statues and gilded junk. In the afternoon we had to go
back through the awful Damascus Gate again. It turned out
that the Damascus Gate was mild compared to things to come.
The streets we went through in the afternoon were about 5
feet wide and like a tunnel – covered with cement. The
people were so thick that I was afraid I’d get lost in the
crowd. We finally reached the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
and were relieved – until we got inside. We got back to the
hotel about 5:00 and at 6:00 we went to Evensong at St.
George’s Episcopal Church. We were supposed to have an
audience with the Archbishop but he broke his arm in the
afternoon so couldn’t be there.
One of the hotel waiters,
Sukra, took some of our group to a disco
tonight.
Sunday, September 5, 1971
Today was a free day. We went to the bazaar in the old city
in the afternoon and shopped.
Monday, September 6, 1971
We saw all of Israel today: up through the West Bank,
Samaria,
the valley of Jezreel, Megiddo,
Nazareth, Tiberias on the Sea
of Galilee,
Capernaum,
a kibbutz (supposedly the
oldest in Israel),
the coastal plain, and back to
Jerusalem. We ate lunch at Tiberias and some swam for a few
minutes. The lunch was fruit – good apples and grapes –
some kind of popover and fried fish from the Sea of Galilee
(fried whole, just scaled and gutted). We must have covered
at least 300 miles today and it was a hot, dusty ride. We
left Jerusalem at 7:30 AM and got back at 8:00 PM.
Tuesday, September 7, 1971
This morning we went to Bethlehem. This is actually a
suburb of Jerusalem. It only takes 15 minutes to get there
by bus.
Another dank, musty church from
the 4th century.
We slept this afternoon and
packed.
Wednesday, September 8,
1971
We left the hotel at 1:00 AM and got to the Tel Aviv
airport at 2:10 AM. Because of the continuing strike, all
the flights were delayed and there were people sleeping all
over. After an extensive and intrusive check of our persons
and baggage, we finally took off at 6:15 AM.