For most of 5 days I have down with an intestinal bug… I mean really down.    Emmett has taken care of me with Gatorade and water and some pills, (mine weren’t working) altho I haven’t been able to eat anything of substance since Friday morning.   As bad as I felt this morning,  we had to vacate our BnB in Tel Aviv and make the trip too Jerusalem.   NO PROBLEM,  if you are well!  We did it on Thursday.   However when you are having episodes of explosive diarrhea and debilitating cramps,  the prospect was frightening.   Almost paralyzing.   But we prepped….. 2 extra pair of undies,  extra shorts,  a roll of tp, 3 antidiuretic pills in my stomach, and many fervent prayers and we set out. 

There were always taxis by our hotel but when we needed 1 we found out they just have coffee next door!  And NOONE wanted to take us to the Tel Aviv train station. 4 empty cabs said no!  Soooooo,  the bus was how we went on Thursday,  it was now our only choice.   The hotel even refused to call a cab for us!  Luckily we have ridden the bus system,  knew how to use it and had money on one bus card.

At the bus station we needed to add money to our second card to take the train.  But we figured that out using 1 of the machines….. only to find the trains all delayed.  

We arrived in Jerusalem with no mishaps!  Thanking GOD every minute for no cramps,  no diarrhea!  Cabs were across the light rail tracks and Emmett got the bags to a cab which took us to the Dan Jerusalem hotel….. which didn’t have our names or the name of our tour group!   Lovely! 

We would still be sitting in that lobby waiting for the group to arrive if our Pastor hadn’t written a note to say meet us for dinner at 6, and we said we were in the lobby.   He asked what hotel when we told him they don’t have our names. He gave us the name of the new hotel and  The Dan called another  cab for us. 

We are finally at the new hotel, in our room….. obviously not the Dan.  But the prayers and the 3 pink pills got me this far. The restaurant here made me a scrambled egg, so I had my first solid food in a couple days,  which has gone down,  so far without cramps!  I’m feeling better and Emmett has gone for more Gatorade and water.  Pray for us,  as he is now experiencing some of my symptoms,  and we are both taking the medication.   I hope we caught it early for him.  

The saga continues…

By bus, train and then tram, we enjoyed a day trip to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. We chose to arrive in the old city via the Damascus Gate, to walk the Muslim quarter Sukh, or market area. The crowds were light so we visited the church of the Holy Sepulechre and places a couple prayers for friends at the Western Wall. We will visit again with our group, but this have us time to explore more. We had a wonderful lunch of Shwarma and kebab. https://susandemaggio.smugmug.com/Jerusalem-day-trip

Today we Visited Old Jaffa Town and harbor plus had a great hummus lunch at the best hummus place in Israel! Abu Hassan for Hummus. https://susandemaggio.smugmug.com/Old-Jaffa

We are here, settling in, exploring the area and enjoying breakfast overlooking the beaches. This is our respite for the 2 of us after 7+ weeks of travel! We will post our few excursions, but for the next week, the beach is our view.

Our last official excision in Italy, we saw Pompeii, the city covered in the ash of the volcanic eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD. Uncovered in parts over the last 300 years, it gives us a view of daily life in a small Italian town of 20,000 inhabitants in the first century.
https://susandemaggio.smugmug.com/Pompeii

Our visit to Sicily at the port of Messina allowed us to drive up the coast to the village of Castelmola and Taormina, with views of Mt Etna in the distance. https://susandemaggio.smugmug.com/Sicily-Messina–Castelmola-and-Taormina-

We don’t often take ship tours but yesterday we did on Corfu and it was very good! Our guide was excellent. We visited a seaside village Palaiokastritsa, a monetary whet 3 Greek orthodox nuns live and run a small gift shop. We had lunch at a great little restaurant with Meses, Greek small bites, like tapas. We ended our day with a short visit to the smaller of the old forts and the old town of Corfu Town, situated between the 2 old fortifications. Enjoy. https://susandemaggio.smugmug.com/Corfu

Katakolon Greece,  Port for raisins and Olympia, where the ancient games took place for 1200 years,  700BC to 500 AD ROUGHLY.   The Olympic flame is lite here and delivered to Athens before its trek around the world,  for each Olympic games.  https://susandemaggio.smugmug.com/Olympia

We awoke to the sail into the beautiful bay of Kotor, a very large bay with Kotor at the farthest point. Our private tour went to Perast, with the island church, our Lady of the Rock, and the walked old city Budva, finishing in the old walked city of Kotor. Our guide Mike, or Milo’s, was excellent. He taught us a lot about both the country’s history and each location.
https://susandemaggio.smugmug.com/Montenegro

Our first port of call is Dubrovnik, but since we spent a week here in July, we contracted a tour driver and guide to Bosnia Herzegovina to visit Mostar. It was a really long but great day. We had a great lunch of lamb on the spit at a traditional restaurant. We also visited Kravica Falls in Bosnia, traveled across the new bridge connecting both parts of Croatia and drive thru Ston to see the long protective walls. Back in Croatia, we walked thru the old city so Kathy could see it and took the bus back to the ship.https://susandemaggio.smugmug.com/Bosnia-Herzegovina-