Spring break in Greece

We all have been enjoying spring break with Slovenian and Washington DC friends, taking a break from homeschooling to savor spring in the Greek islands.  Wildflowers in bloom everywhere, and the scent of orange tree blossoms from every courtyard in the small towns.  One last day, and then we'll head off alone again around the Peloponnese, continuing our journey west towards home.

 

Fishing in Serifos (with the aid of an underwater viewer
the locals use for catching octopus)



Hiking in Poros

Swinging on halyards in Hydra



Orange trees in bloom

Wildflowers in the olive groves

 

Happy 9th Birthday Maggie!

Maggie celebrated her 9th birthday on a lovely little Greek island with Slovenia friends, decorations, and an appropriately named "Morfat" chocolate cake!

9 year old Maggie

 

Happy Birthday!

Truly "more fat"  chocolate cake...yum!

 

 

 

 

 

heading to Greece (again)

It appears the Bermuda triangle has relocated to the Med. After two easy days sailing from Israel to Greece, everything including the weather took a turn for the worse at the same time:  we tore the main sail, lost all the hydraulic fluid in the sail furling system, two bilge pumps failed, GPS connection went on the fritz...  So we diverted to Turkey for repairs but are now on the road again heading towards Athens.

First time we've had to put in the cabin
doors to keep the water out while sailing

Maggie watched Gilligan's Island through the whole storm

 

 



Glad to find someone to fix the

delaminated sail

leaving Israel, heading to Greece

After nine months of always heading east, we are finally turning around, and tomorrow we start heading west back home again.  We've had a wonderful last week of Israeli sun and a nice daily routine of homework, field trips, and friends...so hard to leave!  Next stop is Greece (or Cyprus, if weather does not cooperate).

John and Maggie practicing multiplication tables



Kids going down into a bullet factory hidden

under a kibbutz (1945-1948)





Last day on the beach together

exploring the south of Israel

It's time to start the trip back east through the Med soon, but I have to admit, I don’t think we're quite ready to leave Israel.  The weather is sunny and warm, great people in the marina, nice beaches nearby, and still more hiking trails we'd love to explore.  About an hour from the marina are fields filled with fresh vegetables and trails, where we spent a day enjoying the Scarlet South festivals, when everyone celebrates the spring flowers.  An hour further south is the Negev desert, where we saw ammonite fossils,  an alpaca farm, more Nabatean ruins, a Nubian ibex, and blooming desert flowers.  Our favorite was exploring Makhtesh Ramon, a geologic formation unique to the Negev desert, created when the soft inner rocks of a hill erode until the harder surface rocks collapse into something that looks like an enormous crater  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makhtesh. 

Going for a hike near the farm fields

Farm fields

Hugo & Noga check out the cauliflower





Fieldside flower



Praying mantis

Visiting an alpaca farm in the Negev desert

 

Looking down into the makhtesh

Desert in bloom



 

side trip to Jordan

When we left Washington DC eight months ago, I never thought we’d make it all the way to Israel, much less Jordan.  And yet a couple of days ago, there we were, driving our rental car down the border between Jordan and Israel to the border crossing, following the rift valley between the African plate and Arabian plate, as the kids learned as part of their study of tectonic plates.  A few hours later, we were walking through the ancient city of Petra, the center of the caravan trade of the Nabatean people.  The weather was nice and cool and the desert flowers blooming…only drawback was the large number of vendors selling donkey, horse and camel rides to the small number of foreign tourists.

The Nabateans controlled trade between the Arabian Peninsula and the Mediterranean between roughly 400 BC and 100 AD, most notably incense such as frankincense and myrrh, and eventually they became part of the Roman Empire.  After seeing Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns in the Greek/Roman areas of the Med and lotus flower column tops in Egypt, it was interesting to see the elephant-topped columns of the Nabateans.    

And on a completely unrelated note, we received great news today that both our kids were accepted into the same school in Washington DC for next year.  That certainly starts to give shape to our re-entry into our previous life in DC, although jobs and when to move back into our house are still up in the air.  Should make for an interesting year, as the kids make the transition from a year of self-paced studies and following their learning interests into a more structured environment. 

 

Crossing into Jordan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Siq ("shaft", actually a tectonic rift), 
the caravan entrance into the Nabatean city

 



"The Treasury," a mausoleum/crypt

Roman road



Elephant capital on a column

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View down after a hike to the High Place of Sacrifice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jordanian tourists who wanted a picture with the kids

 

Dead Sea and Jerusalem

Floating in the Dead Sea has to be one of the funniest experiences ever, particularly the first time  you take your feet off the bottom and they pop up to the surface.  And then trying to figure out how to get your feet back ON the bottom once you've rolled over...  Painting yourself with black theraputic mud only adds to  the hilarity of it all.  Next stop was a couple  of days in Jerusalem, where we stayed in a convent in the old city (and missed the rocket  from Gaza that landed in Ashkelon).  What an amazing place to learn about religion and history.  Kids' favorite was the tour the Western Wall from the tunnels below the Muslim quarter, while I particularly liked the Israel Museum.  And it's been wonderful to have company on our excursions, first from friends who joined us on the sail from Turkey, and then some of the other liveaboards in the marina, especially the wonderful Israeli family with four kids!



Road sign near a Bedouin village



Late afternoon float in the Dead Sea

Old City in Jerusalem,

Western Wall and Dome of the Rock





The Western Wall:  seemed a bit sacrilegious to wear

a kippa if you're not Jewish, but head coverings were

mandatory (and complimentary).  Here are John and

Hugo trying to blend in, while Maggie and I went to the 

much smaller women's section, where women stood

on chairs to peer over the fence to the men's side



Jerusalem's Old City at night from the convent roof

Boat jungle gym