Thursday, May 24, 2018

It was so good the first time.........

I've been quiet for a while haven't I?

To be honest, I lost the will to write, but am very glad to say that I am now back and feeling much better. Oh gosh, I hear you moan, now we'll never be rid of her. Well that's just tough :))

So, what brought about this change in demeanour? Well, I have not long been back from my second trip to Israel. I really did love it the last time I was there in 2014, and I had promised myself that I would go back, I think it came at just the right time, and I find myself in a much happier place than before I left.

Again, my wonderful friend Shoshi arranged so much for me and her brother, Moshe, was again my guide. She said they had been meeting to arrange things, but I think it was more likely that Moshe was trying to get out of it 😁😁. Seriously though, he is a great guide and always make it so interesting.

So, where was I? Oh yes, I decided that this time, I would leave at the end of August and then I would be there for the Israeli Quilters Association exhibition in Jerusalem and it would be a great opportunity to see people again, and also see the quilts first hand.  The flight was good although an interesting thing happened. I had been told about it, but had never seen it, but an ultra orthodox gentleman boarded the flight. He took his hat off, stored his bag, and then asked the woman sitting in the middle seat to move. Yes, he did, it's a tricky thing, he cannot sit next to a woman who is not his wife, and so he asked her to move. As you can imagine, she wasn't happy and there was only one spare seat left and she moved into it. Why didn't he, I hear you ask? Well as soon as she vacated it, his bag came back down and spent the entire flight on the seat between him and the man on the other end. The man sitting next to me was angry about it as I think a number of people were, but it is part of the ultra orthodox view - don't necessarily agree with it myself, as I think its demeaning, but there you go.

Anyway, flight landed, and after queuing to get through border control,I got my luggage and went out to find Shoshi and Moshe both waiting for me. It was lovely to see them, and we loaded my cases into Shoshi's car, and then headed off to Ramla, where Moshe and I were being dropped, and we would be meeting up with Shoshi later that day. Her office is about 5 minutes from the airport, so not too far away.

What were you doing in Ramla? There's nothing to see there, so said several people. Well, there is quite a bit to see there. We had been dropped by a small park and Moshe was giving me the history of the town. Ramla is an Arab town, and old (there's an observation for you), and we were sitting just outside the Pool of Arches, which used to be the town reservoir. We descended the stairs and I was marvelling at the architecture, when Moshe said get in, we have to row. Dear reader, I had been flying for about 14 hours all told, maybe a bit longer, and had just stepped off an aircraft, and really wasn't expecting to row a boat!

Rowing our boat or at least trying to stop it hitting the walls!

The architecture is really lovely

The oars are really heavy, and I had never rowed a boat before, and between us, we giggled  lot as we kept bouncing of the walls and trying not to go round in circles. I was thankful to get back onto dry land.

From there we walked across town to the White Tower. This stood at the entrance to what was an old Mosque but is now in ruins, the history was fascinating and I know I have some gaping holes in what I should be telling you. The White Tower has a beautiful view for the top, I know as I climbed the stairs to see it, not really sure if I was just mad or game for anything. I must say it did feel good to be moving.





The White Tower


Ruins of the old mosque, it was very big and must have been beautiful in its day. I know there are also underground cisterns there, but no longer open to the public as they are to dangerous.

From there we walked into the old city and into the market







I love markets and could happily wander for hours. We started in the fruit and veg section and I love the noise of the vendors calling out to people, the bustle, cats waiting for something to fall off a stall, the smells. it was then that Moshe stopped and said we would have something to eat. We went inside this cafe, and had Bureka's, hot flaky pastry filled with cheese, potato and another with spinach which we shared, and my favourite drink of all time, lemonade with mint.

After this feast, we carried on walking the market and then went to a museum


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