Tel Aviv, Israel
Tel Aviv is defiantly tranquil. Despite the fact that they are the closest target for radical Hamas terrorists on the Gaza Strip, people who live here seem to brush off violence and go on with [...]
Sights and Sounds in Israel
Israel is so different from other countries. History and politics and religion are woven into a tight knot here, not necessarily in a good way.
Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum
Yad Vashem means "a monument and a name" in Hebrew. No cemeteries, no headstones, no traces were left to mark the loss of the six million Holocaust victims. This is Israel's remembrance. The most graphic [...]
Herod’s Masada and Herodia
Herod was called “the Great” because he was a great builder. His two masterpieces were Masada and the Herodium. Masada is a natural mountain stronghold on the southwestern shores of the Dead Sea, rising 1,300 [...]
The Dead Sea, The Sea of Galilee and the River Jordan
The Dead Sea is not a sea, but a big salt lake. The Sea of Galilee is not a sea, but another big salt lake. Why the confusion? Incorrect translation strikes again! Both are connected [...]
Bethlehem, Israel
Oh, little town of Bethlehem, a city in the West Bank under Palestinian Authority control. Israelis are not allowed in the boundaries of its West Bank Area A designation. In the midst of this turmoil [...]
Palestine and the Occupied West Bank
Palestine isn't officially a country, although many people think it should be. There are over 5 million Palestinians. The Oslo Accords, signed in the mid-90's divided the Israeli occupied West Bank into Areas A, B [...]
Jerusalem, Israel
The Temple Mount is beloved in Judaism as the spot where God gathered the dust used to create Adam, beloved in Islam as the spot where Mohammed ascended into heaven, and in Christianity as the [...]
Peleliu in Palau
Gaining a new respect for family history. My grandfather, Burton Gilbert, served during WWII as a civil engineer and Major in Peleliu (an island in Palau, in the South Pacific, where we are now). Only [...]
Jellyfish Lake in Palau
Located on an uninhabited rock island off the coast of Koror in Palau, Jellyfish Lake is a saltwater lake that was once connected to the ocean, but is now cut off. The isolated lake became [...]
Diving in Palau
So I WON THIS TRIP! Thanks to the Sea of Change Foundation https://seaofchange.com/ my $40 raffle ticket landed us in Palau with a week long liveaboard for two on the Rock Island Aggressor, worth $7,000! [...]