a girl in the world

finding beauty, pleasure and grace on the road less traveled

An Irish Greek roadtrip…. huh?!

This weekend I visited my Greek lovelies in Dublin. We roadtripped it to the Western coast of Ireland to see the Cliffs of Moher. Ireland is green. Very green. And I am glad it is because there has to be some sort of reward for all the rain that it gets. I don’t think I could live there for too long. I’d been to Dublin many times before for work and I can describe it as cute – beautiful cobblestone streets and miles and miles of pubs pubs pubs. I have never seen people drink so much in my life! EVERYONE drinks and everyone gets drunk. By 10pm at night there is puke on the sidewalks and someone is peeing against a wall.

which way to go?!

Anyway, this weekend we decided to get out of Dublin to see the countryside. It was lovely. I rode with Nick and Maria while the others were in a big van. There were 10 of us, all antsy from the forever long winter. We saw snow, green grass, turquoise water and lots of rock. The terrain in Ireland is so so different from anything that I’d seen before. It’s eerie, dramatic and a little lonely. So beautiful but mostly under gray.

brrrr that storm

It was a COLD weekend. The best times we had were spent in cozy pubs and bars eating big meals over hot tea and chocolate. =) There was something so endearing and cozy about finding shelter in random little pubs in the Irish countryside.

It was a great weekend with the Greek lovelies. I love them.

The Holy Land and Petra

Israel is incredible. It exceeded all of my expectations in every possible way. The land is beautiful, the culture is fascinating, the food was so varied and delicoius and the people so so open.

We visited Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Haifa, Tel Aviv, the River Jordan and Masada. Our guide, Eldad, was brilliant. If I could, I would have taken him home with me. He had so much to say about Islam, Israel, Jerusalem, history…. gosh, so much left to learn about this part of the world!

The Dead Sea has got to be my favourite body of water for the mere fact that it’s as warm as bath water. So slippery and amazing. That water is chemical! They say if you drink one glass of water from the Dead Sea, you will die a terrible death. I accidentally got some of it in my eye and it was SCARY! Such an amazing experience!

The Dead Sea

Jerusalem was the most spiritual part of the trip for me. You can just feel a spiritual presence there, from all three of the world’s major religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. There is an awe inspiring vibe there that I couldn’t really grasp but you could feel it in the air. The place is so fragile and unstable that many say world war III will star there. For a place to be so contested and fought over amazes me and brought even more power to the place. Something moved inside of me, though I can’t really pinpoint what.

Jerusalem

I managed to learn some Hebrew as well:
“Toda” – Thank you
“achla sababa” – slang for “awesome time” or “special occasion”
“madlika” – hot

Petra was also an amazing experience. I rode a camel there for the first time. It really felt like Indiana Jones. The way the light hit that place was just magic. So orange and glowy and beautiful. The day trip there from Eilat was whirlwind, exotic and really kind of unbelievable. Dudy and I walked across the Israeli-Jordanian border on foot. Ha! So great. I LOVE random travel experiences like that. I relish them. I met some great Bedouin people there. One man offered to marry me for 4 camels. I told him I’m worth at least 200! =) Ha!

Some new Arabic words
“Shukran” – Thank you
“Taybeh” – delicious
“Kifak” – hi, how are you, greeting between friends
“Wadi Musa” – a town near Petra, meaning the Valley of Moses

Greetings from Israel

Sorry I have been out of touch for so long. We have been very busy here in Israel with all the work activities and also fun activities! We just spent two days traveling to the Dead Sea and to Jerusalem and are now back in Tel Aviv for another day of work tomorrow. The Dead Sea is amazing! It’s the lowest point on earth and is 35 times more salty than the ocean! The water is warm and feels very very oily because of the salt content but you float immediately, without even trying! We spent half a day at the Crowne Plaza resort on the Dead Sea swimming, getting massages and then having a mud festival where we slathered mud all over our bodies. The mud is supposed to be really good for your skin! I got some salt in my eyes and OMG, it hurts!!! You have to run out and splash normal water on it to stop stinging!

Today we went to Jerusalem. It is a spectacular place so full of history! I have a better understanding of why there is such conflict in this part of the world – Jerusalem is THE HOLIEST of places for Christians, Jews and Muslims and they are all fighting for their holy land! We saw the road where the Good Samaritan rescued a stranger, where Mary is supposed to be buried, the room of the Last Supper, the stations of the cross and the supposed site of where Jesus was crucified and rose again! Isn’t it INSANE how all these things can be seen??? It is really an amazing place so rich in history! It makes the places in Paris seem so strange because all of the artists who painted pictures of God were all painting about the things that happened in this place!! We also went to the Western Wall and stuck prayer notes in the cracks. So many stories to tell you about the history of this area!

Our hosts have been INCREDIBLE – the Israeli’s are such amazing and nice people. On Friday we will tour more of Tel Aviv and the holy land of the Bahai faith and then we will see the Sea of Galilea! On Sunday, I’m off to Jordan to see Petra!

Hi, I'm Denise. I'm a writer, artist and photographer. This is where I share what I'm seeing, learning and making.
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