Day 93, A Brief Escape

After a few days in Jerusalem I rent another car and drive to Tel Aviv to pick up my passport and visa at the Russsian Embassy.  All goes well and I pay my last five dollar parking fee and hit the road heading south.  This may be a good time to explain about driving in Israel.

First, just calling it driving is a misnomer.  The proper term should be stock car racing.  Every road in the little country is populated by wanna be NASCAR drivers.  Every driver is in a big rush to deliver a baby or stop some criminal enterprise.  Only some holistic reason could explain the total disregard for speed limits and safety.  If you leave two car lengths between you and the car in front of you on the highway, in five seconds three cars will try to claim that space.  Space is hard to find and should be filled immediately.  Its a rule of the road.

Horns are used liberally and in a set kind of a code.  When at a traffic light, just before it goes green the yellow light comes on, signalling alll racers to get ready.  If you don't start moving when the light first turns green the cars behind you will gladly remind you of your error with horns beeping.  In the city cab drivers use their horns as a form of advertising, reminding pedistrians that the cab is available.  This takes a bit of getting used to.

Police run with their flashing top bar lights on all the time, parked or moving.  So why have the at all.  The law requires everyone to use heir headlights during the six months surrounding the new year.  Noone knows why those dates are so magical.  Renting a car is incredibly cheap, less than ten dollars a day.  But CDW is required no matter how much you protest ("its the law in Israel.") at a cost of around $15/day.  Gas costs about $6/gallon.

When I tell people I am driving to Elat they ask me why.  Its an easy four hour drive that most Israelis never make.  One person says I must like driving.

I end up driving into Elat at night.  The view iof Elat and Aquaba, Jordon 2,000 feet below is magical.

Elat is a beach town, like so many beach towns in the states.  It is the southernmost point in Israel, a ten mile wide access to the Red Sea wedged betwen Jordan Egypt.  Looking acros the Gulf of Aquaba at the Jordan side you can clearly see what Jordanians call "The Freedom Flag", whicxh celebrtates the town as thge starting point of the Arab Rebellion during WWI.

During my time in Elat I spend a lot of moeny for a private day trip and tour of Petra.  Recents rule changes make it impossible for me to just go to the town of Petra myself and see the ruins there.  A professional service arrages everything, likley my my most expensive day of the trip.  On thhe way we pass by an area where the movie "Laurence of Arabia" was filmed.

The famous Treasury building in Petra.  It was actually a burial tomb, but named The Treasury because of its appearance.

This the view you would have seen if you were in a caravan when Petra was a trading town on the Silk Road.

On the way back the guide and I discuss poitics.  He pointa out that while corruption is endemic and unpunished in Jordan and other arab countries, two Israeli presidnts face criminal penalties for mishandling campaign funds.  He is a loyal Jordanian, but he admires the workings of the Israeli government.  Interesting stuff.