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Istanbul, Israel, Palestine and Jordan – June 2014

John Waller
“Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Dead Sea, Eilat, Petra, Jerusalem, Bethlehem…”

From Summer 2014 Waller Family Vacation. Posted by John Waller on 6/22/2014 (70 items)

The Blue Mosque in Istanbul is incredibly beautiful and directly across from…
The even larger Hagia Sophia, built more than 1500 years ago
The dome of the Hagia Sophia is awe-inspiring knowing it is more than 1500 years old …
The interior of the Hagia Sophia was whitewashed when the Turks conquered Constantino…

Columns like these were brought back to Venice and incorporated into the exterior of …
Istanbul is filled with gardens great and small…
An eclectic street art gallery…
This photo doesn’t convey how eerie it is in the Cistern of the Basilica, a huge unde…

For whatever reason, the Byzantines brought an ancient Medusa head into the Cistern a…
Istanbul truly was/is the crossroads of the world
The boat ride on the Bosphorus was the only time to relax on our short trip into this…
Tel Aviv has some fantastic beaches and the water temperature is somewhere between ba…

Jaffa at night
We started the day swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, drove through the desert and sw…
They say to encase yourself in mud before swimming in the Dead Sea, so that’s what we…
"Swimming" in the Dead Sea is such a unique experience, your legs can’t hel…

The ancient fortress of Masada is quite imposing
This in Lot’s wife, who turn to a pillar of salt when she looked back…
We have no idea whatsoever what this guy does to survive in the desert, but he does :…
Finished the day swimming in the Red Sea in Eilat – three seas in one day!

The Wadi Rum near the Chocolate Mountains
At the entrance to Petra…
The first major carving at Petra – an incredibly beautiful and thought-provoking plac…
Al Siq – The Crack – that leads to the Lost City of Petra is almost a mile long and a…

The most famous and ornate of the cliff carvings, The Treasury, was very carefully ca…
3/4 of the city has been destroyed by earthquakes over the centuries, I can just imag…
In front of the amphitheater carved from the rock that held 7,000 people

Some say it’s a fish, some say it’s an elephant – either way, it was God’s hand who m…
Prof. Waller riding the Conn College mascot – a camel.
Julie was scared and excited both at the same time…

Say cheese, Kaboobi…
The Old City of Jerusalem is a site like none other, there is so much history alive t…
The Dome of the Rock, the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher – three o…

My wish for world peace, etc. is stuffed in their – I hope with countless others
We walked the Via Dolorso, the path Jesus took on his way to being crucified – here’s…
Hard to know for sure, but some of these paving stones have been around since Jesus w…

Here’s where they laid Him out to be buried. Pilgrims wet a handkerchief with oil, th…
I thought this was a pretty cool picture, like a round cross or a dandelion, steps aw…
This is Jesus’ tomb – the few moments I had inside were gone in a flash. One more of …
Its not very apparent, but the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is an old built on top of…

One of the two domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Levity is always a good cure for being overly serious 🙂
At the Temple Mount / the Noble Sanctuary in front of the Dome of the Rock; where Jew…
I’m always looking for a different perspective…

Julie Waller has the eye of a travel photographer 🙂
Julie has an eye for interesting photos, here’s one at the Church of the Holy Sepulch…
This shrine marks the field where the angels sang to the shepherds announcing Jesus’ …

At the Milk Grotto
Bassem, a Palestinian Catholic, is the third generation of his family to make Holy La…
The doorway to the Church of the Nativity was made smaller several times first to kee…
According to tradition, on this spot 2,000+ years ago, Jesus was born. The final spot…

Upon exiting the Church
In the courtyard
Our taxi driver/guide Alarjah made sure to show us some of the graffiti around the Be…

Another reversal
The Separation Barrier between Israel and Palestine is an open air art gallery. Alarj…
Not really sure what this is, but it does appear musical
We are not pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli nor anti-Palestinian, pro-Israeli – we are s…

Cool wall art in Tel Aviv’ s old town
Eden, Batia, Eckhart, Jurate and Julie at the Ottoman train station turned hopping to…
The beaches in Tel Aviv are fantastic – we had a 10 out of 10 day at Cliff Beach just…
Daniel, Eden, Batia, me, Eckhart, Julie and Jurate enjoy our last lunch at the beach…

What’s more international than a World Cup viewing lounge at a major airport?
Happy Birthday to me!

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Hi, I’m John Waller

I am an incurable optimist and I strive to be an inspiring voice in this crazy, mixed-up world :)

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