Subject: Report #101 Ashdod, Israel April 10, 2016 Sunday Partly cloudy, rain showers, & 71 degrees Part #1 of 2 83 Pictures
Ashdod is Israel's largest port, and 5th largest city, and it is located halfway between Gaza and Tel Aviv. It dates back to the 17th century BC. The modern city is built on sand dunes, and has a diverse population. This city is also the port city for tours to Jerusalem, Bethlehem ,the Masada Fortress, Jaffa, and Tel Aviv.
Some of the tours offered through shore excursions included four different excursions to Jerusalem. The average tour time was 9 hours, and ranged from $140 to $180 per person. One 10 ½ hour tour took folks to the Masada Fortress and the Dead Sea for $235. All of the above tours included lunch.
One shorter tour is one we took last year….Jaffa and Tel Aviv, 4 ¾ hours for $90. For those of you that are new to this blog, we will share our experience from last year. It was a "doozie".
Old Jaffa is an ancient city, and once the only entry port to Israel. The old stone buildings and arches with narrow winding cobblestone alleys have been restored as recent as 1960. Now they are filled with Artist's galleries, pubs, cafes, and souvenir shops. It was a fun place to explore. Tel Aviv, also known as the "White City" is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is known for their 1930's Bauhaus buildings and balconies. It is also the city that never sleeps…a modern economic and culturl center.
Last year, we booked this tour because we had never been to this part of Israel. We had seen the Holy Land in detail, and did not want to repeat the experience. We literally squeezed into a full bus, with only two seats left in the back of thee coach. The meeting time for the tour was posted on our tickets, and we arrived 10 minutes ahead of that time. Only problem, was that the people had left early, and we were last to board the bus. You know what we hate? People that insist on having a seat for one, saving the seat next to them for no one. They use the spare seat for a purse or bag. Normally the bus monitor will ask couples to sit together. Today no one spoke up at all.
Tempers were short that day, don't know why, but a grumpy man insisted on closing the curtain where a lady was sitting at the back of the bus. Instead of letting him do this, she held tight with the curtain, making it rip from the ceiling of the bus. Little did "Mr. Grumpy" know he was dealing with a retired judge's wife, who was sitting next to me. Wow, almost thought we would see fists fly. The judge said to the angry man…..what are you on….drugs or something? It must have sobered him up, because he turned around and never looked back. And there was the judge's wife left holding the ripped curtain. We found out later that she went to the bus driver and guide, and explained what happened, offering to pay for the damage, even though it was not her fault. The guide said no, it could be fixed. But thanked her for being honest. See, you never know what a day will bring with it.
So, no tours for us today. We stayed onboard, enjoying our usual breakfast, then went off the ship around 10:30am. There was a complimentary shuttle taking folks to the Sea Mall in downtown Ashdod. There was absolutely no walking in this very bust port. Security was tight, since we had our passports and landing slips checked by a local official. In fact, she ended up asking twice, since she had forgotten she checked the first time. Oh well, we don't ask questions. Some of the crew members were walking off with large backpacks and even suitcases, so they got flagged to be searched.
There was no sign for the shuttle, so we ended up walking through the duty-free shop to find the bus. We had just missed the bus, so we had to wait about 20 minutes. Leslie and Handler came out about then, and the time went by faster thanks to friends.
The bus stopped at the Sea Mall, an older complex. Adjacent to the mall was another nicer mall called City Mall. The stores were modern, and full of shops you would find it any mall at home or abroad. Appeared they only took new shekels (Israeli money), as we saw some money changers inside the mall. We were not looking for anything in particular today, so we never did get any shekels. Could have used a credit card, but we chose not to go that route today. One thing we never planned on seeing today was in a pet store. There was a cage full of ferrets….a female and her babies were for sale. Never saw one so close up before.
Instead, we took a nice leisurely stroll past the Performance Art Center, the Monart Arts Center, a roundabout with a metal sailboat sculpture, and past newly-built high-end apartment buildings. At the water's edge is a fairly new Blue Marina, one of the great real estate initiatives in Israel. This new marina has anchorage for 550 yachts and sailing ships. Breakwaters, beaches, and boat excursions can be found here. We did speak with a man who offered to show us his boat, possibly to sell us an excursion. We thanked him, but explained we had limited time, but we were only out for a walk.
Further up this marina, there were some coffee shops and restaurants, as well as a yacht club, but according to the printed map we had, many more facilities would be built in the future. There was a huge group of elementary kids boarding a ferry boat for a field trip. You could hear them for a few miles out into the bay. Another small boat was taking some older kids out on a dive trip. They were noisy too, but obviously having a good time.
On this coastline of Ashdod, there are seven beaches. Sunday here is not like Sunday at home, because it is a regular day. So it is not considered the weekend, like yesterday, when many businesses and museums and such were closed. We figured the water here must be cold, since we could not see one person swimming in it as far as we could see down the coast. Of course, it is springtime here, not summer yet.
We back-tracked from here, thinking we might look for a place for lunch. There were a few outdoor cafes that looked interesting. Most everything in the malls was fast food, but we sure were not interested in that. We saw Leslie and Handler with their friend in a semi-indoor/outdoor restaurant across from the mall. So we asked if they took US dollars and the answer was NO. We would have to exchange dollars for shekels or use a credit card. We decided to do neither, because we were not really that hungry. Lunch onboard sounded like a better idea. And besides, it looked and felt like rain was coming.
The shuttle bus was waiting across the road, so we joined the rest of the folks for the quick ride back to the pier. By the time we went for a grilled sandwich at the sandwich bar, the rain did come down. It was a passing cloud, but it came down hard and heavy for a short time. Same as yesterday.
Our passports with the landing permits had to be turned in at the front desk. That was our big job of the day. Actually, packing the passports was important today. When we left the ship, as we have already said, we had to show them with the landing pass. Then, when we entered the terminal gate at the port, an official came onboard, and checked every one on the bus. If you did not have the right documents, there would have been a problem.
As we lined up to go up the gangway, we had to show our passports again. Israeli officials take no chances here. Of course, seeing the military guards in the malls armed with automatic rifles was not a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Sail away was at 5:30pm, which was the all aboard time. We looked down from the aft pool deck to see a huge line of folks coming back from their all day excursions to the Holy Land. With the extra screening, the line was moving quite slowly. Sure glad we came back earlier. It was getting colder and windy as we watched the dock workers loading steel from a ship's hull. Two other ships were getting something very dusty off-loaded from their hulls. The clouds of dust settled all over the ship. Everyone had a theory about what this substance was, but we suspect it may have been some kind of fertilizer. It is going to take a whole lot of deep cleaning to get rid of the residue on all of the outside decks.
The last image we will have of leaving Israel is that of a security boat following us out of the harbor. A fellow standing in front on the bow of the boat was packing a machine gun, his finger on the trigger. Not sure how that was protecting us?
We had the best entrée for dinner tonight. It was short ribs with mashed potatoes. Their reduced gravy made it even more delicious. Everyone tried something different, which is good, since we get a preview of what to order next time. Same goes for the desserts. Jello and fruit still works for one of us.
Thank goodness we have a day at sea tomorrow. The upcoming European ports will be busy ones with few sea days.
Bill & Mary Ann
The welcome sign at Ashdod Port
Many cranes here – the largest port in Israel
One of several ships in port
Waiting to load
Spacious pier
Pier security – blocked in by containers
Welcome to Israel, but don't walk on the pier
Going from the gangway to the terminal shops
The gangway and an xray portal
Spot checks on passenger bags
Terminal duty free zone
Not a pretty pier
The parking lot
Amsterdam docked
New cars on the dock
Shuttle ride took us to the Sea Mall
Cranes indicate new builds
The Sea Mall is being re-done or done-in?
Nearby City Mall
Modern, multi-level mall
A ferret in a pet shop
Palm-lined boulevard
Shopping malls and outdoor eateries
The pyramid is the Monart Arts Center
Main street to shopping
The plaza that surrounds the center
New palm trees
Spacious plaza includes Performance Arts Center
Performance Arts Center
Monart Arts Center
Monart Arts Center
Modern highend highrises
Space for buses to park
New development
Vacation apartments
Modern architecture of the Performance Arts Center
A roundabout with sailboat sculptures
Blooming petunias
Apartments with a view of the Mediterranean Sea
Probably very nice on the inside
Looking towards the Blue Marina
Wall art
Moshe Dayan Boulevard
Palm-lined street
A new building (printed in Hebrew)
The Blue Marina
Many apartments
A boat for the kids
The marina
Must be a field trip for elementary kids
Downtown Ashdod
A boat of teenage divers
Surfers Beach
Looked very cold to us
A separated "religious" beach
Many sailboats in the marina
A fisherman
Pylons of concrete
Still working on the beachfront
A fenced beach
Deserted beach today
Landscaped roadways
A sand plant blooming
Roundabout
Exercise equipment (14 years and older)
Wall art on the way
Modern city
The City Mall
Across the street, the Sea Mall
Bill would like one of these
The frog done in flowers
Heading back towards the port
Many balconies had awnings
Older apartments had rooftop water tanks
Another mall near the port, could be the Star Center
Buildings near the port
Interesting sculpture
Lakhish Ashdod Park
Nahal Lakhish stream
Good way to get around
Visitor's Center in the port area
Amsterdam docked in the working area
Busy port
