Monday, April 11, 2011

Palestine: Reflections

Headlines provide signs of hope that Israeli-Palestinian tensions will ease and that peace will prevail

As I was recounting my Palestine/West Bank travel experiences and observations, I made notes to myself about how I wanted to wrap it all up. After all, this wasn't just a sightseeing trip featuring antiquities and sacred places. It was an experience that put me and my traveling companions on the cusp of "future history." Through my membership in the Society of American Travel Writers, I became aware of, but I am embarrassed to admit, not active in a not-for-profit group called the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism.

Originally, I intended wrap up my thoughts and observations unfiltered by politicians' spin and advocates for one side or another. I also was going to include links to IIPTT's site and to peace organizations working specifically in the Middle East and more specifically on the Palestinian-Israeli situation, because I believe that tourism can be a valuable tool for peace -- not just economically in troubled lands but also in allowing visitors to see a place and its people first-hand. This trip certainly was enlightening, even though we did not meet any overtly militant Palestinians or any Israeli Jews at all other than Army guards at checkpoints and security screeners at Tel Aviv Airport.

But today's headline in the New York Times, "U.S. and Israel Shift Attention to Peace Process," reports that "President Obama said Tuesday that he expected direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to begin 'well before' a moratorium on settlement construction expired at the end of September, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel pledged to take 'concrete steps' in the coming weeks to get the talks moving."

Since I'm trying to restrain myself, perhaps I should not point out that in the past, Netanyahu's "concrete steps" have taken the form of pouring more concrete for more settlements in the Palestinian territory. 'Nuff said. I'd rather express a hope that it might be better this time, and that perhaps neither side will provoke the other into escalating retaliation measures. This eye-opening trip beyond the headlines and the rhetoric pointed out the social injustice of the current situation. I mentioned to some of my traveling companions that I am shocked that Israel, a nation established because millions of its people were the victims of such ruthless genocide, could treat other people so badly. One who is smarter than I pointed out that individual people who been abused often become abusers. The analogy was not lost on me or anyone else within earshot.
So I close this series with a wish that maybe, just maybe, the new talks will amount to something and the peace process will begin again -- and maybe, just maybe, it will be honored by all sides and be longer-lasting than in the past.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Travel Thumbnail: The Ski Train to Winter Park

This is the fourth of a series of periodic reports on specific places I've visited -- and which you might want see to as well. Post a comment or let me know directly what you think of this occasional Travel Babel feature.

Iconic Colorado experience: Denver to Winter Park on the Train

The Place: Rio Grande Ski Train to Winter Park

The Story: Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Ski Train was dominated by the Eskimo Ski Club, whose members ranged in age from seven to 17 and who took the train every Saturday in winter to ski at Winter Park. Today, many older Denver natives credit the Ski Train, Winter Park and the Eskimo Ski Club for making skiing an enduring part of their lives. Since the '80s, Ansco Investment Company has owned the Ski Train and renewed it with upgraded rolling stock and experiences.

This past weekend, the Rio Grande Ski Train from Denver's Union Station to the base of the slopes concluded its 2009-10 season of 82 trips. A Colorado tradition for three generations, it is the last dedicated regular ski train service in the lower 48 (the Alaska Railroad operates ski train service too). If there's no traffic on I-70 or snaking over Berthoud Pass, driving is unquestionably faster. But the Ski Train isn't about speed. It's all about experience. It is a nostalgic journey for former Eskimo Ski Clubbers and a singular one for today's families who bring their kids so that they can experience train travel too, perhaps once every season or two. And riding the rails from downtown Denver is a great way for visitors and convention-goers to reach a snowy environment through beautiful scenery and the 6 1/2-mile Moffat Tunnel under the Continental Divide.

My Trip

The train is supposed to depart from Union Station at 7:15 a.m., but ours was delayed because we had to wait for Amtrak to pull in. Once we got going, we slowly traveled through railyards in north Denver and then through sections of suburbs like Arvada that we rarely see.

It had snowed a lot on Thursday, and the far western edge of the plains between Golden and Rocky Flats were still carpeted in white. Looking out the train window toward the north, it was difficult to recogize this as the edge of the Denver sprawl.

The tracks climb through Eldorado Canyon past open space and Eldorado Canyon State Park.

The train continues toward the Moffat Tunnel via Coal Creek Canyon, Rollinsville and Tolland to East Portal, the tunnel's eastern entrance.

Passengers have about 10 minutes to disembark at Winter Park before the train continues to Granby to turn around and park on a siding for the day until 4:15 departure time. Most people come to Winter Park to ski or snowboard, but some just want the railroad experience with perhaps a snowcoach sightseeing tour of the mountain or perhaps a free bus ride into town to shop and have lunch.
This weekend felt like winter, not spring. The snow was abundant and wonderful.

Even with a high-speed chairlift ferrying skiers to Winter Park's highest point, Parsenn Bowl didn't look or feel crowded. The snow was soft and the views toward the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Rocky Mountain National Park and the Never Summer Wilderness were awesome.

The Cost: This past season, roundtrip coach fares were $59 per adult ($49 for ages three to 12 or 62-plus); club seating was $85 per person. All seats in both classes of service are by reservation. Food service is available, and discounted lift tickets can be purchased on board. The train and the resort experimented with weekend overnight packages (leaving Denver on Saturday morning and returning on Sunday evening). This will probably continue as a full-season offer next winter.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Palestine: Day 8, Jerusalem



Winding down at the Temple Mount and old city

Our group started our light Day 8 schedule with a tour of the Temple Mount (Haram ash-Sharif in Arabic), At the bottom is Western Wall (Wailing Wall), the last remnant of the Israelites' Second Temple and a sacred to Jews. Men and women, facing the wall, pray separately, and respectful visitors are welcome. The two key Muslim sites flanking a broad plaza built atop of the former temple, are the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Like so many other Holy Land sites, control of the Temple Mount has over time shifted from religion to religion, jurisdiction to jurisdiction and often at great cost of life and/or treasure. King Solomon built the First Temple there in 967 B.C. The Babylonians destroyed it in 586 B.C. Jews rebuilt it as the Second Temple six decades later, but the Romans under Herod first expanded the site and later destroyed the temple in 70 A.D. Emperor Constantine's mother, Helen, was a 4th-century Christian activist who established the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And did I mention earthquakes?

In the 7th century, Muslims conquered Jerusalem and built the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock. Over time, all or parts of the Temple Mount were under Byzantine, Persian, Jewish,  Crusader, Muslim, British Mandate, Israeli, Jewish and Muslim control. The timeline spans centuries. A visit to the compound in September 2000 by Ariel Sharon of Israel's rightwing Likud Party accompanied by  1with ,000 armed guards infuriated Palestinians. who started hurling stones at Israeli riot police, who in turn tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd. Sharon's visit set off a five-year Palestinian uprising often called the Second Infitada. The day after Sharon's provocative visit. On September 29, the Israeli government deployed 2,000 riot police to the complex. The prospect of peace hasn't been very encouraging since then.

Since then, it hasn't seemed to take much to set off a confrontation. Whenever archaeologists dig somewhere, they outrage some group. In the last five years alone, Jewish zealots' proposal to build a synagogue on the Temple Mountain infuriated Muslims, and Muslim proposals to add a fifth minaret ticked off Jews. Arabs protested a plan to rebuild an old earthen ramp leading to the Mugrabi gate. When a posse of right-wing Zionist rabbis entered the Temple Mount, provoking Palestinians and also both religious and secular Israelis who decried that particular provocation.,Also. some critics noted that Jews are not supposed to enter the Temple Mount but confine themselves to the Western Wall until the Messiah comes -- or something.

It was against this background that we visited the Temple Mount, again passing airport-style metal detectors, X-rays and bag inspection stations. Day 7 was a Sunday, the Christian sabbath and a "weekday" for Jews and Muslims. The large plaza was largely empty, save for small groups of Muslims reading the Koran or something under shake trees and some sightseers like us. Neither the Dome of the Rock nor the mosque is open to non-Muslims these days, but I can recall which particular incident caused the closure. In the old city beyond the Temple Mount, Christian churches welcomed worshippers from all over the world, while Jewish and Muslim shopkeepers and vendors in the old city welcomed shoppers, also from all over the world.

I reveled in some unscheduled time, sharing some quiet conversation and coffee with a couple of my traveling companions in a shaded cafe. I wandered through the narrow, shop-lined streets for a while. But I bought nothing. In the end, the endless displays of Christianiana made of olive wood, glitzy yarmulkes, rosaries, pottery, T-shirts with slogans like "Guns and Moses," metalwork, religious and secular costume jewelry, keychains, scarves and shawls were oddly dispiriting. I normally love prowling around marketplaces, but I began preparing for re-entry by spending a quiet, somewhat contemplative afternoon in a day room thoughtfully booked for each of us at the Holy Land Hotel.

Security procedures at Tel Aviv Airport were lengthy, as expected, but not excessive or unpleasant. And then, we boarded our Continental plane for the first of our respective flights home.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Palestine Day 7: Ramallah and Ein Areek

Two more faces of Palestine: the capital and a small town with no major landmarks from antiquity

Much of the West Bank and Ramallah in particular remind me of every developing country I have ever visited: Roads in various states of disrepair. Incomplete buildings that are either under construction or abandoned and crumbling. Graffiti. Weed- and litter-choked empty lots. Wrecked cars. Busy markets with small shops open to the street that exemplify the most basic form of capitalism. No big-box stores here. Call it small-box retail.


Roadside repair businesses. Street vendors. Tailors and cobblers working out of impossibly small shops. Storefront doctors and dentists. In short, providers of goods and services that keep a community functioning, along with schools, houses of worship. There are also sparkling office buildings, banks, government buildings, good hotels, high-rise apartment buildings and prosperous residential neighborhoods, symbols of hope for better times to come.

Ramallah

Ramallah, the capital of the Palestinian territories north of Jerusalem, was often in the headlines during the two Infitadas. Originally an agricultural community and primarily a Christian town, its residents were early adopters of resistance, many joining frequent protests, strikes and demonstrations. It is currently the capital of the Palestinian Territories and, if and when Palestine gains independence, it will be the capital of the country.

We started with a lavish poolside buffet breakfast at the Grand Park Resort and Hotel, a pristine property catering largely to business travelers and those with business at consulates in the Palestinian capital. The hotel was built in 1997 as a two-story building and renovated and expanded with three additional floors last year. A large screen was put up in the pool area for World Cup games.



Also, a new Mövenpick Hotel is under construction. The project began in 1999, remained in limbo between 2003 and 2005, was restarted with an anticipated completion date of 2007 and finally seems on track to open fairly soon. The renovation and expansion of one find property and the projected open of another are positive signs that things are getting better in Ramallah, even if progress is sometimes slow.

To Westerners, the name Yasser Arafat is m most often associated with his early years of Palestine Liberation Organization violence. To Palestinians, he not unlike George Washington to Americans or, in fact, David Ben-Gurion to Israelis -- in short, a leader in the battles for their respective independence and the first head of government once it was achieved (or in Palestine's case, partially achieved). Arafat achieved world recognition as a terrorist and was co-laureate with Israel's Itzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. Peres is still alive and active in government, but Rabin was assassinated by an ultra-Orthodox Jew for his peace-making efforts. A decade later, Israel re-declared Arafat to be terrorist and kept him under house arrest for some two years, releasing him only to die in Paris. His simple mausoleum of Palestine stone and glass remains a pilgrimage place for Palestinians, many of whom are willing to overlook the corruption that the political movement he had started eventually deteriorated into.


The Riwaq Center (Center for Architectural Conservation) is an NGO that seeks to inventory, document, protect, rehabilitate and reuse Palestine's architectural heritage, with the additional benefit of job creation and community involvement. With 50,320 historic buildings in 422 towns and villages, it has already been a Herculean task but one that has already earned it a prestigious UNESCO World Habitat prize in 2006. According to Riwaq's Farahat Mihawee, the immediate priority is to protect 50 of those 422 identified centers and 50 percent of the the historic (i.e., pre-concrete) buildings within them. Sixteen protection plans for cultural heritage protection have been drawn up. Funding is currently available for three out of those 50 priority sites. For visitors interested in antiquities and community, Riwaq's concept of a mapped Cultural Tourism Trail linking traditional villages is in the works with help from a Swedish International Development Agency. 


Ein Areek

We drove to the village or Ein Areek (aka, Ain Arik), where we were welcomed by Father Giovanni Santee of the monastic community of St. Benedict. He has been in the Holy Land (here and in Jordan) for 30 years and is one of three brothers and five sisters who maintain this Catholic church as a "place of prayer and peace." Although they are all original from Italy, as part of their seven hours of daily devotion, they read the Old and New Testaments  pray, say the Rosary and celebrate Mass in Arabic. He says that they maintain good relations with the increasingly Muslim community and also with the local Imam and Orthodox priest. The clerics communicate on social issues, especially education, that affect the community but stay away from each others' theologies. He says there are "no fundamentalists" in the village and that neighbors have "lived together for centuries."


Back to Jerusalem

Even after short time in the gentle tranquility of Ein Areek, it was a shock to return to Jerusalem passing yet another choked checkpoint, aggressive graffiti on the wall, children who should be in school hawking CDs and occasionally throwing rocks, and a tattered United Nations flag flying over a World Food Program warehouse.


This was the last full day of touring the West Bank.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Aeromexico Returns to Loreto

Travel to Baja to become easier again


Travel interests have in Baja California Sur have evidently provided enough guarantees to persuade Aeromexico to reinstate service to Loreto starting July 2 with expected daily jet service from San Diego and Mexico City. More than 30 years ago, Loreto was one of five destinations selected for major development by the Mexican government, which funds the basic infrastructure to lure private investors. Then, the anticipated development was straight tourism, but now residential communities for retiring baby boomers are also a big Loreto. A year ago, five carriers served Loreto, but with the economic meltdown, only Alaska Airlines remains with four flights a week. The restored Aeromexico service will make this pleasant, low-key part of Baja more accessible for visitors too.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Friday, April 8, 2011

Lonely Planet's Travel Blog Honors

Prestigious guidebook series honors travel bloggers

Lonely Planet seeks nominations for its annual travel blog awards and invites readers to vote, accounting for 50 percent of the total, and judges evaluated the blogs for the other 50 percent. Below are the winners and the four runnersup in each category, along with an indication of how much the leaders won by. There are some really awesome blogs here, so check them out:

Best Destination Blog

http://www.govisithawaii.com/, 10 Points
http://www.manzanilloblog.com/, 7 Points
www.spottedbylocals.com/berlin, 5 Points













Congratulations to all.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Palestine: A Hope

I still have one-and-a-half days of touring to report on. Re-entry from this trip has been tough, and I think that my brain is still half-way across the Atlantic. But on this Fourth of July, as the United States celebrates its independence from England, I keeping thinking about the Palestinians and their struggle for their own independence. Colonial patriots fought against the Redcoats, a superior fighting force but one that represented a government an ocean away. The English would have described General George Washington's ragtag forces as "insurgents," even "terrorists," if those words had been part of the 18th century vocabulary. But they prevailed, and 234 years later, America still celebrates July 4 as a day of freedom and liberation.


The Palestinian people want no less. And count me among those who want it for them and hope that they too will have their own Independence Day to celebrate, and that they and their Israeli neighbors will find a way to co-exist in peace.



Posted by at No comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)