Tag: traveling

So, Four Jews Walk Into A Monastery…
Emily Bernstein
November 30, 2018

Visiting Cyprus made some of my high school and freshman year dreams come true. After all the time I spent studying Greek mythology in those years was worth it as we wandered through ruins of Aphrodite’s temple on a hill; the mosaics of Theseus, Dionysus, and Leda (the best preserved mosaics in Cyprus and some in Greece, too); and stood above the place of Aphrodite’s birth.

My poor friends heard me ramble on and on about different stories as we wandered around the little island, but hopefully the stories were more interesting than boring.

Cyprus is not Greece, but it is well-known for being where Leda was living when Zeus came down from Mount Olympus as a swan and *ahem*… Well, everyone knows the story, and if you don’t, Yeats has a poem about it. (The poem is still pretty vague, but just Google it, okay?) This is a family blog here!

Cyprus is also where Aphrodite was born, of course, since we saw the rock where she arose out of the foam of the sea. She’s known to be Zeus’s and Dione’s (earth/mother goddess) daughter, but more likely, she was born literally of the foam of the sea that was formed when Cronus (Zeus’s father) threw his own father’s, Uranus, [censored] into the sea after killing him.

On second thought, Greek mythology is quite violent and indelicate, so we’ll move on.

First of all, it was a consistent 70 degrees Farenheit or above the whole time we were there which was amazing. It did pour rain one day, but we’ll get to that.

Aside from all the Greek mythology stories and ruins we wandered through, we saw catacombs (pictured below) of ancient leaders and we also drove into the mountains to see a few monasteries that came highly recommended from the internet, guide books, and the rental car guy.

Now, you might be thinking, Drove? Rental Car guy? Jews at a monastery? Emily, forget the gross mythology stories and tell us these stories, instead! 

Now, in Cyprus, due to British occupation or possibly because swordsmen preferred to ride on the left so they could sword fight with their right hands (who knows where that rumor came from), they drive on the left side of the road. When we decided to rent a car, I became the person who would drive. After a few long conversations with my dad, my roommates, and my anxiety, I decided it would be an adventure and an interesting story to tell.

So, when we landed in Cyprus, we headed off to Enterprise to rent a car where there was not only a very helpful rental car guy but also an adorable kitten that immediately enchanted my friends (Roy, Jenna, and Will) while I hammered out all the details of the car. The rental car guy also gave us recommendations for food, places to visit, and places to see – like monasteries in the mountains!

First of all, to assuage everyone’s fears, driving on the left was actually not as hard as I thought it would be, despite my anxiety shooting through the roof every time we got in the car. There were no accidents, no times I drove on the right by accident, and I’m pretty sure everyone in the car felt safe the whole time (but you’d have to ask them) – and I call this a resounding success.

Now, Jews in a monastery sounds like a punchline to a joke, but let me assure you, it might be, but it’s not here.

Our first monastery was Chrysorrogiatissa Monastery (say that five times fast!) right at the edge of Paphos Forest. It’s about an hour from the beach. This monastery was beautiful and had a stunning view of the valleys we had just driven through. The church is Greek Orthodox, of course, and is absolutely beautiful stunning.

The second monastery was Kykkos Monastery which is the monastery to see while in Cyprus. At first, I was a little worried it wouldn’t be worth the 90 minute drive farther up into the mountains, but I was wrong. Kykkos is absolutely beautiful. From the bells on the hill, to the art on every doorway, the long corridors that you could probably get lost in if not for the useful signage, to the beautiful stone work on every building and tower, this monastery is definitely worth visiting.

On the way down the mountain, we encountered fog, pouring rain, and even hail. It was an adventure that, if nothing else, is a funny story to share.

As it was Thanksgiving while we there, I made my friends go around our Thanksgiving dinner table (which was delicious curry at an Indian restaurant) and say what they were thankful for in the true Bernstein Thanksgiving tradition. No one cried like we do consistently at the Bernstein house when we do this, but it was still nice.

Now, please enjoy my photos, since I’ve now rambled on for too long.

Until next time, שׁלום.

Donkeys, Horses, Camels…Oh My!
Emily Bernstein
October 2, 2018

Well, after another holiday (a whole week this time! Thanks, Sukkot!), some of the fellows and I decided we would go to Jordan for a few days to see Petra and Wadi Rum.

So Jenna, Ines, Will, Jake, and I packed up and shipped off to Jordan.

We started off in Jerash, a city known for its beautifully maintained Roman ruins. Our guide, Mahdi, says that they are the best maintained ruins in the Middle East, “and maybe even the world!” (I’m not so sure I side with Mahdi on that one, but the hyperbole worked in the moment. These ruins are so well-maintained because of an earthquake from a long long time ago that buried them in sand. They were only rediscovered in 1806, and have been carefully rebuilt and restored over the past 200 years (see photos below for highlights from Jerash).

After that, we toured around Amman – the capital of Jordan – on the bus. I would say it’s a cool city, but I didn’t see much of it due to my very uncomfortable bus nap, but the crew told me I didn’t miss much. What I did see reminded me of what Jerusalem might have looked at 30 years ago.

We headed from Amman straight to our Bedouin “camp.” I put “camp” in quotes because it was not a camp. It was a glampground. There were insulated tents, with actual beds, a huge firepit where they walked around serving us the sweetest tea I’ve ever tasted, hot meals, running water… You get the picture. It was nice. 

The next morning, we headed to Petra. All I have to say about Petra is:

WOW.

Petra is one of the seven wonders of the world. And now that I’ve been there, I totally see why. We had just over 8 hours there, and I still feel like I didn’t have enough time to see everything I could have (again, photos below).

Details to note about Petra:
• People were actually living there until the 1980s when the Jordanian government asked them to move so that they could declare it as a UNESCO Heritage Site.
• It’s probably been inhabited since 9,000 BC.
• After it was abandoned by people in the early Byzantine Era, it remained unlived in until it was rediscovered in 1812.
• Probably the most famous line every written about it is: “A rose-red city half as old as time” (John William Burgon).

Also: it’s really freaking cool.

You start with a walk through the canyon, with enough ruins and wall carvings to show you a lot about the Nabateans, who inhabited Petra (many eons ago). Then, you emerge on, possibly the most famous ruin in Petra, the Treasury. Although you cannot go in, the outside is majestic enough. Although it’s called a treasury, historians and archeologists have actually discovered that it’s a burial ground, and you can actually see the tombs below the building. It’s all very historical, which might, at face value, sound boring. I assure you, it’s not.

You continue walking and you see the Royal Tombs, the theatre, the old temple… It’s all so incredible, and much of it is not pictured below only because I felt my photos to be inadequate to just how cool Petra was.

Now, you may be thinking: Emily, calm down with the praise of Petra. You might be overdoing it. And if you are thinking that, you probably haven’t been to Petra.

Anyway, after lunch, we climbed to the top of Petra – up 800 steps (in about 39 degree celsius weather) – to the Monastery. And just… wow. The fact that people were living in Petra up until the 1980s is pretty incredible just due to the fact that, while at the Monastery, I was looking around thinking, imagine if this was your morning coffee view. 

After Petra, we spent a little bit of the next day in Wadi Rum on a jeep tour. You might recognize Wadi Rum from movies like “The Martian,” or “Lawrence of Arabia,” or “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusader,” or even “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” So yeah, it’s picturesque.

The sand is endless in Wadi Rum. (But Emily, of course the sand is endless. It’s a desert!) I don’t mean that I wasn’t expecting to be surrounded by sand in the desert because, hello, that seems obvious. I just mean that, at one point, standing atop a sand dune, the sand around us literally looked like it went on forever. It’s actually both breathtakingly beautiful and also slightly ominous at the same time.

All in all, the trip was great (or couldn’t you tell?), and I’m so grateful and glad that I got the privilege to go.

(If you would like any full size photos of the ones you see above, please let me know, and I will email them to you.)

Until next time!

שָׁלוֹם‬