Torrab48

hello ..

 

here I am fullfilling my promise and sharing the pictures I took from my last trip in Europe .

Enjoy

and dont forget to leave comments

The simplicity of sun, sea and sand. The luxury of five-star hotels, water sports, shopping and entertainment. This is Sharm el-Sheikh, one of the most accessible and developed tourist resort communities on the Sinai peninsula. All around are Bedouins, colorful tents, mountains and sea. There are small, intimate hotels with modern designs, as well as larger hotel complexes belonging to International chains, plus about all the amenities one could expect of a tourist center, including casinos, discos and nightclubs, golf courses and health facilities. In fact, with diving and snorkeling, windsurfing and other water sports, horses and camel riding, desert safaris, and great nearby antiquities attractions, it is almost impossible for a visitor to ever suffer from boredom.

Four miles south the southern section of the town stands on a cliff overlooking the port. and is a great view.

Na'ama Beach is one of the center of the tourist activities. Located just north of Sharm, this area is developing into a resort town of its own.  Most hotels at Na'ama Bay have their own, private beaches with comfortable amenities such as chairs, shades and even bars.

Shark's Bay is also nearby, and again is a growing resort community with more and more to offer, along with several diving centers.

The small harbor known as Sharm el-Moiya is located next to the civil harbor, has accommodations for boats, and includes a Yacht Club with rooms. 

For those who live to shop, the Sharm El-Sheikh mall provides shops with both foreign and local products, including jewelry, leather goods, clothing, pottery and books. 

It has been said that this is a must visit for all diving enthusiasts.  There are many diving sites along the 10 mile beach between Sharm el-Sheikh and Ras Nusrani.

JAFFA : The History of an Old Palestinian Arab City   Jaffa : (Arab. Yaffa, Heb. Yafo, Bible Joppa), is a Palestinian Arab city, which lies in the West central of Palestine, on the Mediterranean Sea. Jaffa is military occupied by Israel since 1948, and is part of the unified city Tel Aviv-Yafo since 1950. Founded by the Canaanites in the 18 th century B.C.E., Jaffa has been historically important largely because of its port (which was closed in 1965 to merchant shipping, when the port of Ashdod was completed). The small old port is used as a fishing harbor and became an international marina. From archaeological discoveries and ancient documents we learn that Jaffa existed as a port city some 4,000 years ago, serving Egyptian and Phoenician sailors in their sea voyages. Historians belive that Jaffa is the only port in the world which can boast uninterrupted inhabitation throughout it's entire existence. The Canaanites named the city jaffa which meant the beautiful. The Christian legend tells us that Jaffa was named after Prophet Noah's son, Yefet, who built it after the Flood. The biblical account mentions that the cedars from Lebanon for the construction of Prophet Sulaiman's (Solomon) Temple came in via Jaffa to Jerusalem. Prophet Younes (Jonah) departed from this city in his flight from God and was engulfed by a Whale.Greek legend tells of the chaining of the beautiful Andromeda to the rocks facing Jaffa's shore. Simon the Tanner lived in Jaffa, and it was here that the apostle Peter performed a miracle. Roman legions, Amrou Bin Ala's, Richard the Lion-Hearted, Salah-Aldin Alayubi, Napoleon and Ottoman sultans all conquered the city. jaffa was captured by Egypt in 1472 B.C. and made a provincial capital. In 701 B.C. the city was besieged by Sennacherib, king of Assyria. It was often held by Philistia, and not until after the Captivity in Babylon (6th cent. B.C.) did it become Hebrew territory. Alexander the Great took Jaffa in the late 4th cent. B.C. The city changed hands frequently in the fighting between the Maccabees and the Syrians (2d and 1st cent. B.C.) and was destroyed by Vespasian in A.D. 68. The rebuilt city of Jaffa was conquered by the Arab Moslem Amrou Bin Ala's in 636. Under Islamic rule, Jaffa was the port of the provincial capital, Ramleh. The Crusaders took it in 1126, Salah-Aldin Alayubi recaptured it in 1187, and Richard I retook the city in 1191. Under the Crusaders, Jaffa was given the status of "Port of Jerusalem". In 1196 the Arabs again captured Jaffa. Between 1291-1515 Palestine comes under Islamic Mameluke rule, and Jaffa becomes the chief port of entry for travelers and pilgrims of all religions, and remains so up to the 20th century. In 1515 the city, then in decline, was annexed by the Ottoman Sultan Salim I. In the late 17th century Jaffa began to develop again as a seaport. It was captured by Napoleon in 1799. Under the governorship of Mohammed "Abu Nabut" Aja in 1820, Jaffa begins a period of development and expansion; and in 1832 the Egyptian forces of Mohammed Ali conquests Jaffa. In 1842 Mohammed Ali forces were defeated by the Ottomans. In 1917 during the World War I British troops under General Allenby defeated the Ottomans and took Jaffa, which became part of the British-administered Palestine mandate (1922-1948). In 1947 and 1948 there was sharp fighting between Jaffa, which was largely inhabited by Arabs, and the adjoining Jewish city of Tel Aviv. On the 13th of May 1948 (A day before the proclamation of the State of Israel), the Arab forces in Jaffa were defeated after long fighting with the Zionist underground Haganah and Irgun Zva'i Leumi forces, and the city was occupied by these Zionist Bands. On 24 April 1950 the Jewish city of Tel Aviv and the Arab city of Jaffa were unified, and the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality was established. Today, Palestinian Arabs constitute about 25.000 inhabitants out of a total of 35.000 people. Jaffa has an old fishing harbor, modern boat docks, and a tourism center. Jaffa is a major tourist attraction with an exciting combination of old, new and restored. It offers art galleries, souvenir shops, exclusive restaurants, sidewalk cafes, boardwalks and shopping opportunities. It offers a rich variety of culture, entertainment and food (fish restaurants). The city is noted for its export of the famous Jaffa oranges.

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Our small home is still there

Embraced by its leafy branches

The oak tree is still growing

Still producing shadow .. and wooden fruits

 

I am also still there

Waiting for you to come

The wind is blowing past the golden leaves

Murmuring your name

Fields are blooming..

Trees are swaying

And a warm breeze is blowing

Full of a deep purple scent

And distant memories

 

Oh come..Bride of my soul

Let’s make nature our home

And the groves our territory

Oh come.. Queen of my heart

Come my soul mate and hold my hand

Just Come and leave everything behind

 

Many are the events people do celebrate to memorize social and religious traditions, but the most remarkable humane celebration is THE CELEBRATION OF NATURE. It is when YOU take a tour in mountains, meadows and fields to communicate with YOUR partners on this Globe; i.e. birds, animals or plants. Then, a very unique feeling will pervade all over ur body and soul, and the effect is absolutely POSITIVE.

 

Many researches has investigated the power that nature can have on human beings , and the results of their studies were that nature assists people to release all their daily stresses and conflicts , and it lets them have a better mental performance such as deep thinking , concentration and decisions making.

 

As a person who cares for his well-being and interested to release all stresses this crazy life can produce, I DO take some weekly trips in nature to purify my mind and soul and I strongly recommend that YOU do it too.

 

Luckily, Dabburiya village (my village) is replete with natural bounties, most prominent of which is Mount Tabour. This mount is a microcosm of the beauties in nature, where birds, animals, trees and roses peacefully coexist . It is the realm of the divine incarnation .. It’s the world of imagination and inspiration , it is the place of meditation , inspiration and contemplation .

 

Yesterday, I decided to take a trip up to the mount, and I was interested to know what was behind all this huge number of crowded cars there.  Then, I was told that “the eggs have hatched again” and that all those people from all over the word has come to welcome the advent of the glittering new-born settlers in the mount. Later on, I figured out that it was about the yearly bloom of a very unique flower called “Sternbergia” that grows in some specific places , Mount Tabour is one of them.

 

 

Sternbergia is a genus of the Amaryllidaceae family, found along the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East, often growing in rocky places. Although they look a bit like Crocus, they are more closely related to Narcissus. Most of them are yellow and bloom in the fall, but there are a couple of spring flowering species and one that is white. They are winter growing species and summer dormant. Many of the fall blooming species bloom after the first rains and before their leaves are produced.

 

I was glad to take part in the yearly natural event and I was satisfied to know that people still come to check on plants and they still care for and appreciate the beauty of nature. They all came especially to see the yellow glittering flowers popping between the rocks and they were taking photos with them. I was overwhelmed to see such a view of wide spaces covered with yellow daffodils and I did my best to portray and embody my joy by memorizing this wonderful experience by a few number of photos , which u can have a look at under a category called  Sternbergia 

 

I wish u all an enjoyable virtual natural tour ;)

 

Jalal

Hello my friends ,

it's been a loooooong time since I've added my last blog - to tell the truth , i am getting lazy  recently to write anything. However, since I missed u all and missed ur beautiful comments , i decided to to add this blog today .

 

 

 

 

History

Zikhron Ya'aqov was founded in December 1882 by Jewish pioneers from Romania, members of the Hovevei Zion movement. They called their settlement Zammarin. Even before the end of their first year in the region, however, difficult economic conditions and disease forced some of the settlers to leave.

In 1883, Baron Edmond James de Rothschild became the patron of the settlement and undertook to plan both its residential design and agricultural economy. He renamed the settlement in memory of his father, James (Ya'aqov) Mayer de Rothschild.

To accomplish his first objective, Baron de Rothschild designed and allotted housing lots along the main road for the use of settlement farmers. Each lot included a house facing the street, a long interior courtyard and a rear building for storing agricultural implements. The French-inspired architecture included tiled roofs and painted wooden windows. Each farmer was given a salary and placed under the direction of Elijah Shaid, the Baron's clerk.

The Baron also commissioned the construction of a magnificent synagogue to serve the town, sparing no expense to build the edifice, named Ohel Ya'aqov ("Tent of Jacob," an allusion to his father's namesake, the biblical Jacob, who "dwelled in tents" according to Genesis 25:27) in memory of his father. The synagogue, which has a large main section for men and a second-floor, wraparound women's section, features a majestic ark made of white marble and marble interior walls. The synagogue opened in 1886 and has conducted daily prayer services continuously to this day.