After breakfast we left Jerusalem via the Judean Mountains and drove through the Sharon Valley to visit Nazareth and the Church of the Annunciation where angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and the boyhood home of Jesus. The Church of St Joseph was next door, the site of the carpentry shop of Jesus' father. We then drove around the Sea of Galilee stopping at Capernaum, St Peter's village and observed baptisms in the Jordan River at Yardenit. The highlight of the a...

Words can't describe this city. Totally different than I had envisioned. We started our visit with a view over the city from the Mount of Olives followed by a walk through the Garden on Gethsemane. Then off to Mt. Zion to see the Room of the Last Supper and Kind David's Tomb. Entering the old city via the Zion Gate, we walked thru the Jewish Quarter and the Roman Cardo to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Inside we saw the last five Stations of the Cross. Af...

Docked in Aqaba where most of the passengers were bussed for a visit to Petra. Since I went there last year, I chose to take a 4x4 ride into the vast desert known as Wadi Rum. So I boarded a Bedouin vehicle with five others for an exciting trip into a landscape containing huge abrupt mountainous masses arising from the valley floor. These were geologic formations of granite topped with sandstone, all of which had been part of an ocean floor eons ago. We were serv...

After a day at sea we docked next at Salalah where I took a tour I had taken last year and had enjoyed. We drove to Al Balid, a UNESCO Site with archaeological excavations. Then to Taqa fishing village on the way to the ruined World Heritage city of Samhuram illustrating the heyday of Arabia's frankincense trade with the Far East and Greece. At the Al Husn Souq I shopped for muryh and sandlewood for my burner.

Today, after the ship docked in Muscat I took the shuttle bus to the town bordering the waterfront of the harbor. I visited the Corniche and the Muttrah Souq just looking at all the merchandise. Many stalls were selling pashmina scarves and frankincense. I bought some charcoal pellets for the burners I bought last year before returning to the ship. I was impressed by the overall cleanliness of the shopping area which is characteristic of Oman.