the singing sailor

Our ship was scheduled to spend one day in Haifa, Israel, which is situated in the Northwest coast of the country, and then move down the coastline to Ashdod.  However, due to the violence that had surged in the Gaza Strip, we had made the decision to spend an extra day in Haifa, changing our sailing time to the early afternoon the following day – allowing me to grab some great shots on our way out of the port area.  This is both a cruise ship and a “working” port, there are ships of all shapes and sizes for different purposes both docked here and also being worked on here.  The security was quite tight – when we left for our trip to Bethlehem and Jerusalem we had our bags searched (on the way out!) and also walked through a metal detector.  The only other time I’ve had this experience was when we dock in the United States!  Haifa itself is a large area, you can see the many buildings that cover the mountainside, although not very “touristy.” Cruise ships like ourselves dock here so their guests can take excursions into Jerusalem.

In this shot, you can see both a large cruise ship and also the pilot boat.  The pilot was currently on board our ship and his boat was waiting to pick him up after we got out of the port area.  It was a beautiful sunny and warm day, and I just love the white fluffy clouds.

a view of the city walls and shipyard in Alanya, Turkey

The ridged wall at the top of the landscape is part of the Alanya Fortress.  It was built by the Sultan Keykubat between 1226-1232!  It is all part of the city wall that was built to protect the inhabitants from seaside attacks.  The remains of these walls and towers vary in terms of their preservation, but in walking along the seaside walls I could see active efforts to recover and restore these remains, and a built walking path on top many of these remains to protect them as well.  The shipyards are the vaulted galleries that open right to the sea – this was used as a naval base and where the large warships were built in complete security.  The façade and all the weight-carrying elements are built of large, cut stone blocks, and the vaults of baked bricks.  I had the opportunity to walk on top of this area where there is a path, but it ended and I was unable to walk the entire distance.  Maybe if I’m ever back here even more preservation will have been completed!

This history and culture in this area of Turkey was really quite remarkable – I only had a short time off the ship but felt that I was really able to get a sense of the area.  It was very friendly, safe, and clean.