Negev January 12-14

I left on a nine-day trip to Israel on Wednesday January 12. I got to the Tabarbour bus station just before a bus to the Allenby Bridge left at 7:30. The bus cost one dinar, much less than the shared taxi that I would normally take. There was a long wait on the Jordanian side until the shuttle bus across the bridge came and then another long wait on the Israeli side, followed by a long line for passport control and a long wait for the minibus to Jerusalem to fill up. So the trip took a total of five hours, longer than the average of around four hours.

Upon arrival at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem at 12:00, I went to the West Jerusalem central bus station to catch the 2:30 bus to Beer Sheva, which arrived at 4:00. Tali Gini-Erickson met me there. She had invited me to spend a couple of days with her and visit archaeological sites in the Negev. She is the archaeology inspector for the southern Negev region for the Israeli Antiquities Authority with a special interest in the Nabatean period and in recent years she has been coming to Jordan to work on excavation projects in Petra. Tali took me to her home in a moshav next to the Nessana border crossing with Egypt.

The next day Thursday January 13, Tali and I got an early start at 7:30 for a full day of visiting archaeological sites, mostly Nabatean through early Islamic. We first went to Mitzpe Shivta and then Shivta with its remarkably well preserved churches.

Tali in the north church at Shivta

We then traveled north, stopping briefly at the Qariot site and then Horvat Enim. We then went to Susiyah where we saw the major synagogue and its mosaics currently under restoration.

Doret Shalom restoring the mosaics at Susiyah

We then returned south and visited Mampsis. I have spent very little time in the Negev over the years, and I had not been to any of those sites before.

The next day Friday January 14 Tali and I visited more archaeological sites. We started off at Nessana. I had been there before in 1971 at the start of a family trip to Sinai with the Al Glock family.

Our VW camping buses at Nessana in 1971

The same view today

It was Friday, a weekend day, so we were able to go into the extensive Israeli military training grounds to visit the major archaeological sites of Rehovot and Saadon and the remarkably poorly visible site of Elusa.

The excavated church at Rehovot

We also went to Sde Boker.

The early open-air mosque at Sde Boker

After that busy morning, Tali dropped me off at the Beer Sheva bus station in time for a 1:00 pm bus back to Jerusalem.