Monday 28th April

Well here we are in Haifa and I have to say I am not impressed, I understand that Cunard are now American owned and they wish to support Israel. The reaction of those around us echo our feelings, I was speaking to someone who said it didn’t make sense, the reason that we didn’t go to Egypt was because there was civil unrest, so they bring us to a country that is permanently at war and I have to agree with him, the sense of unease shown by the security personnel does nothing to reassure people and the constant body scans are unsettling, why on earth did Cunard bring us here? If you were being cynical you could argue that it’s because the only thing to do here is to take Cunard trips to Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem et al, if you were being cynical that is, but from the reactions of those that took them it seems that some of them were not very successful either. Two of our table companions had the bible read to them the whole of the trip there (2 hours) and all the way back! People at breakfast were complaining that they spent much of their trip in traffic, so it looked like we had the best of the deal.

We followed Janet’s suggestion and visited the Bahia Gardens at the top of the German Colony which were truly beautiful, however after the mandatory body scan and the lecture on not chewing gum (does anyone these days?) not walking on the grass, picking flowers, touching the water etc. We climbed to the first gates where there was a notice saying we could go no further, and to access from the top we had to go back down, bypass the gardens through the adjacent streets and enter from the top, as it was sweltering and the climb was steep we gave it a miss and it was just as well because Anna (our waitress at dinner) did go to the top only to be told access from the top was forbidden. I would have been just a little cross if I’d decided to go. Anyway it did not detract from the immaculate garden we did see and we wondered why these were so well maintained and pristine when the surrounding area was so grubby and badly maintained (in fact the whole of Haifa is). Then we spotted the reason. On a plaque by the main gate was a sign saying they were maintained by voluntary subscriptions from Bahia communities around the world, nuff said!

We learnt today that one of the passengers on our deck has acquired fleas from a camel in Petra. We were all warned about the camels and how good looking they were, but love is blind, (holiday liaisons seldom end happily), anyway it’s all been sorted and the unfortunate passenger has had the fleas expunged by the ships de-lousing team and been left to reflect on the folly of being seduced by cheeky charm and sexy smiles, the handler that is, not the camel.