Welcome to another week of Gadlinks! There are plenty of cool travel reads on tap today. Have a seat and enjoy!
Bummer! Just when I thought I'd seen everything in Colombia, I find the Cano Cristales river, which based on these photos, does look like an awfully beautiful ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Israel
Gadlinks for Monday 10.19.09
Welcome to another week of Gadlinks! There are plenty of cool travel reads on tap today. Have a seat and enjoy!
Bummer! Just when I thought I'd seen everything in Colombia, I find the Cano Cristales river, which based on these photos, does look like an awfully beautiful ...The ten toughest castles in the world
Castles make a pretty backdrop to any vacation. They conjure up images of brave knights and damsels in distress, but the reality was less romantic. Castles were fortifications built to defend important cities, ports, fords, or mountain passes. The best military minds in the ...Clash at Jerusalem sacred site
Police and Palestinian protesters have clashed at the entrance to Al-Aqsa mosque, part of the Temple Mount, Jerusalem's holy spot for both Jews and Muslims. Details are unclear. Palestinian sources say the protesters threw rocks at a Jewish prayer group trying to enter the ...Small town in Israel hopes to get tourism boost from mermaid sightings
The small town of Kiryat Yam, near Haifa in Israel, may have a mermaid living in its waters. At least, the town council hopes they do. They say that dozens of people, in separate incidents, have reported seeing a half-girl, half-fish creature that jumps like a dolphin and ...Owner books entire business class cabin for scared pooch
Buying more than one seat for yourself on your flight is nothing special - some people are even forced to do it. But to book an entire cabin just for yourself and your pooch - that is one I'd never heard of before. That is exactly how a lady dealt with her scared dog last ...Leftover notes from an Israeli press trip
Back in March, I was invited on a press trip to Israel and wrote about the experience in the should-have-been-award-winning series "Heathen in the Holy Land." But the trip yielded more notes, quotes, and quips than I could ever hope to fit into a series of blog posts. After ...Museum Junkie: Museum of the Good Samaritan opens in Israel
One of the world's largest mosaic museums recently opened in Israel.
The Museum of the Good Samaritan displays artifacts from the many cultures that lived in the region. The main attractions are the intricate mosaics found in synagogues in the West Bank and Gaza.
The ...Sinkhole travel: The Dead Sea isn't the only place to see where the earth has caved in
The story about Eli Raz who fell into a sinkhole at the Dead Sea and wasn't found for 14 hours--alive, thank goodness, about environmental changes and the traveler's experience. In the case of Raz, the message is look, but be alert for heaven's sake when out in the natural ...Beach party in Central Park!
Tel Aviv (pictured) is bringing a beach party to Central Park in New York City! Sunday, June 21st (Father's Day), the Naumburg Bandshell will be converted into one of Israel's world-famous Mediterranean beaches for an all-day party. It might not look exactly like the above, ...Museum Junkie: Royal Ontario Museum hosts Dead Sea Scrolls
Visitors to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto this summer will have a chance to see the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.
"Dead Sea Scrolls: Words that Changed the World" will showcase some scrolls that have never before been seen by the general public as well as numerous ...Two tours, two Jerusalems
BBC's Tim Franks has written a fascinating article about taking two very different tours to the same place. His guides showed him the same sights and talked about the same things, but their interpretations were entirely different. It was like they weren't talking about the ...Tourist returns ancient piece of Jerusalem
The Israel Antiquities Authority got an interesting package from the U.S. recently, Archaeology News reported. It contained a piece of early medieval stonework and came with a note.
The note said that the sender, who apparently remained anonymous, had been an archaeology ...Family Friendly Adventures in Israel
There are a lot of reasons for travelers to go to Israel. The country is a cultural, religious, and historical treasure trove, with something to offer just about everyone. In the major cities, there are the usual attractions, like museums and temples, as well as plenty of ...Israel, Mecca ... no difference to British BMI
Passengers headed to Israel on a British BMI flight were alarmed to find their destination was Mecca, according to the in-flight map. The airline, it seems, isn't terribly aware that the Middle East is know for a tiny amount of tension that's lasted for decades (the most ...Wrong switch, gets Delta fighter jet escort
Don't slip! A Delta Airlines pilot accidentally activated a hijacking alert on a flight from New York to Tel Aviv. As a result, Israeli fighter jets were scrambled to escort the plane "safely" to Ben Gurion Airport. The fighter jets lingered briefly over the airliner and ...Heathen in the Holy Land: How to get your free trip to Israel
To read the previous entries in Gadling's Heathen in the Holy Land series, go here.
Free trip to Israel, huh? What's the catch?
Well, first off, you must be Jewish or have a parent who is Jewish. [I'll pause while all the Gentiles find another post to read.] Still with me? ...Gadling Take FIVE Week of March - April 3
Perhaps you noticed our annual April Fool's offerings. Although there are some odd TRUE stories here at Gadling every once in awhile--sometimes daily, nothing this past Wednesday was true. At least, I don't think China is planning to put an escalator up Mt. Everest.
Here ...Heathen in the Holy Land: Kabbalah leader dishes on Madonna
For previous posts from Gadling's new "Heathen in the Holy Land" series, go here, here, and here.
The Israeli town of Tzfat, the center of the Jewish mystical tradition known as Kabbalah, is made up of an eclectic mix of devoted Orthodox Jews and free-spirited Western ...Heathen in the Holy Land: Why Israel isn't just for religious pilgrims and history nerds
For previous posts from our new "Heathen in the Holy Land" series, go here and here.
Visiting Jerusalem's Western Wall, the last remaining part of the Holy Temple and one of Judaism's most sacred sites, is a sobering, thought-provoking, and almost otherworldly experience. ...Heathen in the Holy Land: How I became an Israeli pseudo-celebrity
To read part one of Gadling's new "Heathen in the Holy Land" series, go here.
When I told a friend of mine I was headed to Israel for a week, he advised me, only half-jokingly, to look out for car-bombs. A fellow member of my fantasy baseball league suggested that if ...
