Israel ~ along the Mediterranean coast

Most of Israel's western border is the Mediterranean sea...and that's where this post is going today!

Our first stop is a port city in western Galilee...the ancient town of Acre which is  home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It was known as Akko in Biblical times (Judges 1:31)...and is one of the places from which the Israelites did not drive out the Canaanites.

We walked beneath ancient trees to the courtyard...

...and on to the entrance to the underground museum.

Acre is some 4500 years old...and is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. It was first mentioned in early Egyptian texts of the 19th century BC...and through the ages it has been a stronghold for many civilizations (Greek, Roman, Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman, Palestinian).

We learned a lot about the fascinating history that has passed through the streets of Acre at the recently excavated Underground Crusader City.  We walked through the market place of that time...the dining hall...the prison...the hospital...the knight's hall...the 'bath room'.  All intact. And then we walked through an underground tunnel which has only recently been opened to the public.  It is nearly a quarter-mile long and connects the fortress to the port.  To think this tunnel was built by the Crusaders more than 800 years ago is rather mind-boggling.

Our next 'port-of-call' was Haifa...a city built in tiers from the Mediterranean Sea and up the slopes of Mount Carmel.

The city's most striking landmark is the Baha'i Temple and the surrounding gardens....also a Unesco Heritage Site. 

The shrine is accessible only to those of Baha'i faith...but the gardens are open to the public.

It was a lovely spot...with a great views of the city, the sea and the hills of Galilee.

From there...we drove south to Caesarea....the Roman capital of Judea for some 600 years.  It was one of the great trading posts of the Roman Empire...established by Herod the Great in 22BC.  Caesarea was given to King Herod by Augustus Caesar and is named after him.

Though there is now a modern city here...we came to see the wonders of the past! 

We sat in Herod's amphitheater...where concerts are now held in the summer months.


Herod built a temple, a palace, an aquaduct...a city which was the marvel of the world.


His refined palace with a swimming pool once stood right here. 

We read about Caesarea in the Bible...it was the home of Philip and Cornelius the centurion.  It was where Paul was imprisoned for two years.  It was where we wandered about among the ruins of the past...where a carved limestone block with the inscription of Pontius Pilate was found a few decades ago.  It was rather like walking through a story!

We had a teenager in our group...a fun gal from Chicago traveling with her parents.  At times the  'historical immersion' was a bit much for her...and she escaped with her cell phone. The past meets the present!

Let me end this post...and my travelogue on Israel...in Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv is a modern Jewish city situated on a 14 mile strip along the Mediterranean coast.  We had a free day while we were there and had time to walk about...see, touch, taste and enjoy!

The bustling and colourful market was a fun place to visit.

We met up with this group of partiers several times throughout the day...apparently a pre-wedding celebration for one of their own.  Some things are the same no matter where in the world you find yourself. 

The promenade along the beach stretches for 14 kilometers...through Tel Aviv and to the old city of Jaffa (pictured above).  We put in many steps that day...enjoying the fresh sea air and watching the people along the way.

Our day in Tel Aviv ended at a local restaurant that served typical Israeli cuisine. We asked the server for a recommendation...

...and all enjoyed meals that included Ptitim (also known as Israeli cous cous).  Ptitim is a type of toasted pasta that is shaped in little balls and was developed in Israel in the 1950s when rice was scarce.  Quite tasty, it was!

We also enjoyed the scene that played out on the street...just outside the restaurant window where we were seated. First we saw an officer ticket an illegally parked car.  Next we watched while a tow truck arrived to remove the offending vehicle.  With only inches to spare in front and behind the car...we wondered how they would be able to get at the vehicle.  No problem!  The tow truck pulled up alongside and lifted the car up and onto the truck deck (from the side) in a few minutes time.  Most entertaining.  We wished we could have been there to see the owners reaction when he came in search of his car.

And so ends our time in Israel...in Tel Aviv where it began and ended for us at the airport. From our walk through the past to our time spent seeing modern Israel...it was definitely a trip of a lifetime!

 Thanks for joining me as I shared a few memories of our tour.

Galilee and beyond...

Galilee....in northern Israel.  Often called 'land of the Bible'...it is the area around the Sea of Galilee and is the most lush and green part of the country.



Our first stop as we headed north of Jerusalem was Beit Shean...one of the most ancient cities in the country.

We passed through a residential and commercial area of the modern day city...and on to the National Park of Beit She'an which lies just north of the city.  Here we will took a walk through time...at an excavation of the city as it was during the Roman era. 

Our tour guide led the way to the amphitheater (built around 200 AD)...once used for gladiator fights and able to seat more than 5,000 spectators. 



That is definitely the oldest seat I have ever sat on!

Beyond the main street of that ancient Roman city lined with white columns...is the Tel (mound) which was the site of the ancient Biblical Beit Shean that we read of in the Old Testament.  It was a Philistine city during the time of Saul and we read in 1 Samuel 31 that King Saul's head was displayed on the wall of the city following his death.  Later King Solomon made Beit Shean a main administrative centre. A major earthquake destroyed and buried the city in 749 AD...and so it remained until modern times.  Excavation began in 1949 and continues to today.
 

Here at Beit Shean archaeologists have marked different times in Israel’s history...under the Jebusites, Canaanites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Egyptians, Maccabees, Romans, Muslims, Crusaders, Ottomans, Brits and anyone else who ever raised their flag here over the last 5,000 years. 

We came.  We saw.  We were in awe!

Next we stopped at Nazareth...where Mary and Joseph made their home and where Jesus grew up.  Though it was just a small village at that time...it now is a large city of some 75,000.

 
We toured the Basilica of Annunciation...a Roman Catholic church built in 1969 and the largest Christian sanctuary in the Middle East.

On the church walls (as well as in the outer courtyard) are many mosaic murals...each one given by a different country and reflecting the flavour of the nation that gifted it.  Though most were tile mosaic...it seems Canada and the USA presented quite unique gifts.  The Canadian artwork is a wood carving...appropriate, I guess!

In northern Galilee we visited Israel's highest city, Safed...located at an elevation of 900 meters.  If we go back to the Old Testament, we learn that Safed belonged to the Naphtali tribe after Joshua's conquest.

Now it is a picturesque mountaintop city with ancient cobblestone alleyways...a gathering place for Jewish mystics and artists.

Wherever there are hills in Israel...there are caves.  Seeing them makes it easy to picture all those Old Testament stories that involved kings and prophets hiding in caves.

We sailed on the Sea of Galilee...and had a lesson in casting out the net (on both sides of the boat).

At a peaceful spot along the Jordan River...we were blessed to witness the baptism of some of our tour members.  Now that was most touching!

Capernaum...a place Jesus called home after being rejected in his hometown of Nazareth. It was where he called some of his disciples...where he healed Peter's mother, the leper and the Centurion's servant...where he cast out an evil spirit...raised a child from the dead...and where he taught in the synagogue.

It was where we visited the ruins of the synagogue...believed to have been built around 300 AD.  It is built above the foundation of a previous synagogue...thought to be the one where Jesus taught.  How surreal it feels to know that Jesus once walked, talked and lived right here!

Before I finish this post on Galilee...let me include a little trip north and east of the Sea of Galilee to the Golan Heights...where much of the conflict we hear of has taken place.

We stopped at the Quineitra Viewpoint (situated on the flanks of a dormant volcano)...from where we could easily see the Syrian border just a short distance away.  Just last week I saw photos of Israeli government officials meeting right at this very location.  A visit to Israel makes ancient history come alive...and gives insight into what is happening there today!

Above and behind us was Mt. Avital...where the many eyes of Israel's top-secret military defense program peer into Syria.

Residents of the Golan depend primarily on agricultural income.  Most of the farming in Israel is done on collective farms.  We passed by dairy farms, chicken farms, and many crops being grown beneath white netting called Antivirus net...a mesh that blocks the insect's physical access to plants, while allowing sunshine in and enabling air circulation.

The next stop along our tour will be Haifa, Caesaria, TelAviv...places along the Mediterranean coast.  It has been a good exercise to document some of the photos I took...since it seemed impossible to process it all as we toured.  

Let me end this chapter...on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. 

Jerusalem ~ as we saw it...

Let me start our tour of Jerusalem with a photo of Temple Mount in the Old City...

...a holy site for Christians, Jews and Muslims.

The most recognizable Jerusalem landmark is  The Dome of the Rock which was completed in 691 ...and is situated on the exact location where the second temple once stood.

We actually began our tour with a stop at the Israel Museum to view a model of the city of Jerusalem and have a brief history lesson. The model is a 1:50 scale of the city during the second temple period...more than twice the size of the present Old City.  It was good to be able visualize how the city once looked...and to reconcile that with what we were seeing as we visited different parts of the city.

Our visit to Yad Vashem...the Holocaust Museum...was rather a sobering one.  The name is taken from Isaiah 56:5 and means 'a place and a name' ...a lasting memorial.  We walked along the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations where trees have been planted in honor of those non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.  Plaques adjacent to each tree record the names of those being honored along with their country of residence during the war.  We know there is a Corrie Ten Boom tree over there...but never found it!

On a lighter note...

...our next stop was the village of En Kerem (in the Jerusalem hills)...with its winding streets and narrow alleyways.   We wondered why the children were all in costumes and discovered that it was Purim...and our guide explained that it was a big party which included dressing up, eating, drinking and being merry throughout Jerusalem.   The celebration dates back to the time of  Queen Esther in the Old Testament...and the saving of the Jewish people from Haman. We saw a lot more celebrating as we carried on our tour!

The 'City of David' (as it is now called)...was known as Mount Zion in the Old Testament.

The Dormition Abbey...

...Room of the Last Supper

... and King David's Tomb are all part of this complex that look rather like a medieval fortress.

We found a stairway leading to the rooftop of 'the fortress' with the best birds eye views of the city! 

Narrow cobbled streets and walkways are the norm!

Memories of our time in the City of David include the fragrance of the purple blossoms and the music from the 'hang drum' that filled the air.

The Old City of Jerusalem is surrounded by a wall (built in the ealy 1500's and renovated since) and seven open gates.  Pictured here is Lion's Gate on the east wall...easily recognized by the figures of lions near the gates crest.

Cars somehow mange to squeeze through the gates that were built for pedestrians and horses. Pictured here is a car exiting via the Zion Gate.

A few days before Easter...we joined those who walked the Via Dolorosa...'the way of sorrows' is a path that follows the steps of Jesus to his crucifixion. The only real crowds that we encountered while in Israel were at the end of that walk...inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Though the route that Jesus walked 2000 years ago was likely not this one...I was reminded again of His last earthly journey as a beaten man carrying a cross...and as the resurrected Lord.

And then there was the 'wailing wall' (now called the Western Wall)...the last remains of the second temple.  This is the Jews holiest place of prayer...now with a partition to allow the women access to the wall as well.

Tucked into every little crack and crevice of the wall are little notes...letters to God left behind by visitors.  The notes are collected twice each year and buried in the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.

And this was our view as we left the Western Wall at the end of the day...a moon in the sky over Jerusalem.

Did I mention that one will never go hungry in Israel?  We enjoyed our share of falafel and hummus during our stay...with our favorite being the falafel wrap we got from a street vendor at the market place.  It was an 'everything wrap'...falafel, salad, and even french fries all wrapped in a tasty flatbread. The french fries in there were a bit of a surprise!

Buffet breakfasts at our hotel looked like the one pictured here...cheeses, veggies and fish...along with fresh fruits and breads. Give me fruit, yogurt and a fresh croissant and I'm happy!

Our favorite local beverage was the freshly squeezed pomegranate juice...available everywhere!

Let me end this post at the look-out on Mt. Scopus...

...where there was a 'wall of benefactors' listing those who had donated upwards of  $1,000,000 US to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for facilities, research or scholarships.  Near the bottom we recognized the name Morris Wosk...a Canadian businessman who once had a furniture and department store in our town.  It is a small world after all!

And that, my friends...was Jerusalem as seen through my lens in March of 2016.