Tuesday, March 8th

Today is rainy and stormy; the first such day I have had in the almost 2 weeks of being in Israel.  Therefore, there won’t be any walking in the city today and instead, after checking out around noon, I will spend the rest of the time catching up on some reading and projects that will be due on Friday.  I certainly have been so fortunate with having absolutely beautiful weather throughout my stay in Israel.  According to the people at the hotel, they are expecting rainy days through at least Friday and much cooler weather with snow in the mountains.  My visit to Israel has been truly outstanding.

Monday, March 7th

View North from Shalom Hotel

View Looking West from the Shalom Hotel

View Looking South from the Shalom Hotel

Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center

Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Sacrifice of Isaac Sculpture

Today was a free day for me to visit Tel Aviv and walk some parts of the city that I have not seen.  First I took some pictures from the roof of the Shalom Hotel where there are very pretty views of the Mediterranean.  From the hotel I walked toward the City Garden and then past the Rubin Memorial to the area of the Performing Arts Center and Tel Aviv Museum of Art.  The buildings are very modern and there are modern sculptures on the grounds of the Museum of Art.  The Museum contains Israel’s most important 19^th and 20^th century art collection and includes pieces by Degas, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Braque, Metzinger, and Picasso.  There is also a 17^th century Flemish collection.  This took several hours to visit before heading to Dizengoff street and stopping at Dizengoff Center Mall, which an enormous multilevel indoor shopping area that covers several blocks.  With such gorgeous weather, walking the date palm lined streets of Tel Aviv was very relaxing and enjoyable.  Tomorrow is my last day before flying back to Birmingham in the evening.

Sunday, March 6th

Today I got up early, had breakfast, and was picked up at 7:15 am for the trip to Caesarea, Haifa, Acre, and Rosh Hanikra with the Bein Harim tour company.  Our first stop was the ancient Roman Capital and port, Caesarea, built by Herod the Great beginning in 22 BCE.  It took 12 years to build the city on the site of an ancient Phoenician city.  By 6 BCE the city became the headquarters of the Roman government in Palestine and was used by Pontius Pilate during his term in Palestine.  Here we walked through the large 4,000-seat theatre that faced the Mediterranean Sea, the Hippodrome, and the promontory Palace overlooking the Mediterranean.  The Hippodrome contained the original seats and remained very much intact as it was 2,000 years ago, because it had been covered with sand most of that time.  At the promontory Palace were the remains of the huge elevated, outdoor, mosaic-floored pool that Herod had built on the shoreline.  The entire ancient city was built with granite imported to the area.  Much of it was carried off to build other structures in other Israeli cities over the intervening years.  Water to the ancient city arrived by an aqueduct that originated at the Shuni springs, some 10 km inland.  Herod also constructed a large artificial harbor with a 400 m long breakwater and an area for anchoring boats.  The breakwater has long since sunk and diving visits can be made to the sunken area.

Adjacent to the Roman ruins are the ruins of the subsequent fortified medieval city built from the 9^th century Arab city and fortress and incorporating the perimeter wall that surrounded Byzantine Caesarea.  .  Here we walked through the impressive city gate with its Gothic ceiling.

From Caesarea, we drove to Haifa and had a panoramic view of the city from Mt. Carmel.  The Baha’i gardens lay before us.  Haifa is a beautifully located on the Mediterranean in a bowl shaped shoreline.  We drove around Haifa Bay to reach the ancient city of Acre, which contains an underground Crusader city that has been excavated and can be visited.  The Crusader buildings are massive with very impressive Gothic ceilings in the Knights Hall area.  At Khan al-Umdan, a large columned area used as a warehouse and hostel, is located a large clock tower.  At the junction of the Gothic ceiling ribs was located an ancient Fleur-de-lis.  After visiting the Crusader city, including the lighthouse area, we walked through neighborhoods and had lunch at an outdoor restaurant before continuing on to Rosh Hanikra.

Rosh Hanikra is the northern-most point in Israel and sits at the border with Lebanon.  At this point, the mountains abruptly meet the sea without any beach.  The constantly crashing waves have eroded grottos into the mountain and these can be seen by a walkway through the mountain.  During the Second World War, the British built a railroad through the mountain that connected Beirut and Cairo and the railroad tunnel still exists.  We descended to the grottos via a very short, but steep cable car ride and walked through the tunnels.  Just above us was the border with Lebanon with buoys extending out into the Mediterranean to mark the border.  The grottos were beautiful and there was the constant sound of the crashing of the waves against the rocks.  This was our last visit of the day and at 4 pm we began retracing our route back to Tel Aviv; arrived at 6:30 pm in time for Happy Hour at the hotel. 

On the Way to the Theatre

Theatre at Edge of the Mediterranean



View of Caesarea Harbor toward Medieval City



Stone Mentioning Pontius Pilate (replica)

Ruins of Outdoor Pool with Mosaic Floor

Hippodrome

Gothic Vaulted Ceiling at City Gate

Outer City Wall

Haifa from Mt. Carmel

Baha'i Gardens in Haifa

Knight's Hall in Acre

Crusader's Latrine

Arab Neighbor

Sweets/Nuts for Sale

Khan al-Umdan and Acre Clock Tower

Lighthouse at Acre

Shoreline at Rosh Hanikra

Rosh Hanikra Grotto

Rosh Hanikra Grotto

Rosh Hanikra Grotto

At the Grottos

Cable Cars to the Grottos

Border with Lebanon

Saturday, March 5th

Camels in the Negev near Azuz

Michael and Ted

Rock Outcropping Containing Petroglyphs

Israeli Border Guard

Woman Giving Birth

Leopard

Pigs

Snake

Oryx, Man with Egyptian Shield, Ostrich

Ruins at Picnic Area

Dan, Davida, Michael, Thelma, & Ted

Our day involved a trip south into the Negev Desert toward the Egyptian border near the city of Azuz to visit an archaeological site containing numerous petroglyphs that were discovered by Davida and serve as the focus of her PhD dissertation.  We left at 9 am and met their friend Michael and his parents, Thelma and Dan from the States.  Mike and his family live on a Kibbutz south of Be’er Sheva.  After a 1-1/2 drive we left the main road and drove into the desert on an ever narrowing road near the city of Azuz.  We parked the car and began the walk toward a rocky area in the desert that contained the petroglyphs.  The location was very near the border with Egypt and the border guard stations for each country were fairly close and positioned all along the border.  After 15 minutes, we arrived at the rocks and began exploring the various petroglyphs which were chipped/etched into the rocks as far back as 6,000 years ago be people using the spice road from Africa to Rome that passed through the area.  The petroglyphs consisted of animals – oryx, camels, pigs, ostrich , people – men with raised arms and Egyptian shields, and women giving birth, tribal markings, and letters.  The most common is etchings of the oryx.
Around 3 pm we drove to a nearby area with trees for a picnic.  While Doron was preparing the meal, we walked through ruins of old houses.  The lunch picnic consisted of potato salad, beef kabobs, and hamburgers;  all of which was excellent.  By 4:30 pm we decided to begin the drive back to Be’er Sheva and Ted dropped me off at the bus station for my trip back to Tel Aviv.  I arrived back to the hotel around 8:15 pm.

Friday, March 4th

Breakfast at Hotel

Ben Gurion University

Ted Eisenberg

Downtown Old Be'er Sheva

After breakfast with the Rea’s, Mary Virginia, and Jan, I shared the taxi with Mary Virginia, Jan, Teresa, and Joanne, who were going to Jerusalem, to get to the bus terminal at the train station.  There I took direct bus #380 to the central bus terminal in Be’er Sheva.  The total travel time was about 1-1/4 hrs.  My undergraduate college roommate, Ted Eisenberg, met me at the station and we went to his home in Omer, on the outskirts of Be’er Sheva to visit.  Because Shabat would begin in the afternoon and everything would close, we headed out to Ben Gurion University for a walk on campus, then to downtown Be’er Sheva, and to an old area of town where market was taking place to have lunch.  Ted has kept up with several people over years and we talked a lot about college days at Illinois State.  Returning to Ted’s home we visited more before it was time to go to the synagogue, which was only a block away, for Shabat services.  Then we had a short drive to Davida and Doron’s home for dinner.  They have 3 boys (6 yr old twins and a 3 yr old).  Doron’s father, Allen, joined us.  Doron has gone to culinary school and is the cook for the family and prepared a very good meal – homemade bread, roast, roasted potatoes, and peas/carrots.  We had a great time visiting.

Thursday, March 3rd

View of from the Jezreel Valley

 



Basilica of the Annunciation

Pomegranite

Bronze Relief Doors to the Basilica

Cryt and Annunciation Cave

Dome of the Basilica

Yamika and Nativity Sets For Sale

View of Sea of Galilee and Farm Lands

Date Palms and the Sea of Galilee

Lunch at Kibbutz Ein Gev

St. Peter's Fish

Sea of Galilee from Kibbutz Ein Gev

Wild Mustard and Golan Heights

Ark of the Covenant

4th Century CE Synagogue in Capernaum

View of Sea of Galilee from Synagogue

Sea of Galilee at Capernaum

Loves and Fishes Mosaic (5th century CE)

Birds, Snake and Plants Mosaic (5th century CE)

Jordan River at Yardenit

CHEM Source Group

 

Following our usual schedule, we departed the hotel at 8:15 am for our drive to the Sea of Galilee region and a much different terrain.  We crossed into the Jezreel Valley, which was very lush compared to what we experienced yesterday.  After about an hour, we could see Nazareth on the side of the hill.  To the right Mount Tabor was very visible – a distinctive round mountain to the east of Nazareth.  We took a brief rest stop, then drove the short distance to Nazareth and proceeded to the old town area and the Basilica of the Annunciation, which is a modern church from the 1960’s.  Inside is a crypt that includes the cave of the annunciation where the angle is supposed to have appeared to Mary.  The big bronze doors depict in relief the life of Christ, with the genealogy on the left door post and the apostles on the right.   The dome of the church resembles an inverted lily from the inside.  
After leaving Nazareth, we drove for about 45 minutes before beginning our descent toward the Sea of Galilee, which is 700 feet below sea level.  This road went past date palms and orange trees with the Sea off to the left.  Across was the Golan Heights.  We will be spending the day circumnavigating the Sea and making numerous stops to see religious and historical sites.  Since it was early afternoon, we stopped at Kibbutz Ein Gev on the Sea for a fish (St. Peter’s) lunch in an outdoor area overlooking the lake. 
Our first historic stop was the ancient city of Capernaum, which is a partially restored archeological site with only a small portion of the original city exposed.  Although a very active city until 11^th century CE, it shortly thereafter was abandoned.  The location of Peter’s house and the synagogue of that period have been archeologically investigated.  On top of the original synagogue are the remains of a very large 4^th century CE synagogue with a commanding view of the Sea of Galilee.  In fact, the entire ancient city was ideally located at the northern end of the lake.  There are numerous stone carvings among the ruins that depict symbols and items of importance to life in Jerusalem.
Our next stop was at Tabgha, which is the supposed location of the story of Jesus with the two fishes and five loaves of bread feeding the 5,000.  On the top of the same hill is where purportedly gave the Sermon on the Mount; place is called the Mount of the Beatitudes.  The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes stands on the site of the ruins of a 5^th century basilica discovered by a farmer plowing his field.  He uncovered the mosaic floor from the basilica, which can be seen on a substantial section of the current basilica.  The mosaic depicts many Egyptian birds, animals, and plants and a large measuring column.  The most significant part of the mosaic is a basket containing 5 loaves of bread flanked by two fish.  Thus, the assumption is that the original church marked the site where the feeding of the 5,000 occurred. 
Our tour then took us through the large town of Tiberias, which is the largest city on the Sea of Galilee and dates from Roman times and its founding by Herod Antipus in first century CE.  It is one of the four holy cities (Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias) in Israel and was the home to numerous Jewish scholars and rabbis during that period when Jews were forbidden to live in Rome.  The next stop was the Jordan River at the baptismal site known as Yardenit, which is claimed to be where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.  By this time, dusk was arriving and we started our 2 hour drive back to Tel Aviv.