Elly's birthday started with a small breakfast birthday cake organised by Limor, and created by the hotel chef, followed by the boarding of the bus, and what has now become a regular event; a pre "flight" briefing from Linda before the bus starts rolling. This consists of a Welcome Aboard, followed by reprimands for any previous behaviour lapses, and what is expected of us on the day.
Harmony Hotel Jerusalem.
This generally gets the day started with some degree of levity.
We drove north out of Jerusalem, with Mark informing us that he had special music to match the occasion, whereupon we were treated to a booming rendition of "Jerusalem", sung by Harry Secombe - fantastic!
We were scheduled to return for 5 nights later on in our travels.
We drove to Nazareth, and, after a stroll through the market, found the Church of the Annunciation, which is on the site of the original church, where, supposedly the archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to bear a son who would become the Messiah. The church was very imposing, and was completed in relatively recent times.
From there we travelled north to the Sea of Galilee, or the Kineret, as the Israelis call it, travelling up the western side, past the city of Tiberias, to the Church of the Beatitude, which is near the spot where Jesus gave the sermon on the mount.
As you can see, we were doing the Christian version of the tour at this stage.
In the evening we were driven by Tzuri, our new driver, to a recommended restaurant, where we, once again, ate too much food, and drank too much wine. But we all had a fabulous time, and, on the way home the whole bus became somewhat out of control, with Mark's music playing loudly, Limor And Sylvia dancing with abandon up the front, and the rest of us singing along, with a bit of dancing as well.
Limor & Sylvia doing their dance routine on the bus
Not too couth, and more than a little untidy, we arrived back at our accommodation, which was a kibbutz, which provides quite decent self contained apartments. On our arrival back from the restaurant, Elly was still in birthday mode, so she insisted that we all stay up and help her celebrate. This we did, and became more out of control, with the standard of stories and jokes taking a nose dive. Poor Mitti, who had joined us with her husband for dinner, must have wondered what she had got herself into.
Sylvia thinking about bargaining.
Eventually we staggered off to bed to prepare for the next day's adventure.
10 April
This morning, after a particularly acidic pre flight briefing from Linda about our behaviour the previous night, we once again headed north to Capernaum, which is the town where Jesus did most of his teaching, after the people of Nazareth, who had known him as he grew up, felt that he had no right preaching new ideas to them, and, basically threw him out of town.
Here, there is a quite new church, which sits elevated above some excavations, which researchers are fairly sure was the house of St Peter. This is the only place where there is mention of Jesus and Peter on the walls in that section of the excavations.
Adjacent to these excavations there are the ruins of a synagogue, from around the 4th century, quite well preserved in parts.
Our next stop was in the area of the kibbutz Genosar, where they have on display a quite incredible fishing boat, from the time of Jesus. This boat was discovered by two fishermen brothers, when a drought had lowered the level of the Kineret. There was a massive excavation and preservation effort, using expertise from all over the world, in a race against time as the water level was beginning to rise again.
They managed to do it, and the boat is now on display for all to see.
Mother & Daughter walking on water.
We headed for the Hamat Gader hot water springs, where there is an enormous area of hot springs, some under cover, and some in the open. The place was packed, as this was the last day of Passover, and everyone was still on holidays. Every event or place of interest seems to be jam packed during this week of the year. The weather was a bit dodgy, with some showers and some sun, and some of us elected not to bathe ( me included ) and some did. While they were swanning around in the baths, it started to rain, which presented a problem for those of us minding everyone's clothes, and also made the temperature drop from 23 deg down to 18 deg, so we all packed up and left.
In the small, old village of Rosh Pinar, we managed to find a hamburger restaurant, so we put in our mass take away order and scuttled back to our little group of houses on the kibbutz for another rowdy evening.
11 April
We awoke to steady, drenching rain, so Mitti had to reassess our plans, which delayed our departure an hour. We initially were to do a small hike at a nature reserve area called the Banias. This is the area where the Hermon Stream, which receives its water from Mount Hermon and the northern Golan heights.
The Hermon Stream eventually joins with 2 other streams to become the Jordan River.
This place has a Greek history which stems from the conquest of Alexander the Great in 332 BC. It is a very lush area and was used as a religious place by the Greeks. There are remains here of a temple built to Worship the god Pan, and was named Paneas. Later Arabic pronunciation changed it to Banias.
In the first century BC, the Romans annexed Paneas to the Kingdom of Herod, who built a temple, which still has some remains, dedicated to his patron, Augustus.
We decided we would start our hike along the Hermon Stream, to the waterfall, since the rain had eased a bit. The stream was flowing fast, and the surroundings were very beautiful, with Elly stopping every 100 metres or thereabouts to take photos. In amongst the beautiful nature there were ancient flour mills, a Roman bridge, and other evidence of distant eras.
One section of the track we were on was suffering from the steady rain and tourist traffic, and was a path of mud. It stuck to our shoes, and wouldn't let go. We became taller as we walked, and had to try to scrape some of it off on rocks and tree roots.
Finally we arrived at the waterfall, to be greeted by slow clapping from our fellow mudnicks, who had been standing around for some time, cold and wet and muddy, waiting for the photographer to arrive.
We made our way out to where our bus was waiting, and Sylvia had taken one for the team, by taking command of a hose in a trough, to clean our shoes ( sort of ) as we stood there like horses being shod.
Next on the agenda was a lunch spot in Metula, which is the Northern most town in Israel, right next to the border with Lebanon. They rearranged chairs and tables for us, and we enjoyed our lunch, although, the ever present Passover ( last day, hooray ) meant I had to order 3 different meals before they had the item available.
The restaurant had a verandah running along the outside of the room where we were dining, and just as we were about to finish, there was a loud bang, as that section of the verandah collapsed. The whole verandah roof had fallen about a metre on the side which was attached to the building, and a few beams detached themselves, one of which smashed through the glass windows into our room. Glass showered everywhere.
I think that if we hadn't moved the chairs and tables when we came in, a couple of us would have been sitting where that timber came throught the window. Lucky.
Once we had worked out what had happened, and knew that it wasn't a rocket from Lebanon, we quietly made our way out, into the still pouring rain.
Next we visited a winery, Meister Wines, which is run by a young couple who are studying and learning the skills of winemaking. They are on a property which is owned by a man who had grown tired of the winemaking business, as he had never tried to sell his wine or market it in any way. His family had owned the land ( which is most unusual in Israel ), and they found caves which date back to around 100-300BC, which they used for the storage of the wine barrels.
This is the area where we gathered for the wine tasting. The couple who run it now are doing it really for the love of it and the lifestyle, but are making a go of it.
Mark suggested we purchase 6 of one, a Merlot and 6 of another, a Cab Sav, and John suggested that maybe we should perhaps also buy some for the next day as well! Very funny. Although later on that night, with several empty wine bottles on the table, it didn't seem so outrageous.
12 April
We woke to a fine morning, and, after breakfast, just as we were heading for the bus, the rain came again!
Mitti advised us that the Kineret ( Sea of Galilee ) had risen 3cm since the previous day, and that it snowed on Mt Hermon, around 10cm and still snowing. This amount of rain at this time of year, is almost unheard of, and everyone is really happy. Ha!
We drove up to the Golan Heights, which are volcanic in origin, in the northern part of Israel, and is like a plateau without the usual limestone which is in the rest of Israel. We jumped out of the bus, in pouring rain, and did a tour of an olive factory, which resulted in some purchases by the women, especially Geni, who bought so much she had to ship it home! By the time we finished there, the sun had come out.
Driving along towards a lookout point over the Hula Valley to the west, ( we could finally see now the rain had stopped and the cloud lifted), we could see signs on the fences warning to beware of mines. The road we were on was formerly the Syrian border, and was heavily mined (prior to the 6 day war in 1967). The Israels had cleared most of the mines, but could not guarantee that they found them all, to which several exploding cows attested, so they have fenced in a lot of the area.
We arrived at a kibbutz , Merom Golan, where Mitti had arranged for a couple of guys, Ilan and Erez, who run their own business, driving tourists around the Golan area in the vicinity of the Syrian border. These guys had, of course done their military time, particularly Ilan, who had been an officer in the Special Services, and knew the area well. They gave us a quick briefing on what we were going to see, and we then all piled into their 2 Jeeps. The weather had decided to turn nasty, freezing cold and raining, and the heating and sealing in the jeeps was less than optimum. We had Linda and Mark in the rear of our Jeep, and their ventilation was airier than ours. Elly was continuously winding down her window to take photos, much to Linda's disgust. The weather was worse, with the rain becoming snow.
We drove around on muddy, 4WD only tracks, parallel to the Syrian border, and saw more mine warning signs, old tank "pitas", one Syrian and one Israeli, which are circular flat sections of land with raised outer edges, to which tanks are driven to, so that a circular defence line is formed, with all tank guns pointing outwards.
There were also a couple of derelict tanks which were left there as a deterrent after the Yom Kippur war in 1973 We then drove right into the demilitarised zone adjacent to the Syrian border, right up to an Israeli bunker. It was snowing and raining as we tumbled out of the Jeeps and filed down into the bunker, using only a couple of torches and iPhones to find our way in.
It was freezing cold and bare concrete, as we all crowded In and listened to Ilan explaining the complicated situation with the Syrians over the years, emphasising that they were too busy at the moment fighting each other in the civil war to be of much concern to Israel, and that the booms we had heard as we entered were explosions from within Syria. Israel's main concern in the region at the moment is to keep a good eye on the border to ensure it remains calm. Erez mentioned that when people ask him where is the safest place to be in Israel, he answers "Switzerland" !
Erez arrived in to the bunker with a pot of tea and some biscuits. A surreal situation, with us in an underground Israeli concrete bunker on the Syrian border, having tea and biscuits!
Israel has lots of these bunkers, and they are all exactly the same. This is because they have a lot of soldiers in the reserve system, and an officer doesn't need to visit each bunker to familiarise himself with the layout. He can direct his troops with instructions which will apply to any bunker.
Ilan also gave us an outline of the population situation in the Golan Heights. There is a large percentage of Druze living there, around 130,000. They are an ancient offshoot of Islam, but those on the Israeli side of the border are loyal to Israel, and serve in the armed forces, and can become Israeli citizens. Their opposite number on the Syrian side are loyal to Syria, but won't take up Israeli citizenship because of the uncertainty about the ultimate outcome of border issues, and are more afraid of the Syrian government than the Israeli one. None of the Druze are interested in any conflict, and wish just to live in peace. They believe in reincarnation and say that their numbers remain constant over the years, which supports that belief. They had no cemeteries, as they cremated their departed, however, as some of their number fell during military conflicts and were given military funerals, they finally did establish cemeteries.
When we emerged back into the foul weather, Linda went to the group in the other Jeep, who didn't have Elly opening the window all the time, and offered her first born grandchild to anyone who would swap Jeeps with her. No one took her up on the offer, so she suffered not so silently all the way back.
After being out all day, without a break, a glass of wine sounded like a good idea, and Mitti had booked another wine tasting session for us, this time at one of the largest wineries in the area, which is a co-operative, taking grapes from kibbutzim all over The Golan area. It was a far cry from the small boutique winery we visited the previous day. It was a bit disappointing, as they obviously we're only going to give us a taste of about three of their wines. Geni nagged them to give us a couple of different samples to check out, but with limited success.
Dinner at a steak restaurant was fairly average, but at least we could have a beer and some bread at last.
Back home, I snuck inside to do the blog, whilst several of the others said they would have a quiet night and have only one glass of wine - yeah right!
13 April
This morning off to Tzfat, which is one of the 4 holiest cities in Israel, along with Hebron, Tiberias, and Jeruslem.it is a relatively recent city developed in the late 15th century. It is high up and has lots of cute, narrow lanes, between the limestone buildings.
It was initially established in the 12th century as a fortification by the Crusaders.
It has become a spiritual, mythical city, and is the home to many artists and craftspeople. Mitti gave us a briefing on the history of the city, and some background on the Kabbalah, one of the main bastions for Torah study, and incorporating the mystical depth of Judaism.
We wandered the narrow streets, had a look at a synagogue, and visited a glassware shop, where they did a glassblowing demonstration for us. There was also a candle shop which had an incredible array of candles, some religious, and some famous storybook characters on display permanently, quite amazing breadth and detail.
We made a visit to an artist, who produces visual patterns, which represent the sounds made by the shofar, which is the traditional ram's horn, which is used during new year celebrations. He was a very spiritual person, born in the U.S. and explained the mystical concept of transition from " what can you do for me?" To "what can I do for you?" as a goal in life.
A cute, character filled town with a heavy religious tone, and beautiful views, when the weather deemed it permissible for us to view.
Onward to the Hula valley, which is a resting point for thousands of migrating birds.
This area was a swampland, which, immediately after the creation of Israel in 1948, to reduce the incidence of malaria, and to make land available for residential purposes, the government decided to drain the area, and also to set aside some 800 acres for a nature reserve.
This had long term detrimental effects, as it turned out, and much of the flora and fauna disappeared, and the migratory birds stopped arriving. Major works were commenced in 1971 to restore the wetlands, and in 1978 they were reopened to the public.
We walked through the reserve, along elevated walkways. We saw some bird life, but obviously missed any mass migration which should be happening around this time. Nevertheless it was a very pleasant little sojourn.
Mitti had very kindly invited us to her house for a Poyke Pot dinner, which included an open bonfire to keep us warm, and two of these pots which held meat and vegetables which had been slow cooking over hot coals for hours by Mitta's husband Micha. Salads and other nibbles were provided, and we brought our own wine.
After dinner, Micha brought out his guitar and, with the help of a friend, Hilel, who had helped with the dinner, entertained us with some gentle Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan around the fire. It was a beautiful evening, and so generous of Mitti to share it with us.
14 April
We have a micro economy on the bus, where everyone has some cash, and, as we have dinners, or en route expenses, someone will pay by credit card, and the rest will pay that person with cash. This continues until someone runs out of cash, and if there is no ATM, that person will pay by card, and the others will give him or her cash, so they will be cashed up again.
This way the cash lasts forever and the whole trip is free! I think....
Rosh Hanikra was on our agenda this morning; a beautiful area on the Mediterranean Sea, just around the corner from Lebanon, in fact we could see the marker buoys aligned to indicate the line between Israeli and Lebanese waters. We rode down on a cable car to the sea below, where the ocean has eaten into the cliff face to produce caves and grottos. We walked along inside the main grotto which curved around, giving places to stop and view the waves crashing through the entrance and swirling through the caverns. Coming out the exit, the view was beautiful, with the weather finally doing the right thing, and we basked in the sun for a while.
There were remnants of a railway, which had been initially built into the limestone, running from Turkey through to Mecca. It was never finished, but was used by the British to transport troops and equipment along the Cairo Istanbul line.
Then on to the city of Akko, sometimes referred to as Acre. This place has an enormously complex history, which I won't drone on about too much. The city we saw on arrival is an Arab walled old town, the walls being in various degrees of deterioration. This was buried during the Ottoman Empire, although the first settling in the are was around 3000 BC.
The city has been controlled throughout history by the Greeks, the Romans, through to administration by the Byzantine Empire around 395 AD. In 638AD following the defeat of the Byzantine army, the city was ruled by Islamic forces.
In 1104AD the Crusaders, after 4 years of siege, took control of Akko, making it their prime port of Palestine.
The city which is visible today, was found to be built over a fortress, built by the Crusaders. This area was built around a central square and included a hospital and various large halls, joined by streets with shops etc. This entire area has been excavated, and is in amazing condition, complete with vaulted ceilings, perfectly preserved. Certainly the most pristine "ruins" I have seen anywhere.
It has been open only a year or so, but you can wander around for an hour or so, where people walked 1000 years ago. There are information bulletins as you walk, and they also provide wireless headphones which give commentary as you go.
The Crusaders were apparently a bit paranoid about their security, and so built a tunnel running from the centre of the fortress to the waterfront, as an escape path, should they need it. This has also been fully preserved, and we walked through it.
We visited a Tunisian Synagogue, which has been the pet project of one particular man, who was giving his lengthy story to Mitti, whilst his daughter gave us the story behind the place.
He had come to Israel from Tunisia, and had spent the last 50 years supervising the construction of the synagogue. It is ornately designed, and almost completely covered with tiles. - walls, floors, and ceilings. The tiles are all natural colours, not dyed, which means they will always keep their colour. Each metal fitting is in carefully polished gold or silver, and there are seven cupboards, all internally decorated, and each containing a scroll of the Torah, one for each day of the week.
15 April
After a one night stop just outside Akko, we headed south towards Haifa, well, not exactly Haifa, but to the Baha'i Gardens, which overlook Haifa.
The Baha'is philosophy dates back to an Iranian, Bab, who preached liberal themes such as equal opportunity for women, and other things which are addressed these days, but were definitely not in those days. It is a faith which allows people to be Christian Baha'i, or Muslim Baha'i, or Jewish Baha'i.
The gardens are beautifully maintained, and run down the hill to the Shrine, in which Bab's primary follower is buried. Bab himself was executed in Iran. The shrine and the gardens, were placed on the World Heritage List in 2008.
On our way back towards Jerusalem, we called in to Caesarea. This was a port city created by Herod in 22BC to impress his Roman masters, and to keep favour with them. He created a massive system of breakwaters to make a safe harbour for all the merchant ships in transit, along with a lighthouse, a track for chariot races, and, of course, his own private palace. Caesarea also boasted, store rooms, baths, a theatre and temples to Rome and Augustus.
It is fascinating walking through the area along the beach, and seeing the carefully preserved remains of this amazing city. The theatre, restored, holds several hundred people, and is used , with its modern stage, to this day by artists who have become famous in Israel.
On to Jerusalem, but stopping on the way to run an ATM dry, and to buy a few supplies for the evening, as it was Holocaust Rememberance Day, and the whole of Israel shuts down in the evening. This is the hotel which has Happy Hour with the free wine and food, so we made good use of that, then started on our own supplies.
We just heard that night that mortars had been fired on the kibbutz where we did our jeep ride - scary!
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