Whirlwind Tour of Israel

We are sorry for not posting in a while ... we are just starting to catch our breath and get back to our life in Jerusalem. We spent much of the last 6 weeks enjoying visitors, celebrating the holiday of Passover, and traveling around Israel. We had some time off from school for the holiday, which enabled us to explore some new parts of the country as well as to take our families to some of our favorite sites. We also had a 3-day trip with our school to the North in the middle of our vacation and in the middle of our family's trips. Another highlight was that Max and my brother played on the Jerusalem team in a frisbee tournament in Tel Aviv, which was quite exciting for me as I have never seen them play together and because their team actually won the whole tournament!

Anyway, instead of boring you with all of the details of our travels, we thought we would present 10 of our favorite spots that we visited during this time. But we want you to know that it was hard for us to even narrow it down to this list as there were so many wonderful places in this tiny little country. Oh, and if you are interested in seeing more pictures, we have now provided a link on the right side of this page to a Picasa site that is hosting them.

#1 - Caesarea

While my mom was visiting, we spent some time on the Mediterranean, and one of the most beautiful and interesting spots we visited was the city of Caesarea. Built by King Herod and named after his patron Octavian Augustus Caesar, the city was a great commercial center during the Roman empire and even became the headquarters of the Roman government in Palestine in 6 BCE - over 2,000 years ago! And the history is of course more extensive than this as the city was captured and recaptured, built and rebuilt by various groups over hundreds of years after the Romans abandoned it. The city has contained temples, theaters, markets, residences and much more - all carefully planned out and built upon the bay. The ruins also include a Roman aqueduct, located a bit up the beach, which is mostly buried under sand but is fairly spectacular nonetheless. We were mostly taken by the beautiful views of the sea as well as the massiveness of the city that used to be there.



#2 - Sea of Galilee (aka Kinneret) & Hamat Gader Hot Springs

The largest of Israel's fresh water sources, the Sea of Galilee is located in the north of the country, not far from the Jordanian and Syrian borders, and sits at about 200 meters below sea level (compared to the Dead Sea, which is about 400 meters below). It's a beautiful area for hiking, a key component in ensuring Israel's water supply, and is known for its numerous mentions in both the Old and New Testaments. When traveling with my mom and her friend Robin, we stayed right on the eastern shore of the sea for a few nights and enjoyed beautiful sunsets. We also ensured to bring my brother and Max's parents here to enjoy the views and test out the water.

While driving around the north with my brother, we also made a stop in Hamat Gader to enjoy the natural hot springs, which are located just southeast of the sea. I could not believe that the hot springs were entirely natural as the pressure and heat were amazing ... another incredible phenomena that results from Israel's placement on the African/Syrian rift. The site is known for the ancient Roman spas that were found here ... the Romans really thought of everything.


#3 - Mt. Bental - Golan Heights

In the 6-day war (1967), Israel captured the area known as the Golan Heights from Syria. Over time and additional fighting, this area, which consists of the northeastern most part of the country, stretching along the border with Syria from the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee towards the Lebanese border, was ultimately formally annexed by Israel. It is one of the most beautiful parts of the country and starkly contrasts to the dry, brown and very hot Negev desert in the South. The Golan Heights consists of green hilltops, beautiful wildflowers in the Spring and even receives enough snow for a ski resort up on the Hermon mountains. In addition to its amazing views and hiking spots, this area is of great strategic importance for Israel as it's elevation allows easy viewing into the Hula Valley and Galilee regions as well as into its neighboring countries. However, as Syria still desires to reclaim this territory, the Golan Heights remains a bargaining chip in Israel's quest for peace.

Mt. Bental (around 1200 meters above sea level), located in the Golan, provides great views of the Golan Heights and of Syria. We thought these signs told much of the story ... from this spot, we were only 60 Km from Damascus and 135 Km to Amman. I also never expected to see Baghdad and Washington D.C. on the same sign ... Up on this mountain there is a bunker, originally built by the Syrians, taken over by the Israelis in the 6-day war and then manned again by Israel during the Yom Kippur War (1973), which is now open to the public. Inside the bunker, there is a simple exhibit of the living quarters, kitchen, communication room, etc. utilized by the Israli soldiers. Walking through and peering out towards Syria from the bunker gives you a whole new perspective of what it means for this land to be a part of Israel. We spent time with my mom, my brother and Max's parents driving all throughout the Golan Heights during which we had great views of Mt. Hermon, the tallest peak in Israel standing at 9,069 feet -- see all the snow!


#4 - Hiking in the Golan Heights

We had some of our best hiking experiences in this part of the country and wanted to share some of the pictures. and with Max's parents (see waterfall below)
In addition to hiking in the Banias Nature Reserve (located in the northern most part of Israel, close to Lebanon) with my mom , we went on a 7 hour hike through this region with Pardes one day. We basically followed a river the entire way - climbing over rocks, through the water and along the banks. It was quite a challenging experience due to the terrain and the fact that there was much more water flowing through than usual. We were also with at least 50 other people and so keeping the whole group moving through the often difficult path was quite a task! In any case, we saw some amazing waterfalls and enjoyed the day (see us next to waterfall). With my brother, we hiked throughout Yehudiya Nature Reserve (located in the lower part of the Golan, closer to the Galilee) which involved us swimming across a mini-lake in the middle of the hike! I can't even express how cold the water was ... we actually found out that our friends who tried to do the hike just a few days after us were not allowed since there was risk of hypothermia from the water temperature - yikes! Going to and from the river valley were the most beautiful wildflowers, which made the hiking even more enjoyable.


#5 - Nimrod's Castle

This national park consists of a huge fortress located on a hill in the Golan, which was build by Crusaders and largely dates to the 13th century. Although Max and I did not visit the castle together, I took my mom and her friend Robin and Max later took his parents, we had similar experiences there. We both ended up exploring and climbing around much of the castle by ourselves and were really impressed with the immense structure and the beautiful views. There were tons of areas to explore - rooms on top of tunnels and passage ways and various lookout points. I guess Max actually managed to climb his way outside of the fortress and ended up having to scale a wall to regroup with his parents ... I think I'm glad that I was on my own for that one :)


#6 - Tzfat/Sefat

A town located in the north in the hills, Tzfat is known as one of the 4 holiest Jewish cities in Israel.
It is the birthplace of what one thinks today of mystical or kabalistic Judaism and continues to be a strong center for Jewish learning today. We spent time visiting the Synagogue Quarter, which contains many 16th century shuls where well known Jewish thinkers/writers used to pray, and the Artists' Quarter, which was taken up by a collective of artists in the 1950s. Tzfat also has wonderful views of the Galilee region and great Judaica shopping. These are just a couple shots of a beautiful wooden Torah Ark in one of the synagogues, one of my favorite statues from the Artist Colony and some Israeli soldiers (very common to see them walking around in all cities) strolling through the town.


#7 - Golan Winery

A pit-stop on our Pardes Tiyul to break up all of the hiking was to the Golan Winery where we had a tour and a tasting at the famous Israeli (kosher) winery, located in the city of Katzrin. Kosher wines are typically thought to be poor wines relative to the wines produced by the rest of the world, but this winery has begun to change that stereotype by winning top awards in France for their various wines. As I had never visited a winery before, I really enjoyed seeing the whole wine-making process in action - from the stainless steel holding containers to the oak barrels and finally to the bottling. We even got to taste a few different wines and received a token wine glass to take home. I was excited that they made a Gewurztraminer wine (my favorite!) so we treated ourselves to a couple bottles, which we later happily enjoyed during Passover. Max opted to take his parents back to the winery on their trip up north, and in addition to tasting many of their classic wines, they got to taste one of the dessert wines actually made from frozen grapes. Max says that this wine tasted almost like a cold shot of sweet, fruity brandy ... yum!


#8 - Old City of Jerusalem / City of David

We just wanted to highlight a couple fun things we did closer to home over our vacation.

Western Wall Tunnels -- With my brother, we took a tour to see the excavation of the Western wall, which was quite amazing. Archeologists have actually uncovered much of the entire wall that used to stand around the Temple Mount (in the old city) during Roman times. Most people are only aware of the small portion of this wall, known as the Kotel or Wailing Wall (see photo during night time), that has been designated by Jews over centuries as a sacred spot due to its proximity to the Holy of Holies, which is thought to be up on the Temple Mount. During this tour, we actually walked (underground) along the length of the wall and it was incredible to see the unbelievably enormous stones used in the building. It's hard to imagine how anyone today, even with equipment, could move these masses of rock, let alone how it was done over 2,000 years ago when all that was really available was slave labor.

Church of Holy Sepulchre -- Although Max and I had been to the church previously this year, he and his parents actually visited again the day before Easter.
The church is the heart of the Christian quarter of the old city and is believed to be the place where Christ was crucified, laid in his tomb and was resurrected. During past visits we were able to move about freely and see all of the stations within the Church, but during Easter weekend Max said that it was so crowded with pilgrims that simply walking anywhere was difficult. However, the place was pretty incredible to see: people were bearing huge crosses on their shoulders - reinacting Jesus's path along the "via dolorosa", packs of nuns were trying to push their way through the crowds, not to mention that an AV system was trying to be setup inside the Church in preparation for the globally televised "midnight mass". All of these things and more contributed to the frenzy inside and out of the Church - good thing they went relatively early!

#9 - Petra, Jordan

All we knew about Petra, Jordan before last month was that "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was partially filmed there. Although that fact is true, the ancient city of Petra has now certainly become one of the highlights of our trip this year. The city is over 2,000 years old, and rather than existing as a site of ruins, it has been preserved virtually untouched until today. The city's uniqueness lies in the fact that it was built inside a sandstone ravine, and every structure exists as a "cut-out" from the walls of the ravine. A picture certainly is worth a thousand words in this case, so we tried to post several. Walking through the city simply means descending gradually though the gorge (the same one Harrison Ford travels through on horseback at the end of the movie). We went on a Friday, a day that Arab schools are off, so the area was packed with Jordanian school groups. There were many opportunities to haggle and buy keepsakes, of which we are quite guilty. Aside from the city of Petra itself, the excursion was significant because it was our first time in an Arab country. We are used to seeing Arabic written everywhere in Israel, as it is one of the three official languages along with Hebrew and English, but in Jordan there was surely no Hebrew to be found, which was a little unnerving. Also, when you leave Israeli customs and enter the Jordanian crossing point, you are welcomed by huge pictures of the King of Jordan - smiling at you! Funny how that is normal in their culture - imagine if every time you entered the USA you saw a 30'x20' picture of George Bush!

#10 - Eilat

The southern most city in Israel, Eilat has mostly be developed recently as a touristy beach town. Although not known to be one of the "must see" spots in Israel, we had a wonderful time just relaxing at our hotel as the conclusion of our travels. And of course it was exciting to dip our toes in the Red Sea - a new Ocean for me - since it feeds into the Indian Ocean! From our hotel rooms, you could see the shores of the city of Aqaba, Jordan to the east and the Sinai mountains of Egypt to the west - pretty spectacular!


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Overall, in addition to seeing/experiencing so many wonderful places during these trips, I also really enjoyed being able to drive around the country - it gave me a whole, new sense of what it means to live here ... to learn the laws of the road, to deal with Israeli drivers, to know my way around practically the entire country ... it was quite a feeling!

So, now we are back in Jerusalem, getting back into classes for the last few weeks. This past week has been very exciting in Israel since we are in the middle of celebrating 3 Israeli holidays - we will plan to write more about them soon! Happy Spring to everyone.