Off to the Land of Israel

Our trip to Israel was occasioned by a conference on intelligent user interfaces.  However, since Israel is a long way from the US, we decided to spend time (11 days) before the conference to visit Israel.  Our daughter R joined us when we arrived in Jerusalem after a long taxi ride from Ben Gurion airport at the end of the day.

Jerusalem

Our hotel for 4 nights in Jerusalem, the Montefiore, was well situated to walk to the old city, to Jaffe St. and also not far from the Knesset and the Israel museum.  Our first dinner was on a new Salomon mall street where we found a little restaurant to have a simple meal with pasta, salad, chicken and the like.

Friday dawned sunny but cool, and R and I went walking for exercise in the Independence Park not far from our hotel.  While hardly well cared for (and a stone's throw from the Knesset), it was excellent for our purposes. The sun was shining and warm enough to enjoy a workout!  After an Israeli style breakfast (lots of veggies in various kinds of salad, eggs, bread, cheeses, yogurt and halvah, a favorite of mine), we went to the Israel Museum, where we spent a good bit of the day.

The Israel Museum has a wonderful collection of artifacts from archeological digs, all beautifully arranged.  You can also see a huge layout of the city in the time of Herod and visit the portions of the Dead Sea scrolls on display--most of the scrolls are not in the museum as they are too precious and are left to scholars to study.  After these tours, intriguing but tiring, I was still determined to see the modern and contemporary art.  The contemporary art was a hodge-podge of paintings and installations, most of which did not appeal to me.  However, the museum has a very large collection of wonderful Rodins, Monets, Cezannes, Renoirs, etc.  I was too tired to give it just viewing and is a reason to return to this museum.

Israel Museum

Jerusalem at time of 2nd Temple

Friday night is the beginning of Shabbat, and Jerusalem nearly closes down.  On Shabbat I went to services at the closest Conservative congregation, not far from the Great Synogogue of Jerusalem (which is Orthodox).  I was happy to see that Conservative and Reform Judaism are growing in Israel, and felt at home at Moreshet Yisrael where the service was in Hebrew, but with Humashim in Hebrew and English.  The sanctuary, shown below, is very lovely as is the rest of the building.  The congregation is very active and there were about 60 people at services.  Rabbi Adam Frank, an American, gave his short talk in English and in Hebrew.

Mosheret Yisrael

After services, I met up with the lazy bones of my family, and we went to wander in the old city.  We had lunch at a falafel stand--there's no falafel in the US to compare to any of the falafel we had in Israel.

Falafel lunch

We discovered that the bell tower of the Church of the Redeemer was open and walked the 300 steps up it for these wonderful views of the old city.  For me this hike up was a challenge as I have a rather bad case of altrophobia.  With my family's encouragement as I clutched the walls and didn't look down,  I made it!  The views were worth the difficult climb.

Towards the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Towards the Dome of the Rock

In the direction of the Kotel

We also made our way to the Kotel, the remaining portion of the wall of the great Temple of Jerusalem, which is not part of the mosque, the Dome of the Rock.  By then it was raining, and the return to our hotel was pretty drenching.  For dinner we ate a terrific restaurant called the Link, and had a lovely Israeli cuisine dinner.  On Sunday, a work day in Israel, we were free to wander about, and also to shop.  My only wish was to visit the shop of Danny Azoulay, an wonderful Israeli ceramicist; his main and studio shop is no longer in Jerusalem, which disappointed me, but we visited his small outlet shop near our hotel.

We decided to return to the old city, as our hotel hosts told us how we could visit the site of the Dome of the Rock, something Israelis cannot do.  We found the proper line, waited for about 1/2 hour before we crossed a bridge onto the huge area in the middle of which is the remaining portion of the ancient Temple Mount, in the center of which is the Dome of the Rock.  I found it very thrilling to be able to be in this site, which is still sacred to the Jewish people.  I also admired the wonderful tile work on the mosque of the Dome of the Rock.

The Mosque Dome of the Rock

R and Chuck

On Temple Mount

View to Russian Church

Tile work 

After our time to see the area was over, we had time to see a bit of the Muslim quarter of the Old city, and then made our way back to our hotel.  On Monday, in the pouring rain, Chuck and I visited the Museum of the city of David, also the called the Citadel museum.  It provided us with even more history of the city, as well as more archeological excavations, but the cold rain made the visit somewhat challenging, and may have contributed to the bad cold I got 2 days later!  The photo below is taken from the web, rather than on our very rainy day.

Inside the City of David Museum

Tel Aviv

Our next stop, Tel Aviv, couldn't have been more different than Jerusalem.  Jerusalem, an ancient city, which seemed to me to be tired and uncared for (at least central Jerusalem where we stayed, and of course the old city) contrasts with the first world city and wonderful beach areas of Tel Aviv.  We stayed at the Hotel Armon HaYarkon near the north port area, now home to a collection of shops, restaurants and people enjoying the beach and shopping.  We wandered along the beach area, had lunch there, and relaxed.

Chuck and R in Tel Aviv

Beach in Tel Aviv

Our next full day, we tried to get bikes to ride down to Old Yaffa.  It took us several tries at different bike stations (with a lot of walking) before we got 3 bikes and then we were on our way.  Unfortunately by late lunch time, I was beginning to feel sick with a fever, so after lunch in Old Yaffa, we biked back, and I fell in bed, where I stayed for the next two days until a visit to the doctor for meds, including antibiotics to lick my sinusitis and chest cold.  Meanwhile Chuck and R visited the city, including a trip to Dizengoff street where they took in the Haganah museum, which they found very informative about the crucial time up to Israel's independence.

The Galilee

After visiting the doctor, we took off in the our rental car to see the Galilee region.  I liked this part of Israel the best:  beautiful hills and valleys, and the lovely Yam Kinneret.  This word literally means the "sea harp" because the lake is shaped like a harp, but it referred to in English as the Sea of Galilee.  We stayed on a kibbutz HaMaron that has guest cottages where we were greeted warmly.

Guest Houses at the Kibbutz

R and I took a walk down the road from the kibbutz.

There we saw some of the many wildflowers, already in bloom in the Galilee including kalaniot (poppies).

Kalaniot

Bush jasmine

We also saw something sitting on a branch in a bush, that resembled a huge guinea pig.  I couldn't catch it with my camera, but then I remembered it was probably a hydrax, a furry mammal related to the elephant that lives in Israel, the Middle East and Africa!  The photo below is from the web.

Rock hyrax

Dinner was at the suggestion of our hosts in a tiny Arab village where the falafel fast food place had wonderful falafel dinners. The clientele were local people including the ever present young IDF soldiers with their guns on their backs, stopping for dinner after work.  After several days in Israel, I grew used to seeing IDF soldiers at work everywhere.  Back at the kibbutz, we stopped in at the kibbutz bar where they make their own beer in a microbrewery, a new undertaking in Israel.  We each tried a different beer, and all three were excellent;  microbreweries vary a lot on the quality of their product, but at HaMaron the beer was definitely better than average.

The next day we drove off to see the area.  We made a brief stop at the sea at Tiberias, which sits on the edge of Yam Kinneret.

Yam Kinneret

Yam Kinneret at Tiberias

Yam Kinneret and the hills beyond

Then we went on to Tsafat, a very old city where rabbinical scholars created the Zohar, a text of the Kabalah.  This town is now largely an enclave of Orthodox Jews, and the few we talked with were very friendly.  The town has a large artist enclave, which we wandered through. I was in search of a new challah cover because ours got burned by Shabbat candles one Friday eve in Paris.  Only one store had what I wanted--silk screened challah covers, and I happily found one I really liked.  I also found some candlesticks that were very modern and metal (so they will be easy to take back home when we go back to the US).

Challah cover and candlesticks

R and I also bought hand painted postcards to send to friends.  Then we went on to Mount Meron, the second highest peak in Israel.  Families were picnicking there as it as a lovely day.

On Mt. Meron

When returning to our kibbutz, we saw Mt. Hermon, the highest peak in Israel (which was still snow covered).

Valley before dark

Our kibbutz hosts suggested dinner at a restaurant at a neighboring kibbutz on the next hillside.  As the photos show, it was lovely.

View over the hills from dinner

It was also the first time I heard the Muslim call to evening prayer (the Galilee is home to many Arabs).  It was a haunting call and very musical.  I heard it several times later in my trip, when it was no more than just calling, but this particular mullah had a beautiful voice.

Our last day in the Galilee was spent visiting close to Haifa, not really in the Galilee.  We went to Rosh HaNikra, which is a high hilltop, at the Mediterrean Sea, north of Haifa and directly at the border between Israel and Lebanon.  From there you descend by cable car down to the sea and into a set of lovely grottos   Many years ago Chuck, under the direction of an Israeli IDF officer had swum into the grottos, and when I saw the grottos, I must say that it was quite a feat to have done that!

View from Rosh HaNikra

Grottos at Rosh HaNikra

Candy and R at Rosh HaNikra

We also visited Akko (in English, Acre), which includes an old walled city that has been fought over for centuries by Muslims, and Christians since the Middle ages (right up through Napoleanic times).  One of the surprises there were the critters we happened to catch site of!

Facing the el Jazzar Mosque

Interior of the Knights' Castle, Akko

Moat and Wall of the old city Akko

Critter on the sidewalk

Camel having lunch

Haifa

Because R was leaving on this day of our trip, we drove into Haifa, got her a train ticket to the airport from Haifa, and then drove to the Germany colony area, which is a the bottom of the hill known as Mount Carmel.  The German colony sits at the edge of the famous BaHai gardens that memorialize one of the founders of the Bahai faith.  It was late in the day to see the gardens (and a bit rainy), so we had dinner at a terrific Arab restaurant and then sent R on her way back to the States.  Chuck and I returned to the kibbutz because we wanted one last night in the country.

Haifa was our final destination where we attended the Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, for which I have served as a steering committee member for many years.  The meeting started on Tuesday,

From Mt Carmel towards the sea

so we had Sunday and Monday to see a bit of the city.  The conference hotel was the Dan Carmel at the very top of Mt. Carmel, and the views from our hotel were terrific.  Haifa is a city built on a hill and is really quite beautiful.

We visited Caesarea first, an ancient city south of Haifa.  The remains of this city seemed almost magical to me.  King Herod created the port of Haifa by constructing sea walls in the 50 years before the Common Era.  The Romans knew how to pour cement into the sea to make solid foundations, an engineering feat that was lost for many centuries after that.  A great deal of Herod's city has been uncovered, including the hippodrome (where chariot races took place) and the Roman theatre, which is in such good condition that concerts are held here regularly (with excellent acoustics).  It is lovely, and sitting in the seats, you have an amazing view of the sea!

Remains of Herod's sea walls

About Caesarea

The entire Roman Theatre

Mosaics near the Hippodrome

From the theatre to the sea

Ruins of Buildings

Caesarea was destroyed by an earthquake in about 50 CE and then rebuilt by successive empires until the Turks.  It has been restored (having been bought for archeological purposes and restoration by Baron Rothschild).  The restoration allows one to enjoy the remnants of this port, and there shops and restaurants to enliven the sight and give one a sense of what it was like two thousand years ago.  I wish that the restoration would include some shops that are a little less touristy and expensive, which might entice the local population to enjoy this spot more.  It's a remarkable place and beautiful even as ruins.

On Monday we took the official tour of the Bahai Gardens, starting from the top and going down 700 steps (whew!) to just before the temple that holds the remains of one of the founders of the Bahai faith.  Bahai is an outgrowth of Islam, but considered by all Muslims to be a heretic faith.  The founders believe they are the next prophet and messiah of all the world's religions, and each suffered during his lifetime for his beliefs.  The photos show what an amazing garden they have created on the side of Mt. Carmel.

Looking down on the gardens and Bahai temple 

Side Garden in the Bahai gardens

Temple in the Bahai gardens

After seeing the gardens we walked along the streets of Mt Carmel and eventually found the underground fenicular that took us to the top of Mt. Carmel near our hotel.  We ate lunch and then returned to the hotel until dinner with our colleagues from the conference.

The conference itself was a lot of fun and interesting.  Our Israeli colleagues worked hard to provide us with an excellent conference as well as time in Akko to see more of the ruins and have a wonderful dinner at an Arab restaurant.

Candy with colleagues at IUI

Dinner in Akko 

On the last evening we met one of Chuck's cousins and his wife who immigrated to Israel many years ago.  It was a chance to share lives with family members and to enjoy some time together. 

There is more to see of Israel than we saw in 11 days, and I look forward to a return trip.