Wandering in Israel

Another blunder! We thought 3 weeks in Israel would give us enough time to see all of what we wanted to....but NO way! There is so much to explore, it would be a full time job for months to put a dent in it. We've been very busy in Israel the last 2 1/2 weeks, so here goes: 

We were first in Haifa for a week in a marina which is not located very well, and I don't get the impression a lot of cruisers go there. It's out of town and not accessible by any public transportation, so it's either a LONG walk, or rent a car. We opted for the rent-a-car method! We drove all around the north part of the country, Nazareth, Tiberius, Capernaum, Se of Galilee (Kenneret), Megiddo and megiddo valley (Armegeddon) photo above, Akko (an ancient seaside port) and had a great time. Israel really is an amazing place, but it needs a long time to sink in. The contrast of all the history, along with all of the struggles of the people here and the land itself, then mix in all the modern things bursting at the seams here, and it's just a lot to sort through. 

Someone told me about a street that was torn up and while they were excavating, found the most complete mosaic Roman floor known, in the world. So construction was delayed, photos and tests taken, then they put tarps over it, and buried it back up, it in an intersection with thousands of cars over it now! Just a day in an ancient city!

Some of our highlights from the north were: rafting trip down the Jordan River, seeing a 2000 year old boat found in the mud by Caperneaum (who knows??) just hanging out by the Sea of Galilee, throwing rocks, eating felafel's, pita bread with hummus (amazing!) and schwarma, a meat sliced into a thick tortilla with salads and sauces, messy, but fantastic.

After a week in Haifa, we sailed down to a marina just north of Tel Aviv called Hertzlia. It's very new and has room for almost 1000 boats in the water and a new mall and apartments built around the marina complex. It's always busy, especially on weekend! Boats are coming and going all day. Good place to be based in, because we were able to catch buses to Tel Aviv and shopping, although we also rented a car and spent several days in Jerusalem and drove to the Dead Sea. 

Highlights in Jerusalem were Yad Vashem, the holocaust museum (could have spent 3 days just there), the Old City of Jerusalem with the Western Wall, streets, shops, churches, pretty much everything! Just being here is a very cool feeling with all the history, but it's also amazing to see how the mighty hand of the LORD has saved this land for Himself and how He's rebuilding it. It's really incredible to think that all that's been accomplished here has only been in really 60 years, since Israel has become a state again. 

We're tempted to stay here and just mold into the country, but we know time is coming for us to move on.....back to Cyprus and then on to Rhodes. A couple of long sails coming up, so now we're doing laundry (cheap laundry mat, yeah!!) and food provisioning. We broke the bank filling up the pantry, refrigerator and deep freeze for the over-nighters we have next week. Until then......Miss you all! 

We started posting photos on a 'web album' You can go anytime and view it at: http://picasaweb.google.com/ErikHem

~Hems