The Odyssey: Israel: The North

This is the fourth post of our recent trip to Israel, Jordan and Turkey. You can access the previous posts from the 'Previous Posts' list to the left. The first post for this trip was 'Efo Sherutim' which has the introduction and the description of our time in Tel Aviv.

This post covers our visits to Haifa, Caesaria, Safed,The Galilee, Acco and Rosh HaNiqra.

Haifa

The skyline of Haifa is dominated by its futuristic municipal building, the Sail Tower.
In the background is the Port of Haifa, one of Israel's major modern ports.
If you look carefully, you may be able to see Israel's submarines on patrol, but not likely.

We stayed about a week in Haifa. Sarah's Haifa cousins live only a few hundred feet from the Mt. Carmel fire and have photos of the blaze taken from their terrace before they were evacuated.

The recent fire on Mt. Carmel destroyed thousands of acres of trees and many homes.

The Haifa area was settled thousands of years ago. When building a new shopping mall, a pre-biblical community was discovered during construction. Artifacts are in a museum incorporated into the Castra mall (photo right, the link, in Hebrew, has good photos).

Sarah & Cousin Moshe at Bahá'i Garden

Haifa is also the site of one of the world's six Bahá'i Temples and is the one which has the remains of the founder. The shrine also is a dominant feature of Haifa. Their terraced gardens attract many visitors, but few were there the day we took the tour as it was

raining. There are 700 steps down to the halfway point where the tour ends.

BTW: The shrine looks a lot better when its not under wraps for maintenance as it was when we were there. It should be ready for the tourist season.

While in Haifa we visited the Central Synagogue and saw the Big Mosque and main Greek Church as well as a place for everybody as we toured the different neighborhoods, noshing along the way.

Haifa is truly a cosmopolitan city along the lines of Herzl's ideals.

Haifa is built on a hillside. There are a lot of staircases to climb when touring the city on foot.

It certainly gives new meaning to the term 'downtown' for the main business district, which is along the Mediterranean Sea.

Haifa is a blend of the old and the new.

And, of course, our visit would not be complete without a visit to the science museum.

Madatech

The museum had many inter- active exhibits.

One of the robot animals

Bed of Nails

Safed

The mountain-top city of Safed is the loftiest city in Israel both physically and spiritually. It has been a center of Kabbalah, Jewish Mysticism, for several centuries. Numerous synagogues are found along the narrow winding streets of the old city. Among them are the synagogues of the early Kabbalists. We visited several synagogues, including that of Joseph C aro, author of the Shulchan Aruch, the last great codification of Jewish law.

Safed is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The fence around the bimah in the photo on the right is in order to have a safer Torah.

Note the similarities between the Mamluk building on the left (Safed) with that on the right (Jerusalem). The Mamluk Sultanate ruled from the 13th to 16th centuries and beat back the Crusaders.

Other Safed street scenes:

Sarah & Cousin Esther stroll through Safed. (left & above)

Safed was an important destination for Sarah. While there she visited her grandfather's grave. Her grandparents lived in Safed after they emigrated from Europe to Israel following WWII. Sarah was their first grandchild, but he never saw her. Motivated by this loss, Sarah and our infant daughter visited her grandmother, almost 40 years ago, for the first and only time. Sarah's grandmother, aunt and uncle are buried in Haifa; Sarah visited there, too.

Lake Kinneret (The Sea of Galilee)

Cousins & friends at the Lake Kinneret overlook above Tiberius

This photo was taken from the Scot Hotel 'St. Andrew's Galilee' in Tiberius.
The hotel was formerly a hospital. Cousin Moshe was born here (near the buffet table).

Lake Kinneret got its name from its harp shape. It is the largest fresh-water lake in Israel and the lowest fresh-water lake in the world and second only to the Dead Sea as the lowest body of water. The gospels refer to the lake as the Sea of Galilee. It is also known as Lake Tiberius. As in millennia past, fishermen still ply their trade here, catching tilapia, know as St. Peter's fish.

After a sumptuous buffet lunch at the Scots Hotel in Tiberius, our group drove (in two cars) to the east side of the lake and down its 13 miles length between the lake shore and the Golan Heights to Bet Gabriel, where the peace treaty between Jordan & Israel was signed, and the baptismal site along the Jordan River.

Galilee scenes:

Clockwise from upper left: On the shore of the lake; Bet Gabriel; the Jordan River separating Israel & Jordan; someone getting baptised in the Jordan River; an olive press on the grounds of a 13th century church with a famous mosaic inside; the 'Loaves and Fishes' mosaic.

Martyrs Forest

The 'Scroll of Fire' monument is located in the Martyrs Forest, the world's largest Holocaust memorial, where six million trees were planted.

Our friend Moshe explains the meaning of the 'Scroll of Fire' monument to Sarah as cousin Moshe looks on.

Akko (Acre)

An ancient seaport on Israel's north coast, Akko has functioned as a seaport for 4000 years. It was the capital of the Crusader kingdom and is now a World Heritage site:

Scenes from Akko:

Rosh HaNiqra

Rosh HaNiqra grottoes are a popular attraction for Israelis. In addition to the naturally formed grottoes is a very steep cable car which takes one from the cliff-top to the grottoes.

Also at the site is the track bed built by the British to transport goods between Haifa and Beirut, Lebanon. One of the main suspension bridges for the railroad was blown up in 1948 to prevent arms from Lebanon coming into Israel.

Since an attack on Mediterranean beach-goers in Israel launched from Lebanon, two Israeli destroyers are always present here; one fixed, the other roams. In the top photo to the right (below), one can see the destroyer along with us, our family and friends.

Railroad tunnel

Caesarea

Ancient Caesarea, located between Tel Aviv and Haifa, was developed by Herod the Great as a deep-sea port almost 2000 years ago and named in Honor of Caesar Augustus who was a major Roman emperor. [He added a month to the calendar (Guess which one.) which upset things so that eventually Christmas fell in the middle of the summer and Santa Claus looked silly in a snowsuit. (A lot like Christmas in Florida today.) Things got corrected in the 18th century, which is why George Washington's birthday can move around with impunity.]

The ruins of Caesarea are preserved and we went there on a day trip. The size of its large amphitheater is indicative of the city's size and importance. Roman games were held in the hippodrome every five years in addition to regular athletic events.

As with other ancient cities, Caesarea has several layers and contains structures which were built during different time periods.