First day of Sightseeing

Our first official day of touring began bright and early at 8:30am.  Our driver and guide, a man named Israel (how appropriate) picked us up at our hotel in Tel Aviv.  We made the rounds stopping at various places and picking up more people.  Our group consisted of Kirsten and myself, a couple from Virginia Beach named Rick and Tai, two couples from outside DC, Paula and Steve, and Chuck and Faye, a Canadian couple named Andrew and Charlene, a couple from Miami, Luly and Kim, and two friends traveling together, Ronnie from Miami and Terry from New York.  We had a family with us as well, but I only caught the mom's name, Janet, and they mostly kept to themselves.

Our first stop was the Diaspora Museum, or Beth Hatefutsoth, located in a newer section of town at the University of Tel Aviv.  The Museum covers the history of the Jews starting with their expulsion from Israel over 2600 years ago and their scattering around the world leading up to the Holocaust and the founding of the state of Israel with a goal of preserving Jewish identity.  It was pretty interesting and it profiled Jewish communities that I was not familiar with.... for example, there were thriving Jewish communities in Morocco and Yemen prior to WWII.  You can't help but walk away from the experience with an appreciation for Jewish culture and how it managed to maintain it's identity in various communities around the world for so long.

Our next stop was Caesarea, the ancient port city located about half way between Tel Aviv and Haifa in the very northern part of the country.

Caesarea construction was started by King Herod in 22 B.C., creating a deep water port for Roman territory.  The city was very prosperous, despite a constant threat of earthquakes and intense weather.  After the fall of the Roman empire, the city continued to flourish as a Byzantine port in the 3rd and 4th centuries and was largely a non-Jewish community at that time.  The port experienced a slow decline leading up to the Crusades in the Middle Ages.  During that time, King Louis IX, ruler of France, had the city fortified with a wall to offer additional protection, but in the end the city still fell to the Sultan of Baybars.  The city was all but forgotten until 1884 when the area was settled but Muslim Immigrants from Bosnia, who maintained the community until they were expelled following the founding of the state of Israel.

Some of the highlights of Caesarea include a restored Roman theater, a stadium for chariot races (think Ben Hur) and a Roman aquaduct that was used to bring water to the city.

Following our visit to Caesarea, we made our way north to Haifa via a Druze village.  The Druze are a religious community scattered in Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.  Their beliefs are an offshoot of Islam, but given their unique beliefs and lifestyle, they don't embrace Arab nationalism.  The Druze are full citizens of Israel and serve in both the military and politics.  We enjoyed a traditional Middle Eastern meal (little did we know we would be eating falafel out the ying-yang before the trip was over) and did some shopping before heading north.

We arrived in Haifa in the late afternoon.  Haifa is the third largest city in Israel.  Including the suburbs, it's home to over 600,000 people.  It's kind of the Silicon Valley of Israel.  We visited the Baha'i Gardens.  Haifa is a sort of world Headquarters of the Baha'i Faith.  It's a monotheistic religion that embraces the major world religions and views their prophets as messengers sent by God.  I'm not really buying into that, but they did have beautiful gardens set along the hill about the city.  Unfortunately, the Gardens were closed for renovation, but we were still able to take from pictures from the outer areas.

That night, Kirsten and I enjoyed dinner and drinks in a little bar that sat on top of a mountainside with a beautiful view of the city and the border with Lebanon beyond.