The breakfast was simply exquisite at Metropolitan – 3 types of cakes, rice with beans, fresh cut fruits, lots of salads, juice, tea-coffee, cereals etc. It was a complete meal. I kept eating from 6:30 – 7:15 AM … hahaha..was way too full. The bus arrived at 8 am and we started our journey with the driver, who was also going to be our guide, in a group of 13 people.
Rosh Hanikra: Northern-most point on the Israel-Lebanon border. Took around 2.5 hrs to drive from Tel Aviv. Rosh Hanikra is famous for its grottos which are naturally formed when the Mediterranean sea water comes gushing and bursting against the soft rock making natural caves/ channels into the rocks. Over several years such waters have dug holes quite deep and now the Israeli govt. has built nice tunnels for visitors like us to walk through the grottos themselves. While inside, the color of the water looking most amazing blue-green. It reminded us of the ‘Grotta Azura’ at Capri Islands near Naples, Italy. The model there was to sit in a small boat and pass through the grotto. That color was more beautiful than the present one, but I liked the accessibility more here. Being right at the border, we saw a lot of Israeli military folks with massive guns armed, and navy boat at the sea for surveillance. The sea water was quite clean and transparent and we could see through the shallow sea bed near the shoreline.
Later sitting in the car, we visited Acre/Akko/Acco, which according to a website is “one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world dating back to the time of Pharaoh Thutmoses III (~1500 BC)”. Once a leading port in the Middle East during the Roman times, it was a hotbed for crusader battles and was home to the Knights Templar faction (remember Da Vinci code?). Today, its just a small city.
We walked through the citadel, Turkish market (reminded me of Tulshibaug), the templars’ tunnels and saw the prison of Al Jazzir, the mosque (only from outside, though watched a video showing how ornately decorated it was from inside). Acco is a city bustling full of life, with lots of interesting people. Often conquered by Romans at first, then crusaders then an evil king Al Jazzir, it later declined into oblivion until was a declared a world heritage site (UNESCO). We saw lots of restoration efforts underway everywhere.
Driving through Mt. Carmel we then visited hilly Haifa - the industrial harbor of Israel. It boasts lots of tech companies including Google, MS, VMware, Marvell, Hitachi among others. We made a quick stop at Baha’i gardens – very nicely done on the hill slopes overlooking the Haifa bay (Haifa is also the world headquarters for the Baha’i faith). Soon it started pouring. It rained cats and dogs for about 5-7 mins, it opened up and our driver stopped in front of a falafel stall for lunch. Our first falafel + chicken shawarma in Israel! Enjoyed every bite of it.
Our final monument of the day was Qasseria/Caesaria, a city built by King Herod (of biblical times) for the Caesar then. This was an important place for trade 2000 years ago, but later destroyed by arabs/crusaders and remained unnoticed under ruins for a long time until it was recently restored and is now a World Heritage site. We saw the roman theatre accommodating ~3000 audience, a hippodrome, ruins of the city fort, the wall built by King Herod and later on expanded by Byzantine dynasty. It was very impressive to see the wonderful planning and execution of a harbor built by Herod to make it easy to travel to Rome for the ships rather than taking a long route through Alexandria in Egypt. Finally we were back at the hotel by 6:30 and almost immediately crashed on the bed (skipped dinner) … so tired and jetlagged still!
We walked through the citadel, Turkish market (reminded me of Tulshibaug), the templars’ tunnels and saw the prison of Al Jazzir, the mosque (only from outside, though watched a video showing how ornately decorated it was from inside). Acco is a city bustling full of life, with lots of interesting people. Often conquered by Romans at first, then crusaders then an evil king Al Jazzir, it later declined into oblivion until was a declared a world heritage site (UNESCO). We saw lots of restoration efforts underway everywhere.
Driving through Mt. Carmel we then visited hilly Haifa - the industrial harbor of Israel. It boasts lots of tech companies including Google, MS, VMware, Marvell, Hitachi among others. We made a quick stop at Baha’i gardens – very nicely done on the hill slopes overlooking the Haifa bay (Haifa is also the world headquarters for the Baha’i faith). Soon it started pouring. It rained cats and dogs for about 5-7 mins, it opened up and our driver stopped in front of a falafel stall for lunch. Our first falafel + chicken shawarma in Israel! Enjoyed every bite of it.
Our final monument of the day was Qasseria/Caesaria, a city built by King Herod (of biblical times) for the Caesar then. This was an important place for trade 2000 years ago, but later destroyed by arabs/crusaders and remained unnoticed under ruins for a long time until it was recently restored and is now a World Heritage site. We saw the roman theatre accommodating ~3000 audience, a hippodrome, ruins of the city fort, the wall built by King Herod and later on expanded by Byzantine dynasty. It was very impressive to see the wonderful planning and execution of a harbor built by Herod to make it easy to travel to Rome for the ships rather than taking a long route through Alexandria in Egypt. Finally we were back at the hotel by 6:30 and almost immediately crashed on the bed (skipped dinner) … so tired and jetlagged still!
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