Let me show you them

So, I spent four days in the north of Israel, had a fantastic time, and took loads of pictures. Want to know what I did while I was there? I thought so.

By the way, Paul and David say "hi":


Day One: Nazareth
(picture gallery)

After some early morning business, we headed out from Tel Aviv to Nazareth. Nazareth is located to the north/northwest of Tel Aviv, above the West Bank. The city is pre-dominantly Arab, and has the largest Arab population in Israel. Nazareth is most famous for it's Christian history, mainly the Annunciation of Mary (when the Angel Gabriel told her she was going to become pregnant with Jesus) and as the childhood home of Jesus. Aside from a number of churches it also has mosques, synagogues, and even a good Arabic souq, or market.

Our trip started out by trying to figure out how to get to the giant church in the middle of town. It's harder than it first appeared. After wandering through the streets for a bit and seeing the Greek Catholic Synagogue-Church, we decided to grab some lunch. So, armed with our trusty "Lonely Planet" guide (which is great, by the way), we hunted down and eventually found a restaurant that was highly recommended by the book: Garden.

We ended up in a nice, but large and completely empty, restaurant. After attempting to decipher the Hebrew/Arabic menu, we ended up ordering (on recommendation of the waiter) an assortment of hummus and salads to start off the meal followed by some spiced kebabs. It was probably the best meal we had the entire trip. It was definitely worth the 20-30 minutes it took for us to find the place. If you want to go, don't follow the wildly inaccurate dot on the "Lonely Planet" map; ask someone. Plus, the sign is in Hebrew and Arabic and none of us knew the Hebrew work for garden (it wasn't גן).

Following lunch, we strolled through town and the market towards what was easily the largest building in town: the Basilica of the Annunciation. While the structure itself was relatively new (it was built in 1969), the site on which it rests is very old. Beneath the main sanctuary is the remains of a 5th century church which was built on the site of the Annunciation. The Basilica is surrounded by a gated wall, on which are mosaics of Mary from around the world. There was some amazing work that went into these mosaics, specifically Indonesia (pictured; click for the bigger view).

The inside of the church was equally stunning with three alters in the main sanctuary as well as more mosaics, these being floor-to-ceiling. The grounds of the Basilica shares it's grounds with St. Joseph's church. The church is said to be built on the site of Joseph's carpentry shop. To be clear, though, this church is not the original. Most of the churches here are built on the site of the church that was built on the site of something holy. Between the city having been occupied by Jews, Muslims, Ottomans, Christians, and Crusaders at various points, much of the original buildings have been razed and rebuilt during various battles and wars.

Following our afternoon of Christianity we headed back to the car and on to Tiberias, a city located on the western shore of the Kinneret/Sea of Galilee. We rented a room in a hotel/motel-type place, which Israelis call a zimmer (the German word for "room"). The place probably had 20 guest rooms, and we were the only people there. It was kind of creepy. After a quick grocery run and a hilarious episode of "Peep Show", we turned in to rest up for Day Two.


Day Two: Nimrod Fortress and Banias
(picture gallery)

From Tiberias, we headed for the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights, or the Golan for short, are a mountain range and surrounding territory captured by Israel during the Six Day War of 1967. As you can imagine, Syria was not happy and, if you've go to the Golan, you'll understand why: it's beautiful. Filled with ruins and landscapes that simply amaze. For a country in the middle of a desert, it has some lush and beautiful valleys to explore.

Our day started in Capernaum, the place where Jesus did much of his
preaching and healing. Today, the site contains the ruins of an old synagogue from the early part of the first century AD, and a church built on what is said to be St. Peter's house. Surrounding these are the foundations of the town that was there, most of which is partially excavated.

After Capernaum, we headed on to Nimrod Fortress (pronounced "NIM-road"). This was, by far, the one thing I wanted to check out on our trip. You see, I am a whore for old ruins. I am slightly obsessed with them. When we lived in England, I think we must have covered half of the English Heritage catalogue going to every old castle/tower/church/abbey/fortress within driving distance. So, naturally, once I found out there was a ruined fortress in Israel and that we were going to be near it, I was quite keen on going. I wasn't disappointed, either.


There is some debate as to why the fortress was built: some say to defend against possible attacks from Damascus, while others say it was to defend against the invading Crusaders. Regardless, it has been repeatedly occupied, attacked, abandoned, and rebuilt. It sits atop a hill that overlooks the Hula Valley with Mt. Hermon behind it, giving it a wonderful lookout of anyone that may be approaching. These days, it's part of the Nimrod Castle National Park and is open for visitors. Check out the gallery for all the pictures.

After Nimrod and a quick lunch, we headed to the other attraction of the region: Banias Nature Reserve. Though none of us had heard of Banias before we started planning the trip, it was recommended to us by almost everyone to whom we told we were going up north. So, naturally, we checked it out.

Banias is famous for it's waterfall, but it also has what's left of a temple to the Roman god Pan, the remains of a palace built by Herod's grandson, and a wonderful hiking path along the creek. They told us it would take approximately an hour-and-a-half to go from the parking lot to the end of the trail; it took us maybe an hour. You have to love overestimates. At the end of the trail, though, was this:


Totally worth it.

We took a shortcut back to the car along the road, which was lined on either side by minefields. During the aforementioned war with Syria, the Israelis planted hundreds of mines throughout the Golan Heights to defend the territory. Following the war, the expense and danger of removing them (and the ongoing threat of invasion from Syria) caused them to leave the mines in the ground and to seal off the area with barbed wire and signs. The take-home message: when in the Golan, always stay on the path.

The final stop of the day was the Golani Lookout, the site of a take-over by the Israelis of a Syrian outpost. The outpost not only has creepy bunkers and trenches, but also a beautiful view of the Hula Valley, specifically at sunset.

Once back in Tiberias, we celebrated David's birthday with an attempted trek to the Kinneret on foot that ultimately ended drinking some beer at the hotel's pool and then headed off to bed.


Day Three: Tel Dan Nature Reserve
(picture gallery)

The following morning, before we headed back up to the Nimrod/Banias area to explore some more, we made a pit stop by the Church of Beatitudes. Built on the similarly named Mount of Beatitudes, this is where Jesus preached his famous Sermon on the Mount, from which Christians get the beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer. The church is surrounded by smaller chapel-type areas, including one where someone was getting married the morning we were there.

Afterwards, we got back in the car and headed back north to the Tel Dan Nature Reserve. The Tel Dan is much more forested than Banias and, though smaller, has more to offer. Aside from a peaceful walk through the woods there's also a pagan temple, the excavated remains of the ancient city of Dan, the Garden of Eden, a wonderful view of southern Lebanon, Winnie the Pooh's tree (which is really just a Syrian Ash that looks like what could possibly be Winnie the Pooh's tree from the books), all of which culminates with a lovely wading pool in which to dip your feet at the end. Check out the gallery for the photos.

Afterwards we headed even farther north to a Druze village to look around and grab a snack. The Druze are an off-shot of Islam, sort of. They live predominantly in norther Israel and southern Syria and, as you can imagine, there isn't much communication between the two communities. Occasionally they're permitted to cross the border, mainly for trade and marriage. Many of the Druze consider themselves to by Syrians, going even so far as to refuse Israeli ID paperwork; however, whether this is because they actually feel this way or because they know that in invasion by Syria would place Syrian soldiers on their doorstep is debatable.


Day Four: Acre/Akko
(picture gallery)

Our last day was spent in Acre/Akko, an old port city north of Haifa. Like most of the rest of the north, the city has been occupied by Muslims, Crusades, Ottomans, Jews and Arabs throughout its history. This makes for an interesting conglomeration of mosques, churches, and fortresses throughout the city. When I say "city", though, be aware I'm talking about the Old City of Akko which, like the Old City of Jerusalem, is very small; in this case, about 0.12 square miles.

If you go to Akko, you can buy a ticket to see all the major attractions: the Citadel, Turkish Baths, Templar's Tunnel, and Okashi Art Museum. In all honesty, the Citadel is the only one worth checking out. Somehow we managed to veer off the audio tour, and ended up (I think) missing a big part of the Citadel. However, what we did see was quite cool. The Citadel was built by the Templar Knights during the Crusades to defend the city. Akko at that time was the major port city of the entire area, and was therefore highly sought after by everyone.

The Turkish Baths consisted mainly of a movie about the history of the baths, and then a quick walk to the main room for another movie, and then back outside. While informative, there was little to look at and little time during which to look. Similarly, the Templar's Tunnel was a quick walk through a tunnel that ended at the sea. The structure was interesting, and quite "new": in 1994, a woman hired a plumber to fix a clogged pipe and he stumbled upon a tunnel that lead from the Templar's Palace to the port; apparently an old escape route for when the Crusader's defended the city. It's now been open to tourists for the past five years or so, but it lacks in anything more than a stooped stroll for a few hundred meters.



The rest of the day was spent walking through the city and around the port, including the Al-Jazzar Mosque, a beautiful building with some amazing tilework. It's easily the most impressive mosque I've seen in Israel yet...not that Israel is known for it's mosques, but you get my point. We had lunch in the souq at a hummus place, quickly strolled through Khan al-Umdan and the remainder of the city, and then headed back to Tel Aviv via IKEA.

And that was the trip! I'm now back in Tel Aviv, living in the dorms for the rest of the year, and getting ready for my Fulbright orientation on 9 October. Also looking into enrolling in Hebrew classes here at the University, but right now it's Succot so everything is closed. Not such a bad thing, though, as now I have a good week-and-a-half to catch up on all the work I've been putting off due to ulpan and flat hunting. Holiday is over; it's back to work.