Blogs from Israel, Middle East - page 13

This morning was a little different as this is the day we move from our hotel in Bethlehem to our hotel in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. We not only had to get ready but pack our suitcases and put them outside our door before we went to breakfast. We are very fortunate that at each hotel we have young men who carry our luggage from our rooms to the bus and vice versa. All we have to do is double check and make sure our luggage is ready to be put on the bus. Our bus ride today took a little time as we were going to Caesarera Maritima on the Mediterranean. It is beautiful there with the ancient ruins on a backdrop of the blue seas of the Mediterranean. This site is important ... read more

The final day of our trip and we have just over 100 miles to cover to reach the airport. But first time to explore Mitzpe Ramon. We head for the sculpture park overlooking the crater. It is still early, there are more ibexes than people and they take a keen interest in us. The journey to the airport is more complicated than expected, the old and new private motorways run in parallel and Google maps keeps trying to divert us from one to the other. Plus we need petrol; it’s pay at pump and the instructions are only in Hebrew. A fellow motorist takes pity on the old man and helps with the transaction. We arrive at the airport with plenty of time to check out the quirky Ben Gurion statues and convert our spare Shekels ... read more

Today’s schedule is simple: 1) Blat down the last 130 miles of Route 90 to Eilat. 2) Relax on the beach. There are no shops or restaurants in Neve Zohar, so we get up and head for Eilatstraight away. Once through the security cordon that surrounds the city, we find a bakery and eat brunch on a bench overlooking the Red Sea. Eilat isn’t as nice as I had hoped. The beach is super crowded and the sand is littered with bottle tops, cigarette ends and broken glass. It’s not like the pristine sand I’m used to in Bournemouth, so we give up and head for our hotel. Almog is a large apartment complex next to the university. We are the oldest there by several decades, but the room is nice. We sit down on the ... read more

Today is our last Jesus-themed day with a drive along the west shore of The Sea of Galilee, which is in fact a lake. The place names are familiar from stories told at Sunday School, but I don’t recall anybody mentioning how utterly beautiful the scenery was. No wonder Jesus wandered around preaching love, harmony and sharing your picnic. Our first stop, is indeed the site of the Feeding of the 5000; Tabgha and the German Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fish. Here as if the labour the point, the church is fronted with a pond full of fish. Next, the Mount of Beatitudes, site of the Sermon on the Mount. Here there is the octagonal church, each side containing a stained glass panel indicating whom Jesus said should be Blessed. The ... read more

On this morning’s itinerary is Caesarea, Herod’s port. The whole ancient town is now a National Park. In some places, such as the amphitheatre, the arichitecture is incredibly well preserved. In others, bits of statue and remnants of marble columns are sprawled around like a huge Roman jigsaw puzzle. Today’s ultimate desination is Haifa, a port city at the foot of Mount Carmel. Our hotel has overbooked and passed our reservation to the Templers Boutique Hotel. Their error is our gain as the hotel is immaculate, beautifully renovated and includes some very quirky toilets. The main attraction in Haifa is The Baha’i Gardens; 19 immaculate terraced gardens cascading down the mountain side. Our hotel is just metres from the bottom of the gardens. We try to enter, but are told the entrance is one level further ... read more