Our flight from DC was fine and uneventful. However, when we were in the Frankfurt aiport - we bumped into a woman I know from the American University Board of Trustees! She was on our flight to Tel Aviv, she is President of APCO and they were hosting an event for Rep. Tom Lantos (who is a Holocaust survivor) in Tel Aviv which she invited us to. It's such a small world sometimes!
So we landed in Tel Aviv and made our way through security, customs, got money, and our rental car. After we checked into our hotel we went walked down along the Mediterranean Sea and Brad felt the water for the first time! We walked along the boardwalk and enjoyed street performers and headed over to Dizengof tower/mall to meet up with my cousin Merav. Merav is a spokeswoman for the Chief of Staff for the Israeli military. She works crazy hours (8am - 11pm) especially with a new chief of staff for the military. It was fascinating talking to her about politics. When the subject of Iraq came up, she was shocked to learn that most Americans feel that Bush lied about Hussein having WMD. In stark contrast, Merav said that most Israelis (even liberal ones) 100% believe that he had WMD and just hid them very well in the desert. Merav was also shocked to learn that we are visiting Egypt & Jordan.
She said that although Israel is at peace with Egypt & Jordan, it is a very cold peace and most Israelis don't visit those countries and members of the IDF (israeli military) aren't allowed to visit Egypt & Jordan. She said that if she did, the danger of Egypt/Jordan capturing an Israeli soldier would be too great a risk for her to take. She was also fascinated that we were going to the beach in Aqaba because it didn't even exist 10 years ago - it wasnt until the Jordan/Israel peace accords that it became a tourist site on the Red Sea. It was incredibly interesting listening to her, she finished her mandatory military service and is now serving on her own volition.
Merav also told us about the Rep. Tom Lantos event because she was working on it for the military - we told her that we had already been invited to it - such a small world.
The next day we toured more in Tel Aviv, we went to Rabin Square and visitied the memorial where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Unlike the memorials of DC, Brad was impressed that this one was small but seemed to truly capture the emotion and significance of a tragic event in Israeli history. The contrast of the picture with Rabin, Clinton & King Hussein on the wall a few yards from the place where Rabin was killed was truly poignant and powerful.
We also went to Carmel Market and ate freshly squeezed orange juice and burekas. Many of our meals in Israel have been highlighted with Brad's questions of "what is this? I don't know what i'm eating, but I like it!"The market is an incredible experience, just rows and rows of vendors with hundreds of varieties of beans, grains, bread, candies, juices, produce, fish, cheese, meat, etc. Everyone is bustling about, running, yelling, shoving (very Israeli!) and the sights and smells are wonderfully overwhelming and diverse.
Brad remarked that if you didn't know that the country has been plagued with terrorism over the last few years, you would have no ideat that such a problem exists just by watching the way in which Israelis conduct their daily lives. They don't live in fear, they are proud to be Israeli and to live in such an amazing country - which has its problems, just like any country does. After having our bags searched just to enter Dizengof mall and seeing a security guard in front of our cafe with a huge gun - we asked Merav if this is something she gets used to. Merav was surprised with the question and replied that she doesn't even notice it any more - it is just part of the daily lifestyle in Israel.
We drove up the coast along the Mediterranean and cut across the country to Tiberias which is right on the Sea of Galilee. The drive reminds us how small Israel is, in 2 hours we can drive from one border to the other - and we remember how vulnerable this tiny place is. Our hotel is an old Scottish mansion that was transformed into a hotel, we are really enjoying it - we are in the mountains and right on the Sea of Galilee. We had a fabulous meal on the Galilee at Decks - which is basically a huge deck on the water.
Brad finally understood why I am a snob about American hummus - he tried REAL Israeli hummus with fabulous bread - it is SOOOO much better than what we eat at home. We had some terrific tuna carpaccio, lamb kebabs, and salad. The restaurant was also catering 80 people for a bar mitzvah - the bar mitzvah party apparently called the restaurant 2 hours before arriving to make the reservation for the party & meal - SO different than the months of plannning for American bar mitzvahs!
Monday we explored the ancient and mystical city of Tzfat. We befriended two tourists from Florida who wandered with us for a while as we all got lost on the narrow streets of Tzfat. We enjoyed the ancient synagogues known for the study of kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) and then spent time in the artist colony which is known for its amazing candle making factory, weaving, painting, photography, etc. Oh yes, Brad says I must tell everyone that I dressed like a lovely Orthodox woman in my long skirt and long sleeves (while it is 95 degrees!) so that I would be appropriate to enter the Orthodox synagogues. Tzfat is a city that you have to know about in order to make the decision and effort to visit - but it is truly a gem to visit. There was very little english on the street signs (unlike the rest of the country which has Ikea, Best Buy, Burger King, KFC, etc) and most of this mountainous community is either very Orthodox or liberal secular artists.
Brad experienced his first tastes of shwarma (shaved lamb in pita with hummus, cucumbers, cabbage, etc) and falafel. While eating falafel - he turned to me and asked "so what kind of meat is in this again?" I laughed and informed him that falafel is just deep fried chick peas ground up - he was so surprised and saddened to learn that there was no meat. :) I was very entertained. But brad has fallen in love with Israeli shwarma and we had it again for dinner tonight.
After Tzfat we made our way down to the Golan Heights Winery and toured and tasted their wines. Brad of course had to buy several bottls of wine for us to bring back, but the wine was excellent - and we made friends with another tourist couple from Florida. We tried some of the grapes from the vineyard which were terrific and so juicy!
From there, we travelled down to Hammat Gader, the hot springs in Israel. The drive down there was fascinating, we travelled along the border separating Israel from Syria and further south, we traversed the border between Israel & Jordan. After taking many many pictures of the military outposts, signs warning of the mines, tanks, etc - we then passed a sign prohibiting pictures of the precarious and dangerous border. Oops! Who knew? Driving along the border with Syria was what we expected - tanks, outposts, etc because they are clear enemies. However, the border between Israel and Jordan was very much the same as that between Israel & Syria - guns, tanks, outposts, etc. This reinforced Merav's thoughts that the peace between Israel & Jordan is a very cold peace and trust is lacking between the two countries.
Hammat Gader was terrific - the crocodile farm was incredibly scary - the crocs just kept getting bigger. There literally were hundreds and hundreds of crocodiles inches from us - they were like 15 feet long!!! We had to cross a series of plastic-like bridges to get through the park, I was quite nervous but Brad was entertained by my anxiety. :) I much prefer the exhibits with ostriches, baboons, antelope, etc. We toured the ancient ruins at Hammat Gader and saw the synaogue, etc which were thousands of years old.
We had dinner at Hammat Gader in their Thai restaurant. We were very entertained sitting in the restaurant eating Thai food in Israel, with the mountains of Jordan out the window overlooking Hammat Gader, listening to the English songs of Simon & Garfunkel & Guns N Roses at the restaurant.
After dinner, we enjoyed the hot springs which were relaxing, rejuvenating, and very very very warm. Think hotter than bath water and that's what they were like. Once you get past the sulfur smell, it's incredible to think that these are the same springs that Israelis have bathed in at Hammat Gader for thousands of years! Check out the website http://www.hamat-gader.com/?curLanguage=eng
Sleeping at night has been interesting. The other night I fell asleep at 11pm, woke up at 1am, and then was up from 1am - 6:30am. I finally slept from 6:30am - 11am. Brad is doing similarly but our insomnia is always on different nights! But our bodies are still adjusting to the jetlag, so we're just making do.
But, the Israeli breakfasts are definitely worth waking up in time for! Our hotels provide breakfast with the price of the room and the breakfasts have been our "meal of the day". Again, the meal is filled with many of Brad's questions of - what am I eating again? But, they are TERRIFIC - dozens of kinds of interesting cheeses (my favorite is a Bulgarian salty cheese), cucumbers & tomato salad, vegetable quiche, granola, yogurt, chocolate cake (what better way to sart off the day than with chocolate cake!), eggs, grapefruit and some fruit we can't identify, and amazing fresh squeezed orange juice. They have terrific machines all throughout Israel that you make you orange juice directly from the Jaffa oranges - nothing else is added. It's fabulous. :)
Today we hiked Gamla which was much more of a rock-climbing and hiking experience than we expected. It was straight down one mountain, then straight up Gamla, and then back down and back up. Gamla was the Jewish capital of the Golan from 87 BCE to 68 CE when it was attacked and seized by the Romans. Its remains can still be seen in the Golan Heights in Israel. The name Gamla comes from the word gamal, meaning "camel", as it is situated on a hill shaped like a camel's hump. The story goes that when the Romans conquered Gamla, 9,000+ Jews flung themselves off the top of the mountain in a mass suicide in hopes that their refusal to be conquered and slaughtered by the Romans would send a massage that the Jews would not fall to the Romans. This mass-suicide occurred BEFORE Masada (another mass Jewish suicide due to Roman armies conquering). We'll visit Masada in a few days - more then.
The hike was very challenging and quite hot - but we were very proud of ourselves after the arduous climbing. After Gamla, we went down to the Jordan River and hiked along the bank for a while and ended the day with a swim in the Sea of Galilee. During our swim, the local Israeli ice cream truck came up to the beach-goers, with the typical ice cream truck music, etc. So many things are just like in the states. :)
Tomorrow we will visit Bet She-án and then head to Jerusalem, we can't wait!
