Woke up at 6:30 AM, showered and packed up our stuff so we could leave it outside our room by 7:00 AM. We all went downstairs for a buffet breakfast at the hotel. It was not as good as the previous days but still fine with much to choose from. After finishing breakfast we went back up to the room quickly to grab our small bags and then went downstairs to meet everybody at the bus at 8:00 AM. Like usual not everybody showed up on time and we finally left at 8:25 AM. Our first stop was
Megiddo about 35 minutes from Haifa. This was an ancient walled city with ruins and active excavation digs going on.
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| Excavation at Megiddo |
Because of its strategic location at the crossroads of several major routes, Megiddo and its environs have witnessed several major battles throughout history. Best known for the Battle of Armageddon. Besides the great views, the interesting feature was the old water reservoir that was constructed. We descended down a 138 step staircase and walked thru the old water tunnel that fed spring water into the reservoir. When we emerged came back up a staircase and our bus was waiting for us.
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| Hannah coming up the staircase of the reservoir |
We headed northeast and drove thru Nazereth where the emaculate conception occurred and then stopped at
Tzipori. Tzipori was another ancient city with many ruins and interesting roman mosaics. We walked around for about an hour and then drove further northeast and stopped for lunch. Hannah, Al and I each had a falafel and Zach had a bag of French fries. After lunch we went to
Zefat where there was a very old Synagogue called Abohau that we checked out. The predominant color of the synagogue is blue. The Torah commands Jews to put a blue thread in the tallit (prayer shawl). Jewish tradition teaches that blue suggests the heavens, which induces thought of G-d. The color thus helps direct thoughts and prayers to G-d.
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| The kids on the Bima at Abohau Synagogue |
We then walked around the market place where there were a number of art galleries and shops. Around 4:15 we headed to
Tiberias where our hotel (Leonardo Hotel) was located. We arrived around 5:00 PM and checked in. When we got up to the room our key didn’t work so I had to head back downstairs to get things worked out. Our room had a beautiful view of Lake Tiberias or the official name of Sea of Galilee. Across the lake you can see the hills of the Golan Heights. We decided to head down to the pool area and let the kids swim while we had some drinks. I decided to head over to the supermarket and get some beers and brought them back to the pool. A bunch of us hung out for a while drinking and then went back to the room to shower and get ready for dinner. We went with the Rittenberg’s and walked to a restaurant close to the hotel. Hannah had a Swarma and Zach and Al both had a chicken schnitzel. Zach actually tried a onion ring even though he did not like it that much. After dinner we got the kids some ice cream and walked around the outdoor market near the water where hundreds of people were shopping also. At 10 PM we headed back to the hotel and got back in the room by 10:15 PM. In the room we relaxed and watched TV and then went to bed around 11:30 PM.
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| View from our hotel room in Tiberias |
Sefat is where kabbalah started and the kabbalah center is there.
ReplyDeleteWe went to a shop and the kids were looking around. The shop keeper was not very nice. He didn't want the kids touching his things, so he lightly smacked Hannah.
When we arrive in Tiberias, Terri kept saying to me, "This is the Sea of Gallilee, we are at the Sea of Gallilee, like in the Bible, the Sea of Gallilee." It was pretty amazing to be somewhere that you have read about in the Torah.