up and down the coast

This past weekend, Ari, Meredith and I took a two-day trip (Friday/Saturday) to the Galilee Coast, renting a car (an epic, ghetto-fabulous Fiat Punto, complete with stick shift) and heading from the ancient archaeological site of Caesaria – south of Haifa – all the way to Rosh HaNikra, the northwesternmost point in Israel (butting against Lebanon).

Caesaria was beautiful. Ancient Caesaria was a city built by Herod on the cusp of the BCE-CE switch and was used as his deep-sea port. It was a huge administrative and trade city with an amphitheater and lighthouse, etc. As all other sites in Israel, it became Byzantine, Muslim, Crusader, etc and eventually fell into obscurity. This was my 4th time there, so much of it was familiar, but it was a gorgeous day and it’s right on the beach and it was simply lovely. And seeing Ari, who had never been, run around like a kid in a candy store, snapping photos of everything from the sand grains to the sea to the ancient tiled mosaics to Mer and I, was very amusing. We had a lovely lunch on the water, and went on our way. To prove the neat beauty:

Mer and I at the top of the seats in the amphitheater

figuring out where the hell we are on the map

walking on the Caesaria promenade

enjoying lunch on the Mediterranean

Next stop was Rosh Hanikra, where there are these amazing grottoes under the cliff. The water comes into the mountain, over many millennium, and carved water caves. It was beautiful. Here are some pictures of the first day:

Ari excited about the Grottoes

my album cover

Ari and I admiring the sea and the caves

I saw the sign, I just ignored it

the view of the Israeli coastline

We drove back down to Haifa and checked into our hotel. The ordeal of finding the hotel was incredibly frustrating. I was doing all the driving (because 1. You have to be 24 to rent a car in Israel and I’m the only one old enough, and 2) Neither Ari not Mer can drive a manual, at least well), so I was tired and frustrated with the stick shift, and then we couldn’t figure out where the hotel was and how to navigate all the one-way streets and I kept getting flustered with the manual and the map and the cars, and so forth. But finally we found the hotel and decompressed for a bit.

Our evening activity entailed exploring the German Colony in Haifa, at the base of the Ba’hai Gardens (which were beautiful and all lit up), having dinner, and then coffee and playing cards (our game of choice is Oh Hell! which is a lot of fun and really the only 3-person card game). An evening shot:

Ari and Meredith in front of the Ba'hai Gardens and Temple

On Shabbat, we took a self-tour of the Shrine of the Bab and the surrounding gardens in the Ba’hai Temple complex. We then walked to the top of the hill and got a full sense of the view and the gardens from above, in daylight. It’s a beautiful, well-manicured garden, with lots of lawns and trees and flowers and an incredible view of the city. Here are some pictures:

Mer and I in front of the Shrine of the Bab (a true hero shot)

Ari, with the gardens and Haifa behind him

the three of us in a Haifa sculpture garden

Our final main stop of the weekend was in Akko, a Crusader, Mameluke, and Ottoman city on the coast halfway between Haifa and the Lebanese border. It’s beautiful city, a place I’ve also been a few times, but one that never gets old. It’s got a lot of narrow alleys, old, old buildings, a beautiful mosque, a great view of the sea, some nice food, etc. It’s predominately Arab (at leas the old city is; the new city is predominately Jewish, leading to a lot of internal tension) and so has a very different flavor than much of the Galilee coast (although since we did a lot of our touring on Shabbat, a lot of the fellow tourists were Arab families). Here are some pictures:

Me in the Akko shuk bewildered...

...because of that shark!

the Al-Jazzer mosque in Akko

where Akko meets the sea

Our trip back to Jerusalem was uneventful. We made one leisurly stop in Zichron Yaakov to have coffee and play cards. To cap off the great weekend, Meredith won her first game of Oh Hell!

Note: I didn't take any of these pictures. I forgot my camera at home: silly me! These are all Ari and Meredith's pics.