Gallivanting Grandma

Thursday – October 5, 2017

The ancient walled city of Akko, also known as Acre, is a beautiful town with a long and rich history.  Repeatedly conquered and occupied by different civilizations throughout the ages, the Old City of Akko is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The historic port city has been inhabited for 4000 years, since the Middle Bronze Age (2,000 BC), making it one of the oldest cities in the world.

The current wall was rebuilt in the 18th century under Ottoman rule by Zahir al-Umar, the Arab ruler of Galilee.  Then it was fortified against the French in 1780 by his successor, Jazzer Pasha, and Akko became the regional capital of the Ottoman Empire.

We climbed up onto a section of the wall to look at the view of the city and Rafi explained the history.  Then we walked to El-Jazzar Mosque which was built out of stones cut from the ancient ruins of Caesarea and finished in 1781.  This is the second largest mosque in Israel.

I was glad we visited the mosque because this was the first one we entered on this trip.  I was disappointed that we did not visit any mosques in Jordan.  El-Jazzar Mosque was a lovely peaceful place and the surrounding courtyard reminded me of medieval cloisters.  Ahmad Pasha al Jazzer and his successor, Suleiman Pasha, were buried on the grounds.

After we left the mosque we went to the Akashi Art Museum which was adjacent to the Knights’ Hall in Old Acre.  The museum features rotating exhibits of modern Israeli art in an ancient building dating back to the Ottoman period.

Akko is full of interesting nooks and crannies and is comprised of a complex network of buildings, alleyways, museums, fortresses, courtyards, and knights’ halls.  In another courtyard, we found the American Corner Akko which provides information about the United States to international students to promote better relations.

Hamam al-Basha was built in 1795 by Jazzer Pasha.  It had a series of hot rooms and a hexagonal steam room with a marble fountain.  The Turkish bath was part of a transformation of Acre during the Ottoman Period from a small fishing village to a teeming port and major trade center.

Today, the Hamam al-Basha is a living-history museum complete with audio-visual and static displays.  The story of the daily life and historical events during the height of the Ottomans are told in a program called the “Last Bath Attendant.”

No visit to an acient middle-eastern city is complete without a walk through the “souk” or market:

We paused at Kurdi Hamudi’s Spice and Coffee Shop and talked with his son who is a fourth-generation grinder and seller of spices.  He explained the importance of spices during ancient and modern times while we sniffed the aromas emanating from jars of fragrant spices.

The shop walls were visual feast and decorated with gourds, animal skins, fishing nets, ancient spice grinders, stuffed animals, and model ships.  All the spices were prepared by Hamudi himself and are of exceptional quality.

We walked down to the ancient Pisan Port which has countless small fishing boats, dinghies, and yachts.  We boarded one of the bright red tourist boats for a short harbor tour.  Vibrant Middle-Eastern music blared as we rode past the sea walls to a small lighthouse at the end of the marina.

We had a delicious lunch at Doniana Restaurant on the harbor overlooking Akko’s bay. Akko is known for its fresh seafood.

Acre became a center of international trade and was an important city during the Crusades (1100-1390 AD).  Crusaders made Acre their main port in 1104 which gave them access to the Asiatic spice trade that made them prosper.  The Templars were a military-monastic order who aided pilgrims to visit holy sites in Israel.  In 1187, they made their home in Acre and built their quarter in the city with a strong fortress protected by two towers with 28-foot thick walls.

The Templars dug a 350 meter long strategic tunnel which extended from their fortress in the western part of the city to the port.  The underground passageway was discovered in 1994 and opened to tourists five years later.

Then we drove along the shore about 15 minutes to the Grotto Caves at Rosh HaNikra which is located very close to the Lebanese border.  An Israeli naval ship was anchored offshore.

We walked through The Bridge and Railway Tunnel which had been used for trains running along the Cairo-Istanbul line.  Rosh Hanikra was the location where Israeli and Lebanese officials negotiated an armistice agreement in 1949.

A cable car brings tourists down to the natural caves and tunnels which were formed by the constant action of waves on the soft chalk rock.  We entered the grotto and followed a slippery path through the solid rock.

We walked through the cave and saw the waves enter with loud gushing sounds. The path led back out into bright sunshine and a great view of the Mediterranean Sea.

As we walked back to the bus, we saw a colony of hyraxes sunning themselves on the rocks.  I learned that the hyrax looks like a rodent, but it is related to elephants and manatees.

We returned to our lovely hotel and rested before dinner.  We gathered and began to walk down the hill to the old “German Colony” which is now a neighborhood of restaurants, cafes, and boutiques.  On our way through an interesting neighborhood, we passed several sights which Rafi pointed out to us.

There was interesting public art works and also reminders of a painful chapter in history.  Haifa is one of Israel’s “mixed cities” with a significant population of Palestinians, Christians, and Muslims.  We were walking through a neighborhood which had been mostly Palestinian in 1948.  The families who fled, left signs and photos on their doors to remind passersby that the houses had belonged to Palestinians.

We stopped in at a small shop that made felafel, fried chickpea balls, and Rafi said they were the best in all of Haifa.  The owner gave each of us a fresh sample right out of the cooker. Delicious!

Down the street there was a bakery with the largest assortment of baklava I have every seen in my life!

We finally arrived at the foot of the Baha’i Gardens on Ben Gurion Avenue.  The restaurants and cafes were crowded with young people enjoying an evening out.  We went to Fattoush Restaurant and enjoyed a tasty Middle Eastern dinner.  I had a stir-fried dish called Sajiyeh which was amazing!

Sign at the door of Fattoush:

It was a long walk back up the hill to the Bay Club Hotel but I had time to think and reflect on another incredible day filled with amazing experiences.

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Wednesday – October 4, 2017

It was overcast and 24 degrees Celsius this morning in the Israeli city of Haifa.  I slept very well and peacefully at the lovely Bay Club Hotel.  It’s a landmark building dating back to 1912.

After a tasty breakfast in the sunny enclosed patio, we boarded our tour bus for an hour’s ride northeast to the hill-top city of Safed, or in Hebrew: Tsfat.  There was very little traffic because it was the first day of the holiday of Sukkoth, the “Festival of the Tabernacles,” and businesses and schools were closed.  We drove through the northern part of Israel, near the Lebanese border, between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. 

With an elevation of almost 3,000 feet above sea level, Safed is the highest city in Israel.  Tsfat is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud and is considered one Judaism’s Four Holy Cities, along with Hebron, Jerusalem, and Tiberias.

According to a legend, Safed was founded by a son of Noah after the great flood.  The city has remained a center of Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism since the 16th century.

Safed/Tsfat was a pleasant city We entered the Tzfat Gallery of Mystical Art and met the artist, Avraham Loewenthal.  We sat in his showroom and he spoke about the practice of Kabbalah and the influence on his artworks.  Kabbalah is a  school of thought that originated from Judaism.

Kabbalah seeks to define the nature of the universe, human beings, and the purpose of existence.  It also presents methods to understanding and to eventually attain spiritual realization.

Historically, Kabbalah emerged from earlier forms of Jewish mysticism.  Today, the Safed Rabbi, Isaac Luria is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah.  Safed was a pleasant city with rectangular stone houses stacked on the side of the hill.  There were many art galleries, restaurants, and cafes for tourists.

We walked through the quiet streets, passing homes, small synagogues, and galleries.  In a peaceful alleyway, a musician waited for us and played wonderful selections for us.

We saw many sukkah as we walked through the city. These are the temporary huts which families build near their homes and use during Sukkoth, the week-long festive holiday.

Some of the narrow alleyways in Tsfat reminded me of the medieval byways in historic French towns.

Our group stopped into one of the many tiny synagogues on an unmarked passageway.  Alon Neeman, Rafi’s assistant, answered our questions and explained the history of the synagogue.  The founders of this particular synagogue were Jewish people from Spain.

We continued to explore and entered “The International Center for Tzfat Kabbalah.”  The plaque read that the center was “founded by the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County Florida.”  We saw an introductory film about Kabbalah and a leader provided more information and suggested we purchase some books.

We walked through a passageway filled with shops and galleries on our way back to our bus.  I took some more photos and stopped for a cooling ice-cream.

We left Safed/Tzfat as the mid-day sun was warming up.  We drove down the mountainside and looked across the beautiful fertile valley of the Galilee region.

It was time for lunch so Rafi suggested we stop at a gas station road-side restaurant which he knew.  I have no idea about the name of the restaurant as typically many signs in Israel were written only in Hebrew.

We had a limited choice of kebabs or shawarma – the Middle Eastern sandwich on pita bread.  We chose between chicken or lamb then picked veggies and topped it off with tahini sauce.  Yummy.  Everything was fresh and delicious and we enjoyed an outdoor picnic.

We drove to the city of Nazareth and the bus parked near the Basilica of the Annunciation.  Tradition claims this site was the house of Virgin Mary and the site where the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announce she would bear the Son of God.

We were surprised to see a modern two-story church which was constructed in 1969.    The new Basilica was designed by the Italian architect Giovanni Muzio and was an unusual design for a church.

Inside, down central stairs, the lower level of the church contains the Grotto of the Annunciation.

The first shrine was built there in the 4th century and was a simple altar in the cave in which Mary had lived.  A second church was built on this site during the Crusades in 1102.

The main level comprises a large open space with the apse with altar and pews for worshipers.

Magnificent large mosaics donated by many foreign countries lined the interior walls of the church.

Near the Basilica of the Annunciation, there was St. Joseph’s Church which was a lovely small Franciscan church.  It was built in 1914 over the remains of much older churches.

We returned to the Haifa Bay Hotel to relax and we noticed they had built a Sukkah hut near the dining room.  Rafi gave us craft-paper and we had fun making paper-chain decorations for the Sukkah.  Our Sukkah looked beautiful!

I had another amazing day full of stimulating experiences and thought-provoking ideas.

Tuesday – October 3, 2017

We began the day on a sad note when we visited the tragic site in central Tel Aviv where Yitzhak Rabin was murdered on November 4, 1995.  He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel and was serving his second term in office.  Rabin supported the Oslo Accords which was beginning the process of a peace treaty based on the “right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.”

Prime Minister Rabin walked down the steps in the photo above, after attending a peace rally and a young right-wing “ultranationalist” shot Rabin and killed him.  It was sad to think that if Yitzhak Rabin had lived, the world might have had a treaty between Israel and Palestine 22 years ago and perhaps peace in the Middle East today.

Yitzhak Rabin said, “We must think differently, look at things in a different way. Peace requires a world of new concepts, new definitions.”

Tel Aviv is the only city in Israel with a river and we drove across the Yarkon River on our way out of town.  Yarqon means “greenish” in Hebrew.  The Arabic name is al-Auja which means “the meandering.”

We were on our way north along the Mediterranean coast toward the city of Haifa.  We stopped at the Roman town of Caesarea which had been a Phoenician naval station and was given to Herod the Great in about 30 BC.

Rafa explained the long and complex history of conquests of the Roman port. After Roman rule, Caesarea became the Byzantine capital of the province.  In the 7th century, the city was conquered by the Muslims, followed by the Crusaders.  In the last century Bosnian Ottoman immigrants settled nearby and more recently, a Jewish town was established near the ruins of the old city.

The Roman amphitheater is currently used for concerts:

Today, the ancient port city is a national park, the Caesarea Maritima, and is undergoing restoration and development due to a charitable foundation originally set up by Baron Edmond James de Rothschild.

Today the Rothschild Caesarea Foundation is chaired by Baron Edmond’s great grandson, Baron Benjamin de Rothschild.  Caesarea remains the only locality in Israel managed by a private organization rather than a municipal government.

The original port was built during the first century BC and was the largest artificial harbor built on the open sea.

A hippodrome was located near the harbor which was used for horse and chariot races.

Reconstruction of the Caesarea Harbor Vaults will give future tourists an experience of a magnificent Roman Temple built to honor Caesar Augustus:

Tourists walking past the 19th century minaret of the Bosnian mosque:

Remnants of the walls and moat built by Louis IX in 1251:

Walking around Caesarea was a stroll through history from Roman to modern times with cultural/historical glimpses in between.

Afterwards, we drove to Yonay Olive Farm and met the owner, Shoshi Yonay.  She immediately took us into a workroom and demonstrated how to make pita bread.

We watched Shoshi mix flour, salt, yeast, and a bit of olive oil together in a bowl.  She gave each of us a lump of dough.  Then we kneeded and shaped our individual pita breads and added Shoshi’s pre-mixed toppings.

Shoshi put our pitas on the hot tray inside her double-flame oven.  The breads quickly baked and were ready in a few minutes.

Such a fun activity and we were ready for lunch!  We walked over to Yonay Farm’s dining room and shop.

We ate a delicious vegetarian lunch of farm-fresh salads topped with fantastic Yonay Farm’s olive oil dressing and herbs and, of course, our fresh baked pita bread.

Shoshi talked about Kfar Hasidim, the cooperative farming village which her husband, Ehud’s great uncle founded in 1925 when a small group of Polish Jews emigrated from Poland.  Ehud’s mother was the daughter of the rebbi and his father was a mounted ranger who communicated with local Bedouins and wrote two books about their culture.

Ehud lived in the United States for 30 years but returned to Israel to continue the farm with his wife, Shoshi.  Ehud died in August 2012 and Shoshi continues to run the operations of the farm, shop, and restaurant and  she conducts tours for interested tourists.

We bid our farewells to Shoshi Yonay and drove to the northern city of Haifa. On the way, we passed large cotton fields and learned that Israeli cotton is among the finest in the world.

As we drove into the port city of Haifa, we saw the commercial port in the distance and the Israeli Naval Base in the harbor.  We passed several distinct buildings on Ben Gurion Avenue and Rafi explained we were in the “German Colony.”

The “German Colony” is a small area in Haifa which was founded in the late 1860’s by German Templers.  They were a religious Protestant sect which settled in northern Israel in the early 2oth century and developed the neighborhood.  By 1941, most of the Templers were sent to internment camps or deported to Australia.

Today, some of the old Templer buildings have been restored and turned into cafes, boutiques, and restaurants and the colony has become a center of Haifa nightlife .

The German Colony is located at the foot of the beautiful Bah’ai Gardens.  Our tour bus drove up to the top of Mount Carmel above the gardens and we admired the view of Haifa’s magnificent harbor.

We looked down on Bah’ai Gardens, which is part of the Bah’ai World Center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Bah’ai faith was established 200 years ago by a Persian prophet, Bab who wanted to spread his beliefs.  The religion teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity and equality of all people.  Today, there are seven million followers of the Bah’ai faith in the world, making them the 4th monotheistic religion.

In ancient Canaanite culture, Mount Carmel was considered a sacred place.  In modern times, according to a plaque, two historic events had occurred on the site.  Wilhelm II, Kaiser of Germany, visited the mountain in 1898 and met with Theodor Herzl, then called “the prophet of the Jewish State.”  The other event was the end of 402 years of Turkish rule when the army of British General Allenby captured Haifa in 1918.

We descended Mt. Carmel and our tour bus drove to the lovely Bay Club Hotel.  We checked in and rested……

What a day!!!

Monday – October 2, 2017

It was sunny and a comfortable 71 degrees this morning.  Our group enjoyed a tasty breakfast at the Cinema Hotel.  Afterwards Rafi Rozanes, our Israeli tour guide, conducted an introductory briefing in the hotel library.  Afterwards, we were off to explore on our first day in Israel.  We passed the beautiful beach in Tel Aviv which is located in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea.

The bus drove us to the ancient port of Jaffa which is the oldest part of Tel Aviv and is a natural harbor which has been in use since the second millennium BC.  Jaffa or Yafo is famous for its association with the biblical stories of Jonah, Soloman, and Saint Peter, so it was fitting for Rafi to relate the story of “Jonah and The Big Fish.”

We walked through lovely alleyways of Jaffa’s Old City.  Parts of the city were renovated and have become gentrified so today, Jaffa is a tourist attraction featuring art galleries, theaters, souvenir shops, and restaurants.

In recent times, the two cities have physically joined together and Jaffa is part of Tel Aviv and has a multi-ethnic population of Arabs, Christians, and Jews.  We stopped at Ilana Goor’s Museum to see her artworks and her incredible house which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.  The artist was born in 1936 in Tiberius, Israel and still lives in the house.

The 18th century house is a fantastic backdrop for the artist to display her own works as well as art works of other contemporary artists.  The Ilana Goor museum has a collection of more than 500 works of art which she amassed during the last 50 years from many parts of the world.

Later,we continued to explore and we stopped at a Yemenite jeweler’s studio near the Goor Museum.  We heard about the 47,000 Yemenite Jews who left Yemen in 1949 during Operation Magic Carpet and settled in Jaffa.

Outside there was an archaeological project which showed the many layers of ruins hidden beneath the earth of Jaffa since Egyptian times.  Rafi explained the ancient history of Jaffa to us.  Beyond was St. Peter’s which is a Franciscan church built between 1888 and 1894.  A previous church had been built in 1654 over the original church which was erected during the 13th century.

We walked to an overlook and admired the skyline of Tel Aviv in the distance.

Rafi told us the history of Jaffa and Tel-Aviv and showed a photo of Jewish families who used a lottery system to divide the land among themselves in 1909.

Afterwards, we walked to the old section of Jaffa and explored the markets. This neighborhood was full of shops and stalls selling carpets and used furniture.

We stopped at a Juice Bar called Cocco Bongo for a cold drink of fresh squeezed pomegranate juice.  The temperature was in the mid 80s and the juice was very refreshing.

We continued to an area that looked like a flea market with used clothing and household items spread on the ground and on makeshift tables.

After we walked around for quite a while, we took our bus to the home of a local woman who lives in Jaffa.  She had prepared a light lunch for us.  Her name was Doris and she introduced herself as a Christian, Arab, Israeli because she is a Christian woman whose family is from Lebanon and she lives in Israel.

Doris entertained us with stories about her life and experiences living in Israel.  I think we had a peek into what it’s like to live in a multicultural environment in the Middle East.  Doris showed her ‘bomb shelter’ to us  on our way out and we bid our farewells.  All houses in Israel are built with secure bomb shelters.

We returned to the Cinema Hotel and I took a few photos of some of the artifacts in the public areas.  The hotel is an authentic Bauhaus building dating back to the 1930s.  The hotel was once one of Tel Aviv’s first movie theaters and has wonderful original theater memorabilia on display.