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Israel 2006
Northern Trek
Our 1st trek took us north from Tel Aviv to
Caesarea, a city that Herod the Great dedicated to
Caesar Augustus more than 2,000 years ago. Today, it is one of Israel's
major tourist attractions and an increasingly popular place for Israel's
elite to make their homes.
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Remnant of the aquaducts
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a side view
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The original harbor of Caesarea
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now a little artists mall
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Solid Marble
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A description of the hippodrome, this shows what it used to look like and its purpose
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This is the view from the starting gates for the chariot races
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Remnants of the Bathhouse and where the King would have sat to watch the games
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The bathhouse
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you can go into the water right in front of the hippodrome
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The amphitheatre, still being used today
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After that we headed through Haifa to see our cousins
the Weiss' in Shave Zion, where we spent the night at the moshav hotel.
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translates to "back to Zion"
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Menachem
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Miriam
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The moshav is right on the water
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Yuval and Delia
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eating breakfast at the moshav hotel the next morning
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Alan and Miriam
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Alan and Menachem
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The Weiss' garden
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....the other side
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...just like home, a little more food!
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the entrance to the moshav
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The next day we went to
Rosh
Hanikra, right at the Lebonese border
crossing, in the northwestern corner of Israel, on the border of Israel and
Lebanon. The white chalk cliffs offer a spectacular panoramic view of Haifa
Bay, the hills of the Galilee and the Mediterranean. We then went down
to the bottom and spent the rest of the day at the beach....the beaches in
Israel ROCK!!!
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From the top of Rosh Hanikra
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This is looking toward the top of the road and the Lebanese border
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Down the road, the border is just over the top of the mountains
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The actual border...
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...no one's driving through there.
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A sea cave, or grotto
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a friend we made on the way down to the water...
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you take a cable car down
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to see the grottos
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then you take it back up....
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this is the beach at the bottom of Rosh Hanikra...note the gunboat...it was very safe.
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We then headed for Kibbutz Manara, also
right on the Lebanese border, where we spent the night and spent the next
couple of days at Manara Cliffs and floated down the North Dan River, we
also spent some time in a town called Qiryat Shemona.
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A view of the bottom of Mt. Hermon, this was out our back patio at Kibbutz Manara
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at the top of the Manara Cliffs
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The cable car house at the top, we would end up back at the restaraunt in front of it
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the town below is Qiryat Shemona
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on the cable car
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it was wierd being on a cable car with no snow beneath you
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this is the view upward, there were people mountain biking down these cliffs
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...and of course they have to go back up...
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We went on the "mountain sled"...Louis loved it, this is looking as you are pulled to the top
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...getting excited
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the track
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the cable car passes right over it
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this is the sled you are on...quite cool!
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at the bottom...Lou was still talking about it!
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at the restaurant
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Our hotel at Kibbutz Manara on the left, our rental car, to the right, the Lebanese border over the hill
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the police station in Qiryat Shemona, no, you can't just walk in
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a playground in town
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Sadie, getting ready to float down the N. Dan River
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The Taxman Family, wilderness explorers
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The roaring rapids that we traversed without peril
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....just hanging out in the river
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Then, back to Tel Aviv for a little R&R, and to do some laundry before the
southern trek.
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A view of the Kinneret driving south towards Tiberias
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Tiberias
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...the only windsurfer in all of Israel
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