Road Trip

The next segment in our visit to Israel involved renting a car and driving around. For reasons we don't quite understand, cars are cheap here ($36/day), about the only thing that is. Gas is quite expensive, about $10/gal, but that doesn't slow Israeli drivers much. For us, there is nothing like the nostalgia of a road trip and it sure beats a 747 these days.

Driving in Israel can be a challenge. As we mentioned, drivers here are maniacs and will not slow down for any reason. Their preferred position is a few inches behind your bumper, which makes it difficult to read road signs. That gets to the second problem, which is a dearth of signage and that can make finding places difficult. We blew right past Meggido because there were no signs as to where it was. Often when signs are there and even in English you have to translate your desired destination into whatever the modern equivalent would be. An easy example is seeing a sign that says "Kafer Nahum". You often must know, within a split second (someone's glued to your bumper) that it means "Capernaum" and alter course. We finally started programming a handheld GPS with the coordinates of a desired destination just to make sure we didn't miss a turnoff. Its surprising that there are so few wrecks and the aggressive spirit of hugging your tailgate applies to all ages and genders.

Caesarea National Park is the first place visited on our illustrious road trip. The park extends from the Roman theatre in the south to the Crusader city in the north. It includes the Byzantine square, the Herodian amphitheatre, promontory palace, bathhouse, and a network of streets.

Ruins of Roman Caesarea's fortifications were excavated in the northwestern limits of the city .As evidenced by the medieval arches, the archeological sites extends from the Persian period of 568-332 B.C. to the Ottoman period 1561-1917 A.D. Caesarea had a network of crisscrossing roads, a temple, a theatre amphitheatre, markets and residential quarters. By the year 6BC , Caesarea served as a base for the headquarters of the Roman government in Palestine.

The Herodian amphitheatre is a huge U-shaped entertainment structure. As the plastic orchestra seats attest, it is still in use today.

The hippodrome, or racetrack.

Our first view of the Sea of Galilee. To be honest it's more like a very big lake. It is in fact the lowest freshwater lake in the world, being 700' below sea level. Only eight miles across and with a circumference of about 33 miles, we have seen lakes in New Zealand dwarf this famous bit of water.

The view we had from the Kare Deshe Guest house, which is near Ginnosar and just south of Tabgha. It is part of the extensive Israeli Youth Hostel system and offers clean and comfy if Spartan accommodations in some of the prettiest spots in Israel. It's not cheap but it's pleasant, and the pitter-stomp of herds of teens is rejuvenating - just don't get between them and breakfast. If you are ever in the area, we whole heartedly recommend the guest house for its cleanliness and excellent food. The surroundings are also phenomenal.

Here the Franciscans run a church over what is said to be the ruins of the Apostle Peter's house.

This modern church seems to belong in the Hill Country overlooking Lake Travis. Unlike the earlier churches, which were built directly on Simon Peter's house, the Franciscan effort, while more thoughtful, makes it look as if a flying saucer has descended on the 'hood.

This poor mistreated creature kept repeatedly ringing her tiny charge up the stairs and into the church. Sisyphean behavior on the part of the feline was rewarded by a stiff and rough heave ho by our lady in blue.

When the crew of Amante asked the nun, "What would St Francis do"? She screamed "Get out"!

Later the Franciscan lady of Charity was seen marching down to the sea with tiny sightless victim in hand.

Kicked out of The City. Banned, barred and alone. Such is the life of Cats at the Monastery.

A Italian group baptizes a baby at the Sea of Galilee.

Back relaxing in Tiberius. The boardwalk held tons of fun for kids. They would rent these electric ATVs and terrorize the pedestrians, even hitting them multiple times (wheee!). In the US they'd need a lawyer running alongside. On second thought, they are just being trained as proper Israeli drivers.

Tourist barges chugging across the Sea of Galilee. We skipped that one, having logged enough hours riding on a boat.

The Golan Heights is now a world-renowned center for wine making. Our previous experience with Jewish wine was the fiery pancake syrup called Mogen David. We visited the winery where these prestigious vineyards have produced internationally acclaimed wine for years and have placed Israel on the world-wide wine map.

Further up the Golan Heights we discovered the abandoned outpost of Gadot, scene of fierce fighting during the 1967 war.

This is the splendid view that Syrian gunners used to have of Northern Israel, where they could spot and shell farms and troops at their leisure. When Israel talks about the 1967 borders being indefensible, this is what indefensible looks like. Imagine living on the farm down in that valley. Kind of leaves one defenseless and vulnerable.

The sign in the lower left shows of the pic above shows that a non-man's land is still there, almost 50 years later.

Speaking of splendid view, this is the Sea of Galilee taken from the high ground of Zafed, near Mt Meron. Capernaum is the dark green area on the shore in the mid-foreground.

We dropped by the Mount of the Beatitudes, where Jesus was supposed to have preached his Sermon on the Mount (it's more like a hill outside of Tabgha).

Now, just what the heck is the UN doing at the Mount of the Beatitudes? Brokering a peace deal between the Lutherans and the Orthodox? We doubt it. It looks like a teenager in the back seat holding an ice-cream bar - obviously making sure the Israelis serve halal fudgesicles in accord with Resolution 1241.. We could fill an album with pictures of all the shiny new SUVs crawling all over Israel pursuing "peace". More of your tax dollars at work.

The Northern Golan hosts several tributaries which surge through Banias National Park. This is also called the Hermon River Reserve and the Hermon River is one of the sources of the Jordon. The area around the river is thickly forested with a variety of species and was an important spot in ancient times due primarily to the abundant fresh water.

At the head of the river are the remains of various temples, the niche on the right being the Temple of Pan. The cave used to be a massive spring gushing out the side of Mt Hermon. In the good old days they would throw a sacrifice into the cave and see if it came out. If it disappeared into the waters that was a good sign. If blood began to flow, that was bad. It was bad either way if you were the victim.

The fast flowing Hermon River makes for a peaceful respite.

Agrippa's Palace in Casearea Phillipi.

Nimrod's Fortress, a large ruin from the 13th century perched on a steep hill overlooking the Valley. The national park which encloses the fortress has interesting spiral staircases with guard towers that take you back to 1228. The view from the top gives a breathtaking panorama of the Golan Heights.

A panther, the heraldic emblem of the Mamluk Sultan Baybars, builder of the fortress. It can also be seen at "Lion's Gate" in Jerusalem.

The North Jordan River, near Bethsaida. We were not familiar with the Jordan north of the Sea of Galilee.

This shot is from Yardenit, where the Jordan flows out of the Sea of Galilee. This is described as a popular baptismal site on the Jordan although the location is more a pragmatic choice than anything biblical. We found it a bit too overdeveloped and commercial, especially the gift shop which resembled a religious Stucky's. But it's probably an OK choice for those on a package tour. Not very compelling were the gigantic river rats plying back and forth across the water. They were the size of a small dog, slightly bigger than a Chihuahua.

We frankly found the water here muddy and uninviting. If you look closely near the lower right you'll see a water rat swimming just past the grass on the bank. After driving the entire Jordan between here and the Dead Sea we'd have to say this is probably the most accessible, beside the north stretch, which would be our choice.

The view of the Jordan Valley from the Crusader Fort Belvoir. We'll spare you the ruins.

Palladium Street, Beit Sheaan.

The theater here has the best preserved stage of any we've seen.

We continued down highway 90 that follows the Jordan to the Dead Sea. Here we see the practical problem of trying to reach the Jordan in the the most likely location of Jesus' baptism. Access is tough and probably not allowed. The only roads going east are to crossings into Jordan and you really don't want to do that...

The checkpoint at the south end of 90 that goes down the West Bank. We drove right through it. We saw just a few military vehicles and just a couple of soldiers in this area. Still, we felt better after leaving the West Bank.

The water smelled of hydrogen sulfide. The taste is more than merely bitter - just getting a drop on the tip of your tongue burns like crazy. We can't imagine getting a mouthful or swallowing any.

Wallowing . It's true, you can't sink. At least we can say we 'swam' in the Dead Sea. At approximately 1200 ft below sea level is was also rather warm. Shoes must be worn in the water as the rocks are coated with salt crystals.

Cable car up to Masada. The plateau of Masada is located on the eastern fringe the Judean Desert near the shore of the Dead Sea, between En Gedi and Sodom. We chose to take the cable car instead of taking the winding 'SnakePath'. Masada's remote location and its natural defenses were the advantages that transformed it into a fortress during the Second Temple Period, not to mention it's a really cool place to build a palace.

Dizzying experience. This has to be one of the most spectacular building sites in the world. Beyond awesome.

This is looking east to the south end of the Dead Sea. The white stuff on the shore is salt. If you look carefully you will see the tiny spot in the lower right just over the wall. That's the bus parking lot and machinery for the cable cars.

A major challenge for this location was obtaining water. Streambeds on the west side were channeled into cisterns and the fortress was said to store enough water for 10,000 people to survive a siege. The engineering of this place is as spectacular as the views. The square pattern in the upper right is one of the many Roman siege camps built around the perimeter of the mesa.

Water was plentiful enough to support numerous baths and even a swimming pool on the summit.

Masada was the last bastion of Jewish Freedom Fighters against the Romans. It fall signaled the violent destruction of the kindom of Judea at the end of the Second Temple Period. The tragic events of the last days of the rebels at Masada transformed it into a Jewish cultural icon and a symbol of humanity's continuous struggle for freedom from oppression. Built by King Herod the Great, Masada was a palatial fortress in the style of the ancient Roman East.

The camps, fortifications and assault ramp at its base constitute the most complete ancient Roman siege system in the world. The ramp, seen at the lower left, was needed to bring up siege engines to breech the walls at the top of the sheer cliffs. The conical mound at the base of the ramp is the mass grave of the Zealot defenders.

We stayed at the Masada Youth Hostel house at the bottom of this moonscape located on the eastern side. This National Park takes hours to explore and is best investigated in the early hours of the morning.

If you're tired of reading, we're frankly fatigued from editing all this material. We had lots more pictures of this road trip but need to wrap it up so we can start planning our next landfall, which will be in Turkey. Please join us soon!

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