Journal #1 (10/1 & 10/2) ... Gridley to Tel Aviv to Haifa

Hello from Haifa, Israel.  It was a long time getting here and we were glad we came a day early and could rest and recoup after our twenty–four hour sojourn.  We couldn't wait to shower and hit the sack.  

We found out that we would be coming on a religious holiday...Rosh Hashanah ...and the train that would bring us from Tel Aviv to Haifa wouldn't run until dark.  We managed to hire a driver to take the four of us and all our luggage for the hour and a half trip so we didn't have to sit in the airport ANOTHER FOUR HOURS!!!

As for our flights.....we were lucky to buy "comfort plus" so had more room than usual, and different food, and even a recliner as we traveled over the pond.  Still it took forever to get here.

Vic has a bit too f a cold so they rested in their room in the morning and early afternoon.  Michael and I walked up the main road (Ben Gurion) an visited a lame museum......the good one was closed on Wednesday!

This morning's breakfast was totally vegetarian and SOOOOOOO delicious.  I sent pictures this morning. I was thinking two meals s day would be great, but we threw in $10 a cup gelato for "lunch". Michael had Cherry and I had Salted Carmel....the best!

Meeting some of our group has been great.  Gary and Linda from St Paul said their last trip were all women but Gary and he said he would NOT GO IF THAT WAS A REPEAT!  Needless to say we are really glad there are four men on this trip!

We have met the others in our group and our darling guide Anahid......who says we can call her Annie.  We took a walk up toward the beautiful Baha'i gardens and ate at her favorite restaurant. Michael and I and Vic and Leona had salmon which we shared with our spouses.  That worked fine....Annie told us the portions are big and we should share and it was a great idea.  We had our dinner with Linda and Gary and told stories about trips and laughed through dinner!  We also talked about harrowing adventures and their time in Costa Rico was worse than the coup in Thailand and my falling off the cliff in Peru they were mugged...he had a gun held to his head and another guy wrestled her to the ground ...and actually broke a couple of vertebrae!  Scary!

I've been told Israel is the safest place on earth. Hopefully no Costa Rico drama!

Time to sleep and  get ready for another day.

Grove and the gang

 

 

Journal #2 (10/3) ...  Still in Haifa

Our first night here we had a cricket in our room, down in a cupboard where the wait conditioner was and nobody can reach.  It sang loud all night.  We were so tired that we slept fairly well in spite of his ruckus.  Still the hotel staff felt we shouldn't have to listen to that and we moved our stuff down to another room on the same floor WITHOUT a cricket.  I fell asleep once in the afternoon while we watched TV and that was a bad idea.  I wish there had been something to think about,last night besides my inability to sleep

I got to thinking that I had left out a few "pearls" our guide told us and since I haven't slept a whit all night I might as well write them. She showed us the mezuzas at the door of the hotel.  (I'll take a picture of it this morning). She says they are in every home of Jews and the men in particular, but I guess any family member may touch it as they leave and return by that door.  ( I remember seeing that in "Fiddler on the Roof").   She says it is a thanks to God for keeping them safe at home, for returning them safely etc.  She says there is a saying that Jewish men make the best husbands.  She says she thinks it is because much of the faith requires a lot more from Jewish men than others and that they are so busy fulfilling those obligations there is no time for Tom foolery.  Her husband is Jewish but maybe that is only something she notices and is not the case generally.

On our walk she showed us many of the buildings once owned by the German Templar.  They were run out of here after WWII.  She tells us that the Templar do not believe in religion...as in churches ..as their body is a temple and they contain God there.  This area where our hotel is is called the German Colony and the architecture is quite lovely.......not the high rises of other parts in Israel.  

We went to a museum that was focused on that.  They complained that the old buildings were demolished to make way for high rises and were built for profit.  By the time they were finished they were too expensive for normal housing and left empty.  Yet there is a need for profit. 

She says that Haifa is 60 % Jewish , almost 20% Christian, almost 20 % Muslim and the rest Baha'i.  she says everyone lives together  very well and thinks that maybe because neither Moses, Jesus, or Mohammad ever were here or layer claim to Haifa.  If only we could coexist like that!

We met with the group and  two decided to eat with us at Annie's favorite place. She had warned us that they served big portions so share. We don't dvand it was perfect......salmon, potatoes, sweet and regular and salad. 

We walked back and happy hour was still on but we passed on wine tonight. So far the trip is great.  Fun people, so much history, beautiful Baha'i gardens.

Until next time,

Grove and Michael

 

 

 

Journal #3 (10/4) ...  Still in Haifa (2)

After another awesome vegetarian breakfast buffet we boarded the bus ( another picture included.)

Our first stop was at the top of the hill of the Baha'i gardens.  Non Baha'i can only go down to the first level.  All the gardens are taken care of by the Baha'i volunteer s.  The gardens extend down 19 terraces along the slope of Mount Carmel. It converges with a golden -domed shrine where the Bab , who opened the gates to this religion is buried.  Non Baha'i can have special walks down with previous reservations but only the Baha'i can walk up the nineteen terraces.  Nine and nineteen are their magic numbers.  You can Google them as I'm not real sure of this religion, but I know they are not made to join the Israeli army as  they believe in peace and harmony through out the world. There are millions of people throughout the world who have adopted The Baha'i religion..

Next we took a walk where in the old days the Arabs lived.  Annie told us some say the Israelis forced them to move, others say they choose to move; it is probably a little of each but many chose to stay.  There were still abandoned homes and people  had made art with paint and other materials that showed that at one time there were people who lived there.  Michael took pictures with his camera, but I can not send so you will have to wait a few weeks or so and see them on Ken's blog,  Dahls.gridley59.com. We walked the narrow crowded streets until we were able to meet our bus and wonderful bus driver named Israel, but we call Pere.

By the time we finished our mile and a half walk through old town it was time for.....You guessed it--FOOD.  What a lunch we had! Grilled cauliflower, eggplant with boiled egg, potatoes with a chili sauce kind of like Joey's Thai fries at the brewery, fresh green beans with a great light tomato and olive oil sauce, cracked toasted wheat and veggie salad with small pieces of cucumber and tomato, french fried potatoes, sweet potato fries and a salad of finely chopped parsley, water or,lemonade and lots of fresh loaves of bread with lots of sesame seeds.  THEN the main dish came!  I had  two chicken spretzels  (?) and Michael had a huge hamburger.  It was partially raw so he only ate a half, but the meat was so prime, tender, and delicious that Vivian  took just the meat from his burger and ate it like steak!  I was full before the main dish but still didn't turn down the chocolate ice cream. I tell you veggies never tasted so good as here in Israel!

Now Annie had a surprise for us.  She would take us to the ruins of Caesarea. This was a theatre, hippodrome and castle built by King Herod in the Roman times.  now this was not the king of Jesus' time but the father of that king.  He was not a great king in that he was quite  crazy and  paranoid but he was a fabulous engineer and architect. What he built there was quite amazing.  It was built by the sea with all materials ( stones, granite, marble etc.) not found in that area so there had to be some way to get all that there!  Besides that he wanted his "home "to be at the sea facing it, not up on the hill as most castles were built.  He also wanted his baths and pools to have fresh water instead of salt water so he had to devise and engineer a way to get the water from the spring in the hill to there through an aqueduct,  quite another feat. The sea water was used to wash, and of course for the latrines and that water had be brought up to Caesarea.  We know he was a bit crazy and paranoid because when he had to leave for an extended time he was so paranoid that his wife would cheat on him, he had her killed.  But since he loved her so much, he couldn't bear to lose the body so he had her preserved in honey.  That gives a new meaning to " Honey, I'm home!"  Sorry, too lame!

He built many other amazing synagogues although since his mother was not Jewish, he was unable to enter them, or would his sons be able either.  Religion is decided by the mother, tribe is decided by the father. ( Hence Jesus of Nazareth was from the King of David because Joseph was from that tribe. ........or something like that!

The theatre was nearly all original except the stage was gone and the slabs on the seats were  replaced.  The walls around the hippodrome were original as was a small platform in the middle where royalty and rich would sit.  A wooden seating area has since been built to show how that would have been.  The hippodrome was mainly for chariot races.  Blood games had been outlawed in Christian times, but the races continued.  King Herod's castle was mostly gone except to show the rooms and recently pillars were put at each corner of the castle to show the size of it.  The sea had destroyed the pool area except some marble mosaic tile is still intact and covered by a tent from the sun.  I did get a photo of that which I thought was quite amazing.  King Herod had many children...many who died at childbirth  or during childhood but it was his youngest of three sons who was the King Herod of Jesus' birth time.  Somehow they have found out that King Herod Senior died of worms!  No honey for him!

After learning all this it was time to get back to the hotel and get ready for DINNER. The worms and honey didn't dissuade us from either food or wine and although I was still full from lunch we all walked together to a wonderful restaurant to eat schwarma   ( minced veal in a pita with veggies and sauce) for me, and calamari rings, somewhat pickled and cold for Michael. But so tasty.!  There were many other great choices. I had the contemplated getting the salmon, but changed my mind since I had salmon just two days before.  Smoked salmon sandwiches are served free with drinks at the hotel's Happy Hour every day and there has  been salmon, smoked or not on the buffet at breakfast.  The wine had flowed at our hotel's happy hour, Michael ordered a second glass..as we all got one free, ( 50 whopping ----)still it was  quite enough and we laughed a lot through dinner and on the walk home.

Tired, stuffed and a little tipsy we hit the sheets.  I had forced myself to stay awake even on the bus rides so I might sleep well.  It worked....or maybe it was just the wine!!!

See you in the morning,

Grovey......and gang

 

Journal #4 (10/5) ...  Still in Haifa But Traveling As Far As Nazareth

Today was the "Day in the life" which is always a treat..  we started off with a visit to the statue garden.  The artist , Ursula Malbin, was born in Berlin to Jewish parents who were both doctors.  A few weeks before WWII she fled Nazi Germany, alone, penniless and without a passport .  She lived in Switzerland and married a sculpture. She began as a sculpture too.  She has since donated one original of every sculpture she has made to the garden on the side of a hill in Haifa.  She felt once the state of Israel was established that this would be a place where she would always feel safe as a Jew.  She doesn't her time in both Switzerland and Israel.  I loved her statues; they remind me a lot of Rodin's only more simple and smooth. I took many pictures.  The view down to the city was lovely, but I had already taken many of those while at the Baha'i gardens.  

From there we rode in the bus toward Nazareth and on the way stopped at an olive ranch .  After living on one from birth until college I was interested in what new things I'd learn.  Truth be known I loved this adventure more than any other olive oil excursion we've had with OAT and there have been two in Spain and one in Portugal.  I think what made this so wonderful were the people in that family.  The father specialized in growing vegetables and because of it he and his wife were sent to work in many places in the world: Argentina, Venezuela, Ethiopia, Uganda and  more they still wanted to have their own land  and once they had the chance with the help of their parents they bought the farm in this special farming village.  In Israel most of the land belongs to the state.  Any private land owned before Israel became a state must be worked as agricultural land or they will take it.  The olive oil from the olives started as a hobby but as their children grew...especially the oldest girl, she became an renown olive oil taster and is set to many countries as a judge.  She now is the boss of the olive farm.  We started by picking olives.....just the perfect green ones like we did on the ranch as they would be table olives.  As I picked them I could imagine my Dad asking me, "what in the hell are you doing?"  I talked to him amid the branches as I picked.  I later talked  with the father of the ranch family about living on an olive ranch.  I can't believe it has been 58 years since I lived there!  .Many of our olive varieties he didn't know.  He was amazed that there we'd farmed 360 acres of olive trees.  His farm is about 20 acres!  He has some ancient trees though that are amazing. He showed me a painting and photo of some but they were too far to walk to see in person. After we picked a half a box together we took them to his wife and she told us the story of how they started as studying and growing seed and how it evolved to  becoming their livelihood.  She was such s good story teller as she talked about the family history.  We then patted out pizza or pita to be baked in the adobe oven outside that her son had made and we would eat later.

We then were showed how to cut each olive to allow the bitterness to escape in water.  She put them in a big jar and will change the water every day for two months then pickle them with salt water. Other OAT travelers will eat them in a few months!  On the ranch Uncle Henry always used lye to make the olives cure faster..  When all were done she served us an awesome lunch.  Veggies of course and delicious. Afterwards the daughter showed us the olive oil production and how to pick good olive oil and tell real good from bad or fake. 

From there we went to the church in Nazareth.  It was quite amazing and only photos can explain it so I'll include them here.  This is the church that celebrates , The Church of the Annunciation built on the site where Mary is said to have been told by angel Gabriel that she would bear the son of God. Nearly every place on earth has sent a mural to Mary here.  Beautiful and all so unique!

From there we came back to the hotel.  We had drinks at the hotel for happy hour and passed up dinner to pack.  That done I am ready for our next  adventure.  Good night!

NUFF SAID,

Grovey and group

 

 

 

 

 

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