Day 15 - Old Jerusalem, the Western Wall and the Holocaust Memorial

Early wake up call today in order to make it to the old city and explore the tunnels at the base of the western wall (apparently you have to make reservations 6 months in advance in order to get a 10 minute window to start your tour)

About to enter the Old City

Hard to picture (in this picture) but the block to the right just in front of Samantha is over 500 tons (the size of two 747s)

Just a little clostophobic down here but Sheryl didn't have to duck

Samantha placing her special payer in the western wall

Back in the daylight again we saw the portion of the Western Wall open to the public for prayers and reflection.

At the western wall

We’ll be back again on Sunday as the Jewish people welcome in Shabbat here.

And we had a little time to do some shopping in Old Jerusalem

From the Old city we went to the Military Cemetery on Mt Herzl where, in addition to the military, a number of Prime Ministers and leaders of Israel are also buried.

And finally we visited the National Memorial to the Holocaust. I won’t post any pictures of this but would recommend anyone visiting Jerusalem stop by here for at least an hour. Over 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during WWII. 90% of the European Jews were eradicated because of Hitler. No matter what religion or race you are, a genocide of this proportion should never happen again. Lest we Forget.

Tomorrow is the day we have all been waiting for, Samantha’s Bat Mitzvah. Stay tuned.

Day 14 - Roman ruins and Camel rides

Today was really a travel day from Upper Galilee to the main city itself, Jerusalem. However it doesn’t take that long to drive through Israel so we did have a number of stops.

The highlight for me being visiting the Roman ruins of Beit Shean, quite possibly the most exciting Roman antiquity excavation in Israel. This 2,000 year old city was first discovered when archeologists were looking at Germany WWII aerial photos. In one photo, the top of a Roman column can be see which was enough to let the digging begin. And dig they did, discovering a huge city. To date only about 10% of the city has been uncovered, including a theatre, Roman baths and Main Street (I’m sure they called it something else)

The Theatre

The Theatre with two fans

The Roman bath house

And welcome to downtown Main Street

The God of wine is the focal point of this column

From there we continued south stoping by to see an ancient Synagogue and then a Garden of Eden type oasis where Samantha and friends took a dip. After that we continued on while the kids had a nap.

On our next stop, the kids woke up to Camel rides in the Judean Desert. We stopped by a farm where there were a number of camels parked outside (sort of a camelot – lol). The kids got to ride while the parents ran after them trying to get that perfect photo. Me, I just waited for them to come back.

After a long days ride (well 5 minutes anyway)

Samantha shows us the proper way to get off a camel

Ended the day arriving in Jerusalem where we met Sheryl’s mom and dad, who are joining us for the next few days to celebrate Samantha’s Bat Mitzvah. Enjoyed an Italian dinner, Israeli style, and then to bed.

Day 13 - Are we in a war zone?

Well today was quite the tour day for sure. It’s not everyday you get this close to a war zone.

So our day started off with us loading up into jeeps and driving some very infrequently used rocky roads. As we turned off onto this road (if you can call it that) this is the first thing we saw.

Apparently the army was doing exercises in the Golan Heights for the past couple weeks and today was no exception. We saw several tanks drive off on maneuvers along with the various support vehicles. Quite interesting indeed.

Parts of the road we were on were made by the Romans 2,000 years ago, and as I previously mentioned there is a good chance they haven’t been used much since then.

Also, just to make things interesting we saw several of these signs

Apparently before the Syrian’s left the Golan Heights, they planted several mines, up to 600 per square mile. The Israeli army didn’t have the time or resources to remove them so put up some fencing and these signs.

Anyway, at the end of the road was an Israeli observation point. And the video below helps explain  what they are looking at.

As if being this close to Lebanon wasn’t bad enough, we then drove east to check out what was happening in Syria. The next two videos will explain what we saw.

Footnote: So this is the headlines in the news later that day

Israeli warplanes strike target in Syria’s Golan Heights
Mon Aug 22, 2016 7:31PM

Israeli jets have carried out an airstrike in Syria’s Golan Heights, claiming that the attack was in retaliation for stray fire from Syrian fighting factions that landed inside Israel.

On Monday, the Israeli army announced that it had hit a "Syrian army launcher" after a stray shell from fighting in Syria landed close to an Israeli fence in central Golan. Nobody was injured in either of the incidents.

So what happened is, the day before, Syria fired a mortar round just inside the Israeli border about a mile or two from where we were standing, so a couple hours after we left, an Israeli fighter jet dropped a present for the Syrian’s. I missed what could have been a great photo op but was ok with getting the heck out of there.

The remainder of the day had us touring a winery which is just what I needed after this. 

Day 12 - A day in Prison

Well it wasn't a full day in prison but it was an interesting part of today's tour.

We left our hotel in Haifa and headed to the port city of Akko, where we entered what was considered by the British to be the Alcatraz of Israel back in the 1930's and 40's. A number of Jewish freedom fighter were sent here during this period. Of course, unlike Alcatraz, where it is said no one ever escaped (well maybe 3 prisoners did), 40 freedom fighter's managed to escape here with the help of the Community blowing a hole in the wall. Unfortunately 9 of these freedom fighters were later caught and all of them hanged.

The other claim to fame for this prison is it is where the movie Exodus (staring Paul Newman) was filmed. Below are some pics.

Entrance to the Prison

And it has a moat (I think the soccer field was added later)

Life on the inside for Samantha

No single cell rooms here, you fit as many people inside as possible

Unless you wound up here, only one person at a time was allowed to "hang" around this room

Apologies for the pun above as it is important to note that this prison now serves as a memorial to those freedom fighters who we incarcerated here the nine who lost their lives here.

After this tour we drove some, shopped some and then arrived at our hotel which was part of a Kibbutz.

Now for my non Jewish friends I'll explain a Kibbutz is basically a co-operative association. In it's true form it is communism as Karl Marx envisioned it, everyone shares equally in the expenses and revenues of running the operations. What you do or how much time you spend doing it is irrelevant.

There are a number of Kibbutz communities in Israel and they were very popular in the 20th century but there was a noticible decline in members over the years so in 2000 about 80% of these Kibbutz communities adopted a more capitalist model. With this change these communities have started to increase in size again. Of the 20% that did not move to this model, 1/2 was because of religious reasons and the other half was because they were making so much money that everyone in the Kibbutz was a millionaire (the communist model has no issue with being rich as long as everyone is equally as rich)

Well that's it for today. Tomorrow we tour the Golan Heights. Hope they provide us with bullet proof vests.

Day 11 - Armageddon

Today was an optional day. We could sleep in and spend the day at the pool or go on a short ½ day tour. The vote was 1 for sleeping in (Samantha) and 2 for going on the tour (Sheryl was the swing vote and it could have gone either way)

So… Up early, quick breakfast and on the bus to Tel Megiddo. Now, a “Tel” is basically a hilltop settlement and Megiddo is the name of the town/city. This particular Town is over 7,000 years old and has been destroyed and rebuilt 25 times. The excavation of this dig started in 1903 and has been going on ever since. Again, there is more history than I can explain in this one blog but because of the strategic importance of this city as a major transportation route between the Middle East and Egypt, everyone wanted to control it. The Egyptians, the Israelis, the Persians, the Babylonians and several others commanded this hill at various points in history.

A model of what site looks like today

One of the entrance gates. The cobblestone pathway is over 3,500 years old

A grain silo. These silos were built below ground with 2 staircases, one for down and one for up. And you thought Save-on-Foods invented bulk bin shopping

And you had to go deep underground to get your water from the local spring

This last photo is of a valley and a farmer’s field but is also mentioned in the bible

You see Megiddo when translated is Armageddon and this is where, according the Book of Revelation, the great battle in the last of days is to happen.

Fortunatley the world did not end while we were at Megiddo, so we continued our travels to a Druze Village, ate lunch and did a little shopping

If you're a vegetarian, or a vegan, Israel is the place to be

Druze bread, paper thin and actually quite tasty

Keeping the local economy going

Back at the hotel by 3:00, some rest, some dinner and lights out early again.

Day 10 - North to Haifa with a few stops on the way

Up early, quick breakfast (check out how they present the honey)

Fresh rack of honey

After my honey has been into the honey

and then on the bus to Jaffa. No additional information to add that wasn't already covered off in Day 5 so we’ll move on.

Next stop was Caesarea which is a dig north of Tel Aviv and was home to King Herod and Pontius Pilate.

This 2,000 year old block was discovered in 1961 and basically says “  Pontius Pilate Was Here”

This is what is left of the personal swimming pool of King Herod

And here is where they had chariot races. Apparently the only rule was “he who finishes first, wins”

Front row seats

We also saw a Roman aqueduct

From Caesarea we continued north to a British internment camp for illegal Jewish refugees during and after WWII. I won’t go into the history of how Jewish people were treated by the rest of the world but suffice to say it was rough. This camp was also used to house Egyptian POWs during the 1967 and 1973 wars. Only a few of the structures remain and the site now serves as a museum.

We finally finished our day at a new hotel atop the hill in Haifa, the northern most point on the Israel Mediterranean coast. How far north you ask?

Apparently we are only 20 miles from Lebanon. As much as I would like to add another country to my passport stamps, I think I'll pass on this one.

Day 9 - Independance Hall and a tour of a bullet factory

New day, new tour and new tour guide with more interesting facts about Israel (and some conflicting facts from the first guide we had. So let’s start with the conflicting facts:

• Conflicting fact #1 – So we were originally told that Israel was the number 2 largest technology country in the world. Well apparently some other up and coming country called China took second spot this year moving Israel to the number 3 spot.
• Conflicting fact #2 – Our new guide says that it is 65% of the worlds diamonds that go through Israel, not 70%. I’m going to go with 67.5% to be safe

And now on to some new facts:

• Israel has the 4th largest military airforce in the world
• Israel makes their own tanks
• Israel recycles 80% of it’s water. Spain is number 2 in the world at 20%
• 6.3 million Jews live in Israel
• Tel Aviv has more shopping malls than Houston, Texas (who researches this stuff?)

Enough for today.

So after a great breakfast we set out to tour Independence Hall, where on May 14, 1948, Israel declared itself an independent nation. The following day Arab armies from 5 countries surrounding Israel attacked. A year and a half later after the loss of 1% of the Israeli population, an armistice agreement was signed.

At the hall we saw photographs and an audio recording of the events of that day in May.

From Independence Hall,  we trucked off to a kibbutz which was used to camouflage a bullet factory for the Israeli Hagana (army). 2 ½ million bullets were produced here prior to 1948 in an underground bunker below the laundry and bakery buildings on the kibbutz and under the noses of the British authorities at the time. Workers would sneak into the laundry building and slip down a couple stories into the factory (something similar to what some of us have seen on Hogan’s Hero’s – but more serious). While the people in the Kibbutz were washing the British army’s clothing, below the washing machine, people were making bullet’s for the upcoming war with the Arab’s. The ingenuity of the Israelis has to be admired (they even had a tanning bed in the bunker so that the British would be convinced the workers had been in the fields all day - note to my Irish buddy, Andy, I’m sure the Irish would not have fallen for this).

After the tour of the bullet factory, the kids in our group attended a dig (of course kids forget to take photographs) and the adults went to the Diaspora Museum to explore more about the history of Israel.

Dinner tonight was again fantastic with a little bit of dancing as well. Tried to video it but no success (lighting, actors etc.) so called it a night at 10:00.