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| First trip |
| Saturday, May 10, 2008 |
I was dreading this weekend, as it was a long weekend. 3.5 days of holidays. Wednesday was Fallen Soldiers Memorial Day, Thursday was Israel's 60th Independence Day, Friday and Saturday the usual weekend.
As is obvious, the patriotism amongst the Israelis is immense. All of past week I saw cars with the flags on them, buildings having huge flags hung on them. The whole place near the hotel looked very festive, all decorated.
But we were not sure it would be safe to go anywhere on Independance Day especially Jerusalem, as it was feared that there might be attacks on Israel on this day. There was extra security at the border of West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Friday, myself, B, and two other colleagues set off to Rosh Hanikra, at the Israel Lebanon border. Since I didnt plan the trip and since there is not so much information online on these places and also as I am still am not able to relate to distances in Kms, I realized how much of Israel we had covered only when I saw the map. ;--)
The yellow border on the top is the Lebanon border. The Red border in the middle is the WestBank border. Click on the pic for better resolution.
We started near Tel Aviv at around 8AM, I think. I dont have a watch. My time references are the clock on the TV in the room, my laptop, time in the car. The cellphone has some random time, and I havent bothered to check how to fix it. So if I am outside, I am clueless about the time.
We crossed Herzliyya, Netanya, Haifa, got lost a little in Haifa as we had to go through the 'downtown' of Haifa, Akko, Nahariya to Rosh Hanikrah. I liked Haifa instantly. Grass is always greener on the other side I suppose. Our Haifa site overlooks the Mediterranian Sea. Haifa is like the Silicon Valley of Israel. There is Technion in Haifa which is supposed to be the MIT of Israel.
By 10:30 we were near our destination. We saw a sign which said, "Caution, Border Crossing ahead!" There were these mountains beyond which was Lebanon. I had to wonder, how the people near the border lived every single day at the edge?! This area was war prone only two years ago! It must be like living in Kashmir?! I am not able to comprehend how powerful the rockets that went all the way from Lebanon to Haifa would have been!
Israel borders so many countries, I am sure I will 'see' them from a distance even if I dont visit them ;--)
Rosh Hanikrah is a place where there are grottos, caves formed by sea water currents gnawing into cracks on rocks by the sea.
Rosh Hanikrah is a tourist place, only for the locals and not for international travellers like us. ;--) International tourists mostly visit Jerusalem, for religious reasons. So one person was curious to know as to how we landed in this place.
This is a view from the top of the cliff of the road we took to reach this place. The drive was a coastal drive, with many 'natural' beaches along the way, with the coastline giving us company. We couldnt get lost. We had to take a short ride in a Cable Car to go down to the Sea. The fee is 42 Shekels, expensive in my opinion. We went into the caves and saw at different places where the sea was gushing into the grottos. The camera was not able to capture it all that well.
Once out of the caves, we were out on the rocks looking at the sea. The rocks were limestone I think, the white color looked amazing against the sea color. Then we went to the tunnel where we saw a video of the formation of this place. It was in some language, we didnt have the patience to wait 30mins to see it in English.
Ok, now for some History lesson. This place was actually a tunnel built by the British in 1941 for transportation between Tel Aviv and Beirot in Lebanon. In 1948 when Israel got Independance, they blew the tunnel at this place, to prevent terrorists apparently. We went to the end of the tunnel, the other end of the tunnel was Lebanon. I have never been to the border of any country, so I was a good experience for me. How do they mark these territories? Till here is Israel, from here is Lebanon?
We saw some markers, floaters on the sea as well, we thought it might be the border in the sea as well. We were not sure.
Here is a picture I took of the mountain which separates Israel and Lebanon. You can also see the Israeli flags on cars in the parking lot.
By noon we were out of there. We drove to Haifa, and looked for a place to eat. We saw this beautiful place which really stood out from the rest of the place, as we were driving, and I realized it was the Bahai Gardens of Haifa. Haifa is a city set between the Carmel Mountains and Sea. There were many houses in the mountains slopes, with a great view of the Sea. We saw some tall buildings on the slopes as well, wondering how such tall buildings stood on the slope.
Back to the Bahai Gardens, it was news to me that Lotus Temple in Delhi is a Bahai Place of Worship as well. Although I have been there, and I remember that it was a place with lot of seating, where people just come and sit in silence, I didnt know about Bahai Faith then. It is always nice to visit a place with the back up of all the information, so we can appreciate the place much better.
The place was very well maintained, the garden looked beautiful from outside, even from far away. We were on the street right in front of the Bahai Gardens, we had to grab something to eat. There were a lot of restaurents on the street, it was a German Colony. Israel has Jewish Refugees from all over Europe. Friend B said this place was a Mafia place, and that all the restaurents were owned by them, only after we were back.
 We went to a Lebanese-French Restaurent. Had amazing food and dessert, with some Indian Chai. After the food we just wanted to lie down and sleep! We were in no mood to walk the slope to the Temple. But we did. The front entrance to the Temple was closed, and the guard said the garden entrance is open. He showed us some back way to enter the Gardens. We climbed a bunch of steps. The steps seemed never ending. So many, I was huffing and puffing by the time we reached the top. BUT, I got to see more Israeli homes, middle class homes. I saw an Arab girl with her head covered walk by, so may be it was an Arab neighbourhood, I had no idea. There were homes on the sides, I wondered how did these people manage to bring stuff to their homes?! These stairs were killing.
We were disappointed that after walking so much, only a teeny portion of the Garden was open, it was soo not worth the walk. We were not even able to get a view of Haifa from the top, it was not so good. But my exercise for the day was done. We came down the same way back to the German Colony. We got to our car to realize we had gotten a ticket! Apparently there was a parking ticket machine, where we had to buy a ticket, to park. What the heck! Everything is in Hebrew, how the hell would we know?! We didnt understand the ticket as well as it was in Hebrew, we stopped a passerby to ask and they said we had to pay a 100shekels fine! It was a bummer.
We reached our hotels by 5PM in the evening. A day well spent. Finally I got to see the real Israel, not the fancy schmancy pseudo Israel.
**
Today I got to see real Israeli Soldiers with big guns! While I was going to the Church in Old Jaffa Tel Aviv.
Most Israeli people have to be in the army after high school. It is mandatory. After serving for a few years they return back to college and work. Which is why most of the people at work look older inspite of being less experienced in work. Even women have to be serve in the army.
We havent seen many beggars here. I think its because everyone gets to be in the army and earn some money.
Israel Independance Day is known as the Day of Catastrophe for the Palestinians as that was when they were thrown out of their homes in Israel.
I am beginning to like trying out different restaurents to eat. As that is the only pass time for us. Food is expensive. A decent meal cost about 80shekels. Buffet at the hotel is 150shekels!
Boss back home, when he heard we are not going out much on weekends,gave us 'improvement required' for 'having fun in Israel' :--)
Only when I go out with others to see places, I realize how much nicer it is to go with DH. I am glad DH is as interested in travel and history as I am.
The long weekend is almost over, back to work tomorrow. |
posted by SK @ 3:16 AM  |
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| 10 Comments: |
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Hey Sounds like quite a happening trip! Cool!! Have fun:)
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Wow! Ur blog is like a travel guide...u know, one of those travel n living kinda programmes...just transports me thr!
awesome picssss!! :)
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I loved the pics and I didnt know either that Lotus temple is a place of Bahai fait, I actually loved lotus temple, I thought it gave peace - the thing that temples are meant to be.
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beautiful pics! Ask DH to join you for your trips.. :)
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Ha! I thought I left a comment. In any case beautiful photos.
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lovely pics, lucky you! :) would like to visit Israel someday, the history & architecture is so inviting.
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Preeti,
heheh :--))
Maverick,
Yes it was news to me as well! Temple, any place of worship always gives peace of mind.
Joy,
:--) I wish! :--)
Ok, thankoo.
WC,
Yes, its really amazing! Should visit once!
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SK, Have a lil something for you over at my space. Please stop by :)
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Hey Sounds like quite a happening trip! Cool!! Have fun:)