Israel - Monday - Jerusalem, Petah Tikva

Monday morning after a really great breakfast at Moty and Dorit Morag's (Israeli salat, different cheeses, breads, capucchino, avatiach, yum!), and fetching our wash from the line, we said goodbye to Dorit, and drove with Moty back to Jerusalem for a drive around Mt Scopus - Har Hatzofim - and Hebrew University, a walk through the Arab Souk, and on the ramparts of the City of David:

The City of David (Hebrew: עיר דוד, Ir David; Arabic: مدينة داوود) is the oldest settled neighborhood of Jerusalem and a major archaeological site due to recognition as biblical Jerusalem. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE, making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world.


We walked through the museum at the Migdal David מגדל דוד (Tower of David) and the Citadel, going back through 5000 years of history.

At Moty and Dorit's house in Mevasserat Zion

Mini Old City

Mosaic from a synagogue in Beit Shean - at the Israel Museum

On the ramparts with Moty

Ramparts walk

Damascus Gate

The Muslim Quarter

City of David

New Jerusalem light rail

After walking on the ramparts of the citadel in the City of David, we walked through the Arab souk with Moty Morag, on our last day in Israel.  Found some interesting gifts in the souk, but I already own an olive wood Sheshbesh (Backgammon) set and tambourine!

At 3pm, we returned to Mevasseret to get our bags packed.  Shlomo came from a Keren Keyemet meeting in Jerusalem to take us back to Petah Tikva for the long wait until our flight at 12:45am.   Nira set out hummus, felafel, chicken, salat, avatiach, uga (cake); their son Moni (and his two kids) came over to talk with Richard about Apple;  Tomer brought his son Itamar.  I spent some time showing Nira how to get connected to Geni to do shorashim (geneology), and how her dad, Shimon can fit into the Bichkov tree.   She was excited about it, but Chanan now says he thinks there is something better than Geni.  I need to look into Ancestry.com.

Shimon and Leah Gurlanik, Nira's parents

I'm not pregnant, just an unfortunate phone angle...

?, Mony, ? Tomer, Itamar, Shlomo, Nira, Richard 

Shlomo Elnatan's parents in Bukhara (Uzbekistan)

Israel - Sunday - Mevasseret Zion and Jerusalem

Sunday morning, we took a bus from Haifa to Jerusalem, stopping at Mevasseret Zion where Moty Morag, Anat's father, picked us up and took us and our bags to his house.   He served us avatiach  - אבטיח - watermelon, and then we were off to Jerusalem to the Israel Museum.  Entering the city, we saw a huge building-sized poster welcoming Hilary Clinton ["and Release Jonathan Pollard Now"].  Traffic was crazier than I've ever seen it.  More people own cars - the standard of living is definitely higher than when I lived here in 1979 - despite the expense.  Back in Mevaserrat, Moty took us on a local hike to the Sataf spring.  He said that some of the rocks lining the path dated back to Crusader times, some "quite new" - dating back to the early Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.  He also pointed out the burned out hills - there have been arson fires set requiring residents to evacuate - just in the past few weeks.  It caused the most damage since the last Intifada (2000-2005).  Diving into the spring were religious kids stripped down to their skivvies.  Dorit Morag joined us after work - and we headed off to Abu Ghosh for a traditional Arab "tapas" dinner.

Inside the Israel Museum

The Last Supper?

Rodin

Moty with friend at the Israel Museum

Dinner in Abu Ghosh

Israel trail marker

Sataf spring trail, rocks date to Crusader era, or maybe just Ottoman empire

View of Jerusalem light rail from Damascus Gate

Accidental camera angle from Mt. Scopus View point

Hadassah hospital in distance

Sataf spring

Medieval trail in Mevasseret

From the ramparts in the City of David, Old City Jerusalem,
built during the Ottoman Empire in the 16th or 17th century

The Citadel

Entryway at the Morag's

Israel - Shabbat - Haifa, Akko

Saturday morning, we suffered through a strange and inedible breakfast at the Theodor hotel in a very run-down area of Haifa called Hadar.    The shabbat elevator stops at every floor on the way down.   The Theodor was not a great choice for a hotel, and we managed to switch over to the Crown Plaza up on the Carmel.    And go to the Tachana, bus station to wait for an Arab Sherut to take us to the old Crusader city of Akko.   It takes an hour for the slow-moving driver to get us there, and we realize that I left the guidebook on the counter at the hotel.  So we sit in the tremendous heavy heat near the visitor center with no one in it who can speak English, and try to figure out what to do. Richard turned on the precious cellular data to roam, and reads to me from a website about Akko's history. After about 30 minutes, I hear English coming from a young American guy.  He says he's with a group of anthropology and archeology students from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio; their guide is Dan, an American who made aliyah in 1970.  I ask if he minds whether we camp on to his tour, he said no problem.   Problem solved!   We get a tour in English, despite no guidebook.  The guide also let us to an amazing Arab hummus place in the old city of Akko.

We also managed to connect with Doron and Liron Bilsky and their kids, Mor and .  Doron had just spent the day flying back from a business trip in India; but they wanted to get together, so they drove back down to Haifa from Nahariya.  We treated them to dinner at Barbarossa not far from our the Crown Plaza Hotel where we were staying.

Doron and Liron Bilsky, with kids Mor and Uri, and Richard and me

Port of Akko

Crusader vaults

Recently discovered Crusader staircase

Tomb engraving

Arab souk in Akko