Sep 27 – Western Galilee

We were off at a ridiculously early hour today.  We left the hotel a little after 5:15 to walk to a nearby hotel where we caught a tour bus.  This tour bus took us to a central location where several tour buses were waiting.  We found the bus for our tour, Pearls of the Western Galilee. 

An hour plus drive took us up the coast of Israel where we stopped at a large Roman aqueduct that was built to serve the Roman city of Caesarea.

It was on a beach and there were a lot of beach goers and people fishing.  

There was also what appeared to be a swimming race out in the water. 

From there we went to the Caesarea National Park.

We visited the old Roman theater that had been thoroughly restored.  It is now used as a performance venue. 

We visited the site of the palace…

that overlooked some baths that had been built partially into the sea.  But they were freshwater baths. 

There were a number of fishermen nearby.  The guide said that it was illegal to fish from the ruins but it looked like that law was pretty much ignored. 

There is also a very large hippodrome where chariot races were held.  It is over 980 feet long and 160 feet wide...reallly big.  And there was seating for over 13,000 spectators.  

From Caesarea we drove to the city of Haifa and up to the top of a hill to view the Bahai Gardens.  Unfortunately, because of the Jewish New Year’s (or so thinks our guide), the gardens were closed.  There are 19 terraces that descend to the bottom of the hill. 

We had good views of Haifa and the harbors from above the gardens.

The bus driver took us down to the bottom and circled around the round-about so that we could see the gardens from the bottom.

Those not of the Bahai faith are only allowed to descend the gardens.  They cannot climb them. 

Next stop was the Rosh Hanikra…the Blue Grottos of Israel.

We took a shuttle to the bottom and we walked through a very narrow passage carved into the limestone cliffs to the grotto.  It is pretty magical in the places where the sun is shining into the water inside the cave.

The limestone coastline right here is pretty rugged.

We are right on the border with Lebanon.  We could see it…so near and yet so far.

Israel side of the border.

We then drove to the city of Acre (Akko in Hebrew) where we stopped for lunch.  The walk to the restaurant took us through a lovely garden...

and part of a market. 

It was falafels again.  The pita and hummus with it as well as the falafels were really good.  During lunch we had a lovely visit with four young people from Lithuania.  They are here for a week for the wedding of a friend. 

An after lunch walk led to a view of the Mediterranean and some of the city walls.

The group also stopped at a shop specializing in copper work.  A coppersmith showed us how the pieces were made.  He made a wide copper bracelet and gave it to Mary as a souvenir. 

The group then took a tour though the Hospitaller Compound.  The Hospitallers were crusaders who focused on providing medical care and lodging for crusaders.  The buildings certainly looked like they were from the time of the crusaders. 

and adjoining museum were interesting.  The museum had a bread stamp.  The presence of the stamp imprint on the baked bread was an indication that the appropriate taxes had been paid on the bread. 

We all took a walk through a very small escape tunnel.

Then it was back on the bus for a 2+ hour drive back to the hotels.  Along the way we saw another, much newer aqueduct.

Lunch had been so late that we skipped dinner.