Travel Journal

Israel (Oct 2006)

With Liz and Paul 'out of Africa', this was our first chance to visit them in their new home, Tel Aviv. My Dad was there when we arrived, heading for home mid-way through our stay - the first time Dad, Liz and I have been on holiday together for 20 years!

Paris ... en route

The flipside of preferential fares is flying on stand-by ... or should I say, not flying at all? Hence, our enforced stop-over en route to Israel. With full-fare-unaccompanied-minor-Mark already heading for the beach in Tel Aviv, Adam was less than enthusiastic about a day-trip into Paris with his parents. C'est la vie!

Tel Aviv and Jaffa

Liz and Paul have a fantastic appartment spread over the top three floors of a block on Dizengoff Street. Ten minutes walk from the beach, and five minutes from the park.

Fantastic weather all year round - with the possible exception of October half-term week!

Jaffa, first inhabited 4000 years ago, is now a southern suberb of Tel Aviv, its much larger and younger neighbour.

Jerusalem

With Liz as our guide we visited Jerusalem. A remarkable city - from the 'Wailing Wall' to the Dome of the Rock to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in a few short steps.

Temple Mount, on which the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque stand, was earlier the site of the first and second Jewish temples in Jerusalem. It is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest site in Islam, and one of the most contested religious sites in the world.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built on the Hill of Calvary, where Jesus was crucified. It is also said to contain the place where Jesus was buried (the sepulchre).

Nazareth and Galilee

From Tel Aviv we set off on a two day trip to see some of the sites of northern Israel. First stop, north-east from Tel Aviv, was Nazareth and the Church of the Annunciation.

Centuries earlier this was the site of a Byzantine church built over the place where it is believed that the angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary.

From Nazareth we headed north-east again towards Tiberias and the Kinneret, or the Sea of Galilee, the site of numerous biblical stories and equally numerous churches to mark their locations.

Ein el Asad

Heading further north, to within about 15 miles of Lebanon, we stayed the night in the Druze village of Ein el Asad - the Eye of the Lion. Fantastic hospitality and a pretty good history lesson from our host Ziad, and a comfortable stay in his cabins - but don't forget the mosie spray!

Caesarea

The last stop on our tour was Caesarea - another site of immense historical interest, stretching back to the days of Herod and beyond.