Israel: Day 3

We started our day bright and early with a 6 a.m. wake-up call. After getting ourselves organized and our luggage packed and ready to get loaded into the bus, we headed into the breakfast room, and that's when I knew I really liked Israel, because it was a delicious spread of all kinds of Mediterranean goodies. There were different kinds olives and roasted vegetables and cheeses and chopped salads, and Shakshuka (poached eggs in spicy tomato sauce) and yogurts and pastries and fruit and granola and other things I didn't get around to trying. All that, topped off with delicious coffee made me a happy camper.

Our first stop was the town of Caeserea, a seaside port built by Herod the Great (aka The Baby Kilłer...also mother and son killer. In other words, Herod the Not So Great). The port is mostly excavated ruins now, but I liked walking along the sea and trying to imagine what it would have been like with up to 100 ships in port, and crowds at the ampitheater or watching chariot races in the hippodrome. 

We then drove to Mount Carmel, the sight of where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and they had a showdown with sacrifices and fire coming from heaven. A little monastery is there now, and we climbed to the roof, which overlooked the Armegeddon valley. My mother stared down at it and blithely informed me, "Well, there's where it all will end!"... I was relieved when one of our guides later reminded everyone that the Armegeddon prophecies are open to interpretation and should perhaps not be taken literally!

After our brush with the apocalypse, it was time for lunch, and we stopped at a small place run by a nice Arab family who fed us a delicious feast of falafel and schnitzel with all the fixings, the best homemade hummus and a whole array of chopped salads and slaws. We had little sesame shortbread cookies for dessert with a shot of special coffee, spiced with cardamom. My mother doesn't drink coffee, but it was so good she loved it. 

We drove through Cana and into Nazareth, the boyhood home of Jesus. We visited a recreation of nazareth village, which I wasn't very excited about (I have a low tolerance for people running around in costumes pretending theyre living in a different time) but actually ended up enjoying it very much as it was small and well-done. Plus there were sheep and olive trees and other interesting plants and things.

It took us awhile to drive through traffic to the Sea of Galilee and Tiberious, where we will be staying for the next three nights. Our hotel is very nice, and after making some phone calls home, we headed down to dinner, which was another extravagant spread. We both proclaimed that we really didn't need to eat, but somehow managed to put down fish and roast beef and chicken and salads and desserts...basically everything on the buffet.

After a little stroll along the pier, we were both ready for bed. Tomorrow we explore more of the Gallilee area.