Israel Part 3: Haifa and Caesarea

Our next stop was Haifa, where we stayed for 3 nights. Haifa is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean Sea, then a 5 minute drive up the mountain, you are in a Mt. Carmel National Park. Haifa is Israel's 3rd largest city, an incredible example of co-existence between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and interestingly home to the Baha'i faith. We stayed very close to Haifa University, at the base of Mt. Carmel and it was a perfect location to see lots of things. We arrived late in the evening, and our first full day there, we went to the Haifa Zoo. We don't have a zoo in Jordan, so it was a real treat for the boys to go...and it was a workday, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves!

Lots of animals were out an about!

Benjamin enjoyed the bunny and turtle petting zoo, and then they let a bunch of sheep in to play too. Caleb wasn't so sure about it, so he hung with us.

It was a fun few hours at the zoo, and then went downtown to eat lunch and look around. This was the old German colony, which was one of the first settled colonies in Haifa in the 1860's, by the Templars. You can't really tell from the architecture, but it was much older and German feeling in this area, and full of German restaurants!

We found a good restaurant and introduced the boys to Schnitzel, which was a huge hit. They pretty much ordered it any where we could from there out - surprisingly it was popular in Israel and they had a few other opportunities to eat it.

We ended the day down by Dado beach, which has a boardwalk and some restaurants. It was too cold to swim, but we walked along the boardwalk, the boys picked up sea shells, and we had ice cream before sunset.

Caleb writing his name in the sand :)

Love, love, love these 3 :)

The boys love rolling down grassy hills...and so they did!

What a gorgeous place!

We drove up the mountain to Mt. Carmel National Park, where we enjoyed the sunset and a little hiking.

Another afternoon, we visited Haifa University, walked around the campus, and got some ice cream.

View of Haifa from the university.

There was a nice playground a couple of blocks from where we were staying.

Another day, we drove about an hour down the coast to Caesarea, a seaside town with a lot of history! It was dreamed of and built by Herod the Great around 25-13 BC. It was the center of the Judaea Province of the Roman Empire, and later capital of the Byzantine Palaestina Province during the classic period. The city fell to the Arabs in the 7th century during the Muslim conquest, stayed this way until the Crusader conquest, then it was abandoned after the Mamluk conquest. The town was re-populated in 1884 by Bosniak immigrants who settled in a small fishing village. In 1948, the village was conquered by a Palmach unit, and in 1952 a Jewish town of Caesarea was established near the old city and made into a national park.

This is the entrance to the park. It was a beautiful day to explore.

To the left was the amphitheater.

Remains of the harbor.

Remains of the palace.

Where the Chariot races were held.

The boys had a lot of space to run!

We ate lunch on the harbor, and enjoyed a peaceful and beautiful view of the Mediterranean sea.

Next stop is Megiddo and Nazareth...stay tuned!

Israel Part 2: Kibbutz Kafr Masaryk and Rosh HaNikra with the Jolliffs!

The next stop was a surprise visit with the Jolliffs! The boys were pretty excited to see their cousins and of course aunt and uncle again. We stayed at Kibbutz Kafr Masaryk, which was a really interesting experience. A kibbutz is a communal community based on agriculture, and it's a form of socialism. Fun fact, in 2010, there were 270 kibbutzim in Israel, representing 40% of Israel's agricultural output. This kibbutz was home to about 500 people. The founders of the kibbutz settled in the area in 1932, from Czech and Lithuania. The Kibbutz moved to it's current location in 1940 and was named after the first president of the Czech republic. 

It was cool and raining on and off, but that didn't stop the kids from running around and having fun. We had two cabins each with a loft. The big boys had a slumber party in our cabin and they had so much fun together. 

The next morning we had the opportunity to eat in the communal dining hall. This was the walk attempting to find it. 

Abigail and her pink and purses...love this girl!

Different structures along the way.

We found the dining hall! Breakfast was interesting. We got there late apparently, so we had toast, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, and some salads. Sam said the chocolate milk did not taste like milk...let's just say we left kind of hungry.

Say cousins!!

It was an interesting place to stay and we had a fun time. Next stop was about 1/2 hour north to the Lebanese border, to visit the grottos at Rosh HaNikra. They are caves that have been formed in the rock as a result of the intense pressure and waves that hit the rocks. The caves go about 200 meters deep and are pretty extensive. Where the water color changes, is about at the Lebanese border - we were close!

In the 1960's the British built a tunnel for the Haifa-Beirut railroad, and then build a second tunnel. For many years, the only access to the caves was from the sea, and swimmers and divers were the only ones able to visit. Shortly after the second tunnel was dug, a cable car was build to take visitors down the cliffs to the tunnels. The cable was was not working that day, but we got directions to drive down to the caves. Once we parked, the boys spotted a bunch of honey badgers feasting on some colorful vegetables!

Entering the tunnel to get to the grotto....

Don't mind the sign, we were told it was ok to enter!

Rosh HaNikra was a passage point for traders and armies between Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Africa. The British began building the railway in the 1920s and in the mid 1940's began extending it into Israel and Lebanon. The bridge at Rosh HaNikra was destroyed in in 1948 by the Palmach, to keep Lebanese arms shipments from reaching Arab forces that opposed the UN Partition Plan. It is also the location where the Israeli and Lebanese negotiated the armistice agreement in 1949.

Entrance to the grottos

The water was pretty rough!

Everyone enjoyed walking through the caves.

Sweet girl :)

Afterwards, we stopped a few minutes down the coast to this beautiful beach and stayed for several hours talking and letting the kids play. It was such a gorgeous day and the first day in many that we felt sunshine and even a little hot!

The kids played down by the water, climbed rocks, collected shells, maybe fell in puddles water a few times.

Spring time is in effect and things were really green.

Sweet Abram. He was recovering from some sickness, but was really perky that day, and just loves his sister and being with the big boys. He is full of energy and fun to be around!

Abigail enjoyed being with us on this visit, and we loved getting to hang with her a lot!

I think Benjamin collected sea shells almost the entire time we were there, and he came home with a really nice collection!

Sam and Benjamin have a special bond, and it has been fun to watch it develop over the years.

Family pictures :)

The boys were very interested in this Israeli Navy ship that kept watch of the coast and border, and was a bit closer to shore by the time we left.

Hap, Nathan, and the big boys threw around the football for a while.

We had a really fun visit with everyone, and are so thankful to be 'close by' for the the next couple of years! Until next time :)

Next stop, Haifa and Caesarea!