israel: nazareth and zippori

my bus to nazareth was easy and smooth...when i got off the bus i was rather amazed that i was standing in the town where Jesus grew up...i thought i would feel something, but i didn't...it's one of the more arab towns in israel, i didn't have to worry about anything being closed if i was there over shabbat...
i'd booked a hostel in the middle of the old walled city, and i'm REALLY glad they had posted directional signs on some of the buildings, or i never would've found the place...i think everyone who stays there has the same comment, and it's the only complaint possible to make of that particular hostel...it's called fauzi azar...

i stayed in a dorm room, which was once the master bedroom of the house...i can't imagine only one bed in that room, it's huge! there were eight beds in there, and it didn't feel crowded...
the next morning i was up in time to thoroughly enjoy the amazing breakfast included in the price of my bed...a great spread, with lots of variety and quantity...too bad it doesn't last all day :)
i joined the free tour of the walled city offered by the hostel, it was awesome...the tour started with the owner of the hostel telling the story of her family, and how the house ended up as a hostel...it's a great example of people of different religions and cultures working together to make something amazing...if you look up the place online, you can find the story...

from there we were taken around the old walled city...it has gone through some really bad times, and is now coming around, being cleaned up...all the hard work being done to revitalize the city is pretty impressive...we saw a couple cafes, a couple tailors, part of the fresh produce market, other areas...the last stop was showing us the big spice shop...it was BIG...i knew i'd come back to buy spices before i left town...the smell alone was fantastic...
after the tour was over, i went to lunch with a couple others on the tour...they turned out to be a traveling couple who were writing a blog, and hoping to make money out of it...falafel, of course :)

after eating we went to the basilica of the annunciation...built over the alleged sight of mary's home...the upper level was very modern, and beautiful; the lower level, the grotto, was old, and beautiful...the front of the building is stunning, lots of people take photos :)
we also entered the white mosque, which wasn't as amazing, but still interesting...we tried to find an old synagogue, but didn't succeed...ugh...
i split with the couple, they were heading out of town...i went back to the spice shop and bought ginger, hot paprika, and dinosaur rocks (chocolate :)...i wanted to buy more, but since i live by myself, it takes a long time to use up any quantity of spices...

i dropped the spices in my pack in the hostel, then walked back to the area where i'd eaten lunch...across the street was the greek orthodox of the annunciation...(apparently the orthodox kept the tradition of being slightly different from western christians in terms of major events and places)...this church is just down the street from the other church of the annunciation...i put on my head scarf, then entered the church...the painting and decor everywhere is very bright, and very coloured...small, and beautiful...
i had dinner and tea with three other people who had also been part of the tour in the morning...an italian, an austrian, and a hong konger...we all ate too much, and it was worth it :)

the next morning i again overindulged in the amazing breakfast, YUM...
a relatively new trail called the jesus trail had been open, and i wanted to see part of...the trail is said to go from nazareth, to the sea of gallilee and around...i think i read somewhere how long it takes to do the whole trail, but i don't remember...the beginning of the trail has a lot of stairs, getting out of nazareth...it's easy to follow the trail, just look for orange dots along the trail...the dots are on poles, trees, rocks, etc...i only got confused about where to go a couple times...

i walked the trail all the way to zippori national park...in the middle of the park is a set of ruins from a really old town...(this is israel, there are ancient ruins everywhere, from a bunch of different civilizations)...the mosaic floor decorations of the synagogue were awesome...the views from the hill over the area were also pretty fantastic...
the walk back to nazareth was easy, i bought more ginger at the spice shop...
that night i had dinner with several other folks staying in the hostel, we cooked in the kitchen...yum!

that night was new years eve, but i was long asleep when the fireworks went off...