israel: the end in jerusalem

soon after arriving in jerusalem at the beginning of my trip i decided i wanted to end the trip there as well, even though tel aviv is closer to the airport from which i would be leaving...i wanted to see a few more sights, and do some last minute shopping...i don't buy presents when i travel, as some people do, for several reasons: if i did buy presents, i'd be broke, because i travel fairly regularly...and if i did buy presents, some people would have homes full of crap
i began my last full day in jerusalem with breakfast at my hotel...a large spread, i had my choice of fruit, veggies, and hot dishes...when those sorts of breakfasts are available to me, i end up walking out with more than a little belly...

since my hotel was in easy walking distance of the old city, and there were a few places there i hadn't yet seen, that's where i headed...i wanted to see the church where the virgin mary was laid to eternal rest...
i ended up stumbling into a greek orthodox cemetary first, which was small and quiet...
from there i tried to find the church where the virgin mary was buried...after a few wrong turns, i found it, but it looked like the outer gates were closed, and i didn't want to push my way in...so i didn't, i kept walking, to see if there was another entry...there wasn't...

instead, i found a statue of king david...i looked around a little more, and found king david's tomb...or, at least, it is said to be the tomb of king david...it didn't seem very fancy at all for the man who was one of the most important men in the history of this area...the tomb is split into areas for men and women, following the custom of orthodox jews...as i stood there, i could hear a man wailing on the other side, and another giving a tour...(interesting contrast, to say the least)...
i saw stairs, and saw people going up, so i followed, though i didn't know where i was going...(me and stairs, i love them)...the stairs led me to the room where the last supper allegedly took place...it was later changed into a muslim prayer space, and a niche carved into the wall to hold something holy...um, yeah, wow, important history...

i also got to see a small room called the presidents room...i have no idea what it was supposed to raise awareness for, but there were heaps of old photos and knickknacks in there...it was full...
up those original stairs i got to look out over a bit of the old city...the view wasn't anything special, but it was still nice to be able to look out...
i walked back toward the church i'd originally wanted to see, and found the gate open...its called the church of the dormition...i followed a tour group through the gates, but didn't stay with them inside the church...inside the church are small little alcoves, most are decorated with mosaics...absolutely beautiful...downstairs in the crypt is where the virgin mary 'sleeps eternally'...

after leaving the church, i walked to a bus stop where i could catch a bus to mahane yehuda market...the main market i visited two weeks ago...during that first visit i knew i wanted to come back just before leaving the country to buy a few things...and buy i did...two fairly large containers of tahini, and two bottles of olive oil...YUM...i also bought pastries for snacks...YUM
that night i had dinner with noa, the lady who had hosted me during my first few days in the country...great to catch up with her, and talk about what i'd seen and done over the past two weeks... plus, the food was good:)

the next morning breakfast was again quite large, of course i took advantage...the shuttle i'd booked picked me up as scheduled, woo hoo...we all got to their airport, and the fun began...
not only do you get grilled with security oriented questions when you enter the country, you get grilled with those questions again when you leave...and they search your baggage...all of your baggage...it's annoying, but the israeli government sees these actions as necessary security precautions...when flying out of ben gurion airport, the suggestion is for travelers to get to the airport three hours before your flight is scheduled to take off...depending on queues and how detailed your security checks are, you might actually need the full three hours!!

israel: haifa, caesarea, tel megido, acre

getting from tel aviv to haifa was easy...i walked from my hostel to the bus station, then caught the next bus to haifa...arriving in haifa i found out the bus had dropped me off nowhere near where i wanted to be...in order to catch the city bus to the other side of town, i needed to buy a ticket...unfortunately, the ticket machine in the bus station was broken, and they didn't sell tickets on the bus...someone indicated that i should get on the bus anywho, and explain the situation if a ticket checker came along...needless to say, i was thrilled when that didn't happen...no one seemed to care that the machine was broken!

i checked into the place i'd booked, which was apparently just finishing being renovated...they hadn't even taken the plastic covering off the mattress! i did that, as the wrinkly sound was one i didn't want to hear every time i moved on the bed...
after getting myself organized, (which took waaaaay too long, i should've been faster) i set out to explore...i'd read the guidebook a bit, and knew there were a few things i wanted to see before they closed and stayed closed the next day during shabat...

i started with lunch...it turned out the falafel place i was looking for was closed for Boxing Day...really? argh...it wasn't the only place closed, it took me a while to find a place where i could get food relatively quickly...
i took a local bus to the naval clandestine immigration museum...it took me a while to find the entrance, i'm pretty sure walked around the entire place before i found it...the guards at the entry checked every single page of my passport before allowing me in...i'd love to know what they were looking for...i guess i was late in the day, as they didn't charge me an entrance fee, yippee!!

the museum was a lot bigger than i thought, and the way to go through wasn't particularly clear...(it was all written in hebrew)...i'm sure i walked through some areas backward...i loved going through the submarine, and missile ship...awesome :)
stairs across the road from the museum led to elijah's cave, another sight i wanted to see...it didn't look much like a cave, though it was originally carved from rock...people still use the cave for praying, and it is split into two sides, mens' and womens'...

after the cave i climbed up stairs on the hill, and hiked up as well, all the way to a monastery...the church was small, but beautiful...i waited a little while for a particularly loud group to leave, so i could enjoy the beauty in peace...walking along the street back down the hill gave me great views over the port area of haifa...lovely...i got to see the sky change colours as the sun set :)
the falafel place i looked for first for dinner was out of falafel...in a country like israel, who runs out of falafel??? argh...the second place i found by accident, and ended up being the best falafel i had in the entire country...YUM

the next morning i was up early, so i could catch a series of buses to caesarea...it's a set of greek (or roman, i can't remember) ruins...i found my way, i think i was one of the first people to arrive...a beautiful sunny day, right after official opening hours...i loved the hippodrome, it was easy to imagine horse races being held...you can climb up the seats/stairs all around, it's fun...
i didn't like the amphitheater nearly as much, since part of it has been restored, and i didn't think it matched very well...as much as i love seeing history, i don't love restoration of ruins, as it doesn't usually look right...at least, that's my opinion, others may disagree completely...

i also enjoyed the mosaic floor decorations in some areas, and it was fun to figure out what the different rooms would've been in the bathhouse...
after seeing as much as i could, i walked to another bus stop, and caught the first of two buses i needed to get to my next destination...i wanted to see the ruins of tel megido...
the bus dropped me off one stop after where i wanted to be, even though i'd told the driver exactly where i wanted to go...argh...it was not fun walking back along a very busy road full of people driving very fast...quite a few honked at me...

i entered tel megido at 1400...the lady told me the door to one area would close at 1430, so i only had 30 minutes to see everything...what i did instead, was head to that area, and see the tunnel in the underground water system, then work my way back through the ruins...the tunnel was nifty, though a bit humid...i couldn't really see anything special, except that it was a tunnel, and i knew it had once been an important part of a water system...as i went back up the stairs to the rest of the ruins, it felt as though i had the area to myself for a good 30 minutes...awesome!!

as i found out, the exit out of the water tunnel is how most people exit the ruins...there are no other public exits! i ended up trapped in the ruins, i was very lucky the clerk was still there to let me out...eeek! since she had already closed everything, i didn't get the chance to buy postcards, boooo...she took pity on me, and drove me to a set of crossroads, where i could catch a bus...
tel megido isn't very far from haifa...unfortunately, there are direct buses only twice a day, and i had long since missed the late bus...argh...which meant it took me a lot longer to get home than i wanted, but that's part of traveling...i was glad i got home before the buses shut down for shabat...

the next morning was shabat...in other words, a lot of places closed, little to no public transport, etc...fortunately, haifa has quite a few people who are not jewish, so they observe other days of rest during the week...
i walked to the bahai gardens, only to find out that the only part open to the public all the time is just a small section, at the bottom of the hill...the gardens are fully open to tourists only an hour a day, on a tour...i missed that tour time, argh...i should check these things out more carefully, especially when it's a UNESCO sight like these gardens...they're beautifully landscaped...
i ended up seeing some sort of bazaar at the bahai center, i never figured out what i was seeing...

i next wandered through a weekly market in the neighborhood called wadi nisnas...because it was one of the only things happening in town, it felt like EVERYONE in town was there...there were heaps of vendors on the streets, selling food, most of it yummy...i ate too much, of course :)...i had sahlab, orange/carrot juice, stuffed zucchini, bread wrapped around grape leaves, a jello-ish concoction with pomegranet, and falafel...the queues for two different falafel places were crazy long...it's too bad falafel is quite filling, otherwise i would've tried sandwiches from each place to see which was best...

it was crowded to walk around, but it was fun to watch people, both locals and tourists...
the next day i was up early again, to catch a train to acre (akko)...i used google maps on my phone to walk to the old city, which is a UNESCO sight...it must've really been off season, as it felt very very empty...
it wasn't easy to figure out where i was in the old city, as the streets were not at all in a grid system...i kept checking the book map and google maps, and i was never where i thought i was...i would've been lost foreva if i had not had google maps!

one place i did find was the museum of underground prisoners...entry required another very thorough check of my passport, and every item in my purse was examined as well...the exhibits were really well done, and the atmosphere matched...
i hurried back to the train station, and caught the next train back to haifa...i hurried to my favourite falafel stand and got a couple sandwiches to go...then i grabbed my stuff from the guesthouse, and walked to a bus stop to catch a bus to nazareth...
i would go back to haifa, with more planning in terms of time :)