12th January – Our Israel tour start with meeting our tour guide and driver Effram (Effie)

The breakfasts have been amazing at the hotel so its difficult to have to leave. The waitress remembers that I had ordered the omelette ‘with the lot’ on the first morning. I decline this time as we have an early start. We meet Effie our guide for the tour. He tells us he likes Aussies as they had saved his business by still coming to Israel when buses were being blown up (we are either courageous travellers or just plain dub J) As he drives us up the coast he tells us that a lot of the troubles that Israel have are over-reported in the media. He lives near the Gaza strip and said you get used to the rockets at night….just rolls over and goes back to sleep!

We visit Caesarea, which is apparently famous for much more than Caesarea stone kitchen benches. It had a man made harbour built in the time of Herod. Pontius Pilot was also governor here representing the Romans and overseeing the most reported conviction in history. 

Cesare - Roman Theatre

Amazing Aqueduct...what have the Romans ever done for us!

Haifa - from the Baha'i Temple

We also see a Roman aqueduct that is still being uncovered. The ‘engineers’ were impressed. The girls stayed in the bus. We have lunch in a small town nearby. Girls still manage to find a shop and buy stuff (all on sale of course)…..so much for the historical tour. We visit Haifa the port city which is the headquarters for the Baha'i religion

We move onto Acre, an ancient city built by the Crusaders in the 12th century that had been buried and built over. It is now being slowly uncovered. It looks in better condition than the city built above it. Keystone arches are a wonderful invention. 

Uncovered Crusaders City

Starting to rain now so we rush through the marketplace (umbrellas being strongly promoted but we are already equipped). The drive to our Kibbutz hotel is long and in traffic most of the way. We are relieved to find that we don’t have to harvest our own breakfast in the morning. Kibbutz’s have been somewhat commercialised since my sister Vivienne had worked on one in the 1980s.

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