Birthright Israel: Day 1

After landing VERY early in the morning, meeting Alex and Yonit, and having some sandwiches for breakfast, we got on the bus and were on our way to start our adventure in the holy land!

 Katie and Becky on the bus!

Our first stop was Caesarea, a complex of Roman ruins on the beach of the Mediterranean between Tel Aviv and Haifa.  Ruins are not as tightly regulated and protected in the middle east as they are in other parts of the world, and we were free to climb all over them before starting our opening icebreakers and letting the fact that we were sitting on the sands of the holy land sink in.

 

Climbing all over ancient ruins.

The Mediterranean seen through the Roman aqueduct in Caesarea.

Roman aqueduct

Icebreaker game of rock-paper-scissors.

Alex showing us where we were and where we were going.

After a sufficient amount of icebreakers and photo ops on the beach and ruins, we moved on to Ramat Hanadiv nature reserve, at the southern end of Mt. Carmel. The park is a memorial to Baron Edmond de Rothschild, and it was a good hike to get the feel of the land, some nice views, and see some more Roman ruins.

Views over the valley, where Jewish settlers first started to come back to the holy land in modern times (the last couple hundred years).

Alex, reading us passages from the Torah about where we were.

Part of the same aquaduct we saw in Caesarea on the beach

Ruins of a Roman bath

Pretty views along the hike

Carob tree

Yonit told us to hug the carob tree ("You guys, this is a holy tree! You're in the holy land, and this is a holy tree! HUG the holy tree!")

Memorial gardens

After this hike, it was finally time to head to our final destination for the night and home base for the next few days: Tiberias.  Tiberias is one of the four holy cities in Israel, each with its own element - Tiberias is water, as it rests on the Sea of Galilee.  Israelis call the Sea of Galilee the "Kinneret" because it is shaped like a harp. Christians believe the entire area around the Sea of Galilee is where Jesus's miracles primarily took place - this is the water he is supposed to have walked upon, the Sermon on the Mount is supposed to have taken place on one of the hills nearby, etc.  Tiberias has been there a long time, since the sea lies along the Jordan river route and has been a major trade route throughout history.

Our first view of Tiberias, one of Israel's 4 holy cities, where we would spend our first Shabbat and our first few days in Israel.

Since it was a Friday, that evening was our first Shabbat in Israel.  It was really neat, and could have been an even better experience if we hadn't been so completely jetlagged from our 2-day traveling ordeal... after the ladies all came and each lit a candle, we did our best to stay awake through some short services, helped by some singing and dancing, and then it was time to eat.  Dinner was great - hummus, potatoes, veggies, salad, challah... we ate very well in general throughout the entire trip.  After doing my best not to fall asleep in my food, I went to bed around 8pm and fell fast asleep, in order to beat the jetlag and wake up the next day ready and adjusted to Israel time.

The dining area, all ready for us to have Shabbat dinner.

[As always, I do not put every single picture I take into this blog.  To see the entire album of photos I took while on Birthright, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtashalocke /sets/72157628872433827/ When I get to my extended, post-Birthright part of the trip, there will be a new album for those photos as well.]