Archiv der Kategorie: Israel

Israel, World Trip 2018-19

Haifa, Akko and Ceasarea – Exploring the Northern coast of Israel

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From Nazareth, I took a bus to Haifa – supposedly the „most beautiful city of Israel“. While I’m not sure who came up with that, it was a good base for the next days to explore Akko and Ceasarea from. I had found a host on Couchsurfing who showed me around Haifa a bit, even giving me a city tour by night which was very special, especially to see the Bahai Gardens illuminated which are already pretty enough during day time. Also, the views over Haifa were spectacular. Since it’s such a hilly city, there are many great viewpoints to be found.

The following day, I first took the train to Akko, where I walked around the old town for a while. While it’s definitely nice, it’s hard to take good pictures: there’s cables hanging everywhere, cars parked in the middle of what would be a perfect picture etc. Not very photographer-friendly. The old town is small and you can see the main sights within an hour or two. Sight-wise, I really liked the Al-Jazzar mosque with its pretty courtyard and interior.

However, the best overall experience in Akko was eating hummus at Sayd Hummus. It was by far the best hummus I ever had and a huge portion (as always)!

IMG_4405 (Kopie)

From Akko, I took the train back to Haifa and then got on a bus to the Or Akiva junction. It’s the closest you can get to the ruins of Ceasarea by public transport from Haifa without doing a crazy amount of changes. From the junction, you can then wait for another bus to bring you closer to the ruins, hitchhike or walk. I didn’t feel much like hitchhiking that day, so opted to walk the 25 min. When I reached the ruins, I was truly impressed by the size of the whole site! So far definitely the best ruins I have seen in Israel. The Amphitheatre however was a bit disappointing, looking rather newly renovated. They could have done a better job there.

Once I had seen the main cluster of ruins and watched the short movie about the history of Ceasarea, I made my way along the coast to the beach of Ceasarea with its photogenic Roman aqueduct. In hindsight, this was probably my favourite part of Ceasarea and it was too bad I didn’t think about bringing my bikini and towel to enjoy the beach a bit more.

So after some pics, I asked Google how to get back to Haifa and it spat out a very good sounding option where I’d have to walk only 10 min, get on a bus for 10 min, then walk for another 8 min to the next bus stop from where there was a direct connection to Haifa. For any other independent traveller: Don’t do this!! The foot path connecting the two bus stops does not exist anymore. There’s been some construction work in the area and there’s a gigantic earth mound. I climbed it to get an overview and then followed the path on the top which was leading me further away from the bus stop though. I couldn’t get down on either side anymore cause there were fences, and bushes. In the end I was running, trying to somehow make the bus and not be stuck in the middle of nowhere for hours potentially. I found kind of a road, and just ran really hard in the direction of the bus stop according to Google maps. My backpack zipper ripped open because of the bouncing and my camera dropped to the ground. It’s a mystery to me how it’s still kind of working up to now. I JUST made the bus, completely exhausted and sweaty. Like I said: Don’t trust Google Maps on this one and rather walk back to Or Akiwa junction instead!

Overall, it was still good to see Ceasarea though. I always get more interested in sights when I find out they are a bit hard to reach – same as with the Hexagon Pools before. And again, it was a success in the end – even though a sweaty one!

Next day I had another couple of hours to see Haifa, and decided to walk from Carmel Center to the Bahai Gardens, to take in some more great city views. I also walked a bit inside the gardens, however couldn’t walk all the way through without a tour unfortunately. I didn’t make it to the free tour, since I was gonna meet up with Michal, my host for Tel Aviv who was picking me up in Haifa with her brother, and my Haifa host, for lunch. Oh well, can’t have it all! The gardens were still really beautiful without a tour and I very much recommend walking around there! A good way to say goodbye to Haifa – by walking through the one part of the city that I would actually agree IS beautiful.

Israel, World Trip 2018-19

Nazareth – another special little town

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Nazareth was another place in Israel where I had always wanted to go, so when finally arriving in the afternoon from Tiberias, I was eager to just drop my stuff at the hostel and head out to explore! And that’s what I did. Equipped with a map from the hostel, I first made my way to St Gabriel’s church, Mary’s Well and the pretty square in front of them. The church was nice, but the well a disappointment and I continued my way to the main sight of Nazareth – the Church of the Annunciation.

This church was supposedly built at the location where Mary learned that she’d give birth to Jesus. I must say – I wasn’t expecting much since it’s actually a rather new church being built in 1969 only. It completely knocked my socks off though! It’s a huge and impressive church, built in a modern style with lots of modern art inside and outside. So far, my favourite church in Israel!

Also, St Joseph’s Church nearby is worth a visit. I continued walking through the little streets of Nazareth until sunset when the empty alleys became a little spooky and I returned to the hostel. I stayed at the Fauzi Azar Hostel, which is quite a special place since it’s located in a very old building with high rooms and paintings on the ceilings. It has a lovely courtyard, and runs a free city tour every morning which I joined the next day. It doesn’t bring you to the main sights but rather to some local businesses where owners introduce you to their life and work. While it was interesting, I had expected something a bit different. Quite some of the stops were shops and the owners were clearly interested in selling something to us. Since it was a big group, there were always people taking forever with their purchases. So in the end the tour took 1,5 h longer than expected and I had to forget about my plan of visiting Akko (north of Haifa) the same day. I still made it to Haifa of course, but wouldn’t have had enough time to go and see Akko anymore. In hindsight, I should have skipped the free tour, taken another quick walk around Nazareth myself and then gone to Haifa/Akko – but well!

Israel, World Trip 2018-19

Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee

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When I left Ramallah, I had to go back to Jerusalem to then catch a bus to Tiberias which would go into/through the West Bank/Palestine again. Makes no sense, but that’s how it is due to the political situation. Driving through the desert landscapes I remember thinking: would be nice to see some colours again. And Galilee region delivered! The landscape was finally green again which felt like a treat for my eyes.

I checked into my hostel in Tiberias and realized I still had some time to go see Safed, especially since the bus there was only gonna take about 30 min. In the end it took a little more than an hour and that without much of a traffic jam. Odd, but short bus rides so far always seem to take longer than announced – for no apparent reason. So once I got into Safed, I only had about an hour left to see the town before the sun would set and everything would close down. But I managed! Somehow. Because Safed is small, it is actually possible to explore the old town rather quickly. However, I ended up liking it more than I had thought and would have preferred a bit more time at my hands.

First, I climbed the little hill to get a bit of a view of the area. Then I descended into pretty little alleys which are dotted with small art galleries. They were so nice!! Of course, prices are high – but looking is free 😉 If you have the chance, I think Safed would make a nice place for an overnight stay – certainly a lot nicer than Tiberias.

Next day, I had a bucket list item on my list that was going to be a little difficult to reach: Since I had seen a picture of the Hexagon Pool somewhere in this www, I had always wanted to go see them. Only later on I found out there was no public transport to the pools. So I had to improvise. I found out that I could take the bus until Beit Zeida Junction and then hitchhike from there. And that’s what I did! Hitchhiking worked really well and quickly, and I was dropped off at the turn-off to the Hexagon Pools. Unfortunately I still had to walk about 30 min to the park entrance along the service road, with no car passing to get another ride. Once at the park, it was only about a 30 min hike down to Hexagon Pool – and it was completely worth the way! Just as amazing as I had expected. The black rocks look almost un-natural and reminded me of pictures of the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. Really really cool!

The way back was a bit easier: I joined some other visitors in their car back to the main road and then got a ride quickly on to Capernaum. Capernaum doesn’t have too much to offer, just a pretty church with red roofs. So after seeing that rather quickly, I suddenly came to the shocking realization that I was stuck again! The next bus from here to Tiberias was only gonna be in about 3h from now. No way I was gonna wait that long with nothing to do and see! But hitchhiking proved difficult since it was a big road and cars were passing too quickly to stop for me. I finally managed to get a ride back to Tiberias and was very relieved! Phewww, I definitely wouldn’t have gone to Capernaum if I’d known getting away from there would be so hard.

Back in Tiberias, I went for a quick walk to see what’s to see in Tiberias: not much. The sky was rather misty these days, so I didn’t get a clear view of the Sea of Galilee ever. The lake and horizon just melted together, you couldn’t see where one ended and the other one started… in other conditions I might have gone for a boat ride, but like this there was no point! So I packed up my stuff and hopped on a bus to my next destination – Nazareth.