Nazareth
Eloise and I sit in the second floor of the Church of the Annunciation, closing our eyes as we listen to the muezzin call the faithful to prayer from the nearby Mosque. It’s muggy and hot inside this art gallery of Mary mosaics. Catholics from around the world donated gigantic 10-15 foot mosaics, depicting the Annunciation to this church, the largest in the Middle East. From the pew where I am sitting, I see the altar in front of me, and behind it, a fresco of the life of Jesus spanning the entire wall of the alcove.
The center of the room is octagonal, with each arch leading to a different chapel. Unlike most Medieval churches, this one is bathed with sunlight, which enters in through the stained glass and regular windows on the dome, and from the open doors. It’s quite new though, just 40 years old.
Mahroum Sweets.
What a great break. We hear the clear, low voice of the sermon giver in the mosque outside of the pastry shop. What can be better than soda water, knaffe, and a Muslim sermon on a Friday afternoon?
The owner of the shop was delighted with our knowledge of Arabe (shway, shway Arabe). I love people like this owner, quick to smile.
The knaffe was delicious, and as we sat at the small table inside of the pastry shop, infected by the sweet aroma of freshly baked treats beside us, I read in my tour book the name “Mahroum Sweets.” Little did we know that we stumbled into a shop advertised in my Fodor’s Israel guide. Naturally, I scurried up to the counter, guidebook in hand, and pointed to the page, “Look! Mahroum Sweets!” The owner, chief cook, and bottle washer – Mahroum himself – looked at the book and then at me and smiled politely. I wonder how many guidebook-wielding tourists have done the same thing I did.
Akko
I love meeting new people. We continue our adventure to Akko and have picked up a third traveler.
Rotem picked us up outside the Plaza houtel in his father’s Subaru, which gets free gas because the company pays for it, of course. Eloise met Rotem on the flight from Switzerland to Israel with her sister Alice, and now here we are touring northern Israel, instant friends. We’ll stop in his village, Kfar Veredim (Village of Roses). We’ll also see the border of Lebanon near where Gilad Shalit and two otherh soldiers were kidnapped two years ago. We hope to see Israel’s most beautiful beach as well.
Rotem is so French, with his black and white striped shirt and his long, drawn out “Ouuui.”
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We zoomed through Akko, taking pictures every few meters all the way to the port. How humid Akko is! I still didn’t see the Mosque however, and we didn’t stay long enough to get lunch at Hummus Said. Next time, perhaps.
The highlight of this Akko experience, besides wandering around the crusader streets and smelling the myriad aromas from the markets, was a chance encounter with a lady at the port. Eloise was doing what she does best, taking random, tourist photos, only to find that she sparked the malicious anger of a homeless women just inches away. This woman turned violently toward Eloise, spouted a few choice curses in Hebrew about the fact that Eloise was taking photos, and then proceeded to swat at Eloise’s hand that was holding her camera! Eloise, the sweet and polite Swiss that she is, was just simply too overcome with shock to know how to react. I could only manage a stifled and bewildered laugh and Rotem quickly saw how ugly the situation could get and led us away from the crazy old lady, who had not yet finished with her derogatory remarks toward us.
Nahariya
What a beautiful beach town. It feels like Via Reggio, a small town just south of Cinque Terra in Italy. Nahariya is the place to party. All along the shore, one finds scores of clubs and bars sitting cozily beside the beach, with couches and lounge chairs as far as the eye can see.
Because it was only about 3 in the afternoon, we were just about the only people on the beach. In about 7 hours, it would be crawling with hundreds of locals ready to party until the early morning. It’s a great music venue for House and Trance music lovers.
Rosh HaNikra
Rosh HaNikra rests right on the border with Lebanon. As we walked up the small incline to the border crossing, I kept thinking to myself that this was near the place where three soldiers were kidnapped in 2006, which sparked the Second Lebanon War. Here at Rosh HaNikra, members of Hizbollah offered the coffins of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldvasser in exchange for five Lebanese prisoners on July 16, 2008, a decision that sparked a great deal of controversy in Israeli politics. For two years, Hizbollah had remained vague regarding the state of the Israeli soldiers, and it was only confirmed at Rosh HaNikra that the soldiers were dead.
The view of Israel’s coastline cannot be beat from this point of view. This is Israel — a constant mixture of beauty and harsh realities. There is a tiny restaurant near the border, where you can enjoy a coffee and the ocean view. It’s amazing to see how flat Israel is on its coastline. I felt like I could see all the way to Tel Aviv.
Then we walked to the border crossing and glimpsed Lebanon from the slits in the large gate that separates both sides. Although the gate is plastered with signs warning against photography, tourists in a steady stream would come right up to the gate and take as many pictures as possible before inciting the rage of the guard who was on duty.
Kfar HaVeredim
Tucked into the hills between Haifa and Nazareth is the small moshav called Kfar HaVeredim. It’s hard to describe how beautiful this village is. It’s not quaint; it’s not even that small. Instead, it is filled with house after house of magnificent architectural designs. Rotem’s village could be one found in Switzerland or an elite neighborhood in the U.S. Apparently, the richest man in Israel lives here, and we passed by his gigantic house with its 3-car garage – entirely unheard of here.
We parked the car at a small fenced, photo-op spot and then hiked up a hill a few meters. There we found a breath-taking view of the valley below and the sea to the west. Standing there, I forgot I was in Israel.
Rotem treated us to a delicious steak dinner at the restaurant where he works near Carmi’el called HaDeraleyah. It’s a beautiful, charming restaurant overlooking a small lake where you can rent paddleboats. It only seats around 75 people and the cuisine is delightfully non-kosher. I ate carpaccio with Parmesan cheese, and was in heaven. We ate filets over buttered mashed potatoes and had a side dish of Portobello mushrooms swathed in sweet and sour sauce. Our dessert was a decadent chocolate mousse covered in a dark chocolate mold.
Haifa
After dinner, Rotem, Eloise, and I scrambled back to Nazareth to meet up with Amir and Issa, easily two of my favorite people that I’ve met here. After exchanging Rotem’s father’s Suburu for Amir’s sister’s Land Rover, we were off again to the north, headed toward Haifa, trying to find a nice place to sit, drink and talk. We walked up and down Ben Gurion Street, looking at the dimly light Baha’i Gardens at night from its locked gates. We settled finally for a hole-in-the-wall place in downtown Haifa and drank caperenas, and talked over the loud music, ubiquitous to bars the world over.
Near Golan, Lebanon, and Syria
The following day, Eloise and I found ourselves back in the Suburu with Rotem and his friend Nevo, driving toward the northeast and Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). We ended up simply driving past Tiberias and took another highway north through Tzfat and on up toward the direction of Mt. Hermon, where Israelis can find ski slopes in the winter, and Syria passed it. We found a quiet place near Sede Nehemya where we rested and enjoyed snacks by the Jordan River. It was beautiful, as we watched floats and kayaks bumble down the small rapids in Kfar Blum and Beit Hillel boats. People lounged by the river, sunbathing, laughing, playing soccer, playing with their dogs, smoking nargila, fishing – it was a lovely afternoon. We sat on blanket, translating French, Hebrew, and English so we could all follow the conversation. It’s so lush and green in this part of Israel. Hills to the north point to Lebanon, hills to the east lead straight to Syria. The Hula Valley is absolutely gorgeous. I wish I could see it in the Spring.
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