Jordan Fail - Israel Win!

We had planned to go to see a few things in Jordan, including Petra and Wadi Rum. I was really excited to go driving a 4WD through the desert, but turns out it was not to be. Would you believe that in one of the hottest countries that I have been to, it was snowing! So in our attempt to get to Petra, we got 3/4 of the way and had to turn around and go back because the roads were blocked. That made our decision to go into Israel earlier rather easy - so that same day, we got a taxi to the border. We were expecting to get questioned for a long time or at least I was, considering the stamps that I had on my passport. It took about 3 hours worth of questions, searching bags, and waiting for us to get through (and with a great sigh of relief) we set of to Kiryat Tivon to stay at Zevs Uncles house.

Kiryat Tivon is a beautiful little town which I eventually had the pleasure of staying in twice. However with Phoebe, Zev and now Podge in tow, we all stayed in one room at Davids house which was really lovely. We cooked food and drank wine and spent a little time winding down from Syria. We also went to Nazareth and to Akko which is a seaside town. We went to Haifa as well and saw the Bahai gardens (I nearly died climbing to the top) but it was absolutely stunning and actually reminded me a lot of Lebanon being that it is a port city.

Once we left Tivon we went and stayed with some other relatives of Zevs for a night at a Kibbutz called Beit Ha`Emeq. They grow Bananas and Avocados. We were shown around the place the morning after we got there and we were allowed to pick Avocados that had fallen off the trees. I'm pretty sure we ended up with about 8 or so that we took with us.

Then off we went to another Kibbutz to see a friend of Zevs and stayed there for a night as well. We ate home made Shakshouka at Tehilas and then went out for a beer. We also went to see a friend of Zevs in the area the next day in the Arab village that was right next to the Kibbutz. It was such a wonderful experience. He took us to his mothers house for coffee and we sat talking for a quite a while. His Mum also gave Phoebe and I scarves each that she had brought back from Mecca. He does some really fantastic work with kids in this village and he showed us around the new building for the youth programs that he runs which was just so impressive for a town like theirs where people assume that they all do nothing but cause trouble. Definitely a highlight.

Somewhere in there we did the Rosh HaNikra Grottoes which border Lebanon. We watched a fantastically terrible information film about the history of the area and the train line that used to run right through into Lebanon but was blown up by the British for fear of an attack years ago.

We then headed to Tiberias where we got a hostel for a couple of nights. Tiberias is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel. Since the sixteenth century, it has been considered one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities with Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safed. According to Christian tradition, Jesus performed several miracles in the Tiberias district, making it an important pilgrimage site for devout Christians. Tiberias has historically been known for its hot springs, believed to cure skin and other ailments, for thousands of years. We went to these hot springs and although they didn't really cure me of anything besides maybe sore shoulders, they were really beautiful and a nice way to chill out after running ourselves ragged.

Finally we arrived in Jerusalem.