Sunday, March 30, 2008

Tel Aviv





I arrived in Tel Aviv at 6 or 7am - who knows - less than three hours sleep on the flight from Barcelona. Luckily my hotel had a room early, so I slept until 11am. I then walked along the beach, only one block from my hotel. I bought a phone card, got cash and a few groceries. Most shops close at 3pm on Friday for the Sabbath. It was even difficult to find a restaurant for dinner.

On Saturday I was going to take a bus tour - but there were no busses, not even public ones. So I walked to old Jaffo, over 4 miles, only to find my favorite restaurant (and waiter) closed. And now, I had to walk the four miles back to my hotel. I was going to stop at the Carmel Market, but figured that would be closed too. There were lots of people on the beach and on the boardwalk. There was one group of people doing traditional Israeli dances (only one gay couple participating).

On Sunday I took an all day tour to northern Israel. We started in Caesarea, the ancient Roman Capital and port. We walked through the archaeological ruins and excavations and sat in the theatre. We continued to Haifa, a very modern city high on a hill. We visited the Bahai garden and viewed the Haifa port. The next stop was Acre, the Crusader underground city and crypt. We then drove to Rosh Hanikra to visit the limestone grottos. We were lucky, because the sea was rough and there was a lot of wave action in the caves.

Sara - DO NOT READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH.

On exiting the tiny cable car from the grotto, we turned left and were at the border to Lebanon. Of course, the border is closed now, but I was 20 yards from Lebanon.

On Monday I visited the shopping center, looking for another cycling shirt. I then visited Carmel market and got lots of interesting photos - which will be posted in a few days. On the walk back to my hotel, I purchased an interesting metal sculpture - a multi-colored cyclist. I bought this instead of the shirt.

I left the hotel and make my way to the airport for my long journey home - via London and Miami.

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