Dona Gracia Tiberias

... A good tip is 10%, a great tip is 15%. The waiter also told us he was from a Christian family whose whole family had moved from their ancestral village in north Galilee to a different village around 12 miles away. That his old village was now a Muslim Village. One of the two villages was called Kfar Hananiya. He said he was one of 8 children and that most of his siblings had moved to other parts of the ...

... camera hummed with activity.<br><br>FInally, our Jerusalem stay was concluded with a long walk to the busy downtown district, and to Ben Yehuda street, a hip pedestrian only area, abuzz with shops, cafes, street performers, and great people-watching opportunities. We found the Ben Yehuda market a few blocks away, reminiscent of life 100 years, as it teemed with people picking up their vegetable, meat, and sundries, shopping from stalls with men yelling out their ...

... marked by yellow buoys as far as one could see. We took the cable car down (the steepest in the world) for the brief ride down, just in time for the English explanatory movie, then it was onto the slippery path into the caves. The sea waters roared into the caves impressively. Kevin's claustrophobia, however, got the best of him, and he made for the exit as quickly as he could. A look at the tunnel the British built through the cliff during ...

... Although it was about 100 degrees out, we walked around and through the amphitheatre, bathhouses, temples, main streets lined with columns, etc., set next to a hill we were not about to climb, even if the views were great. Of interest was a Roman bathroom, apparently unisex, and tumbled columns from an earthquake in the year 749, still laying where they fell. <br><br>We pushed on to Tiberias, a modest resort town on the hills leading down to the Sea of ...

... first few days in the open desert, the commanders set up a competition between each 11-person team, in which nine different stations tested our abilities and teamwork in applying what we had learned. Here is how it went down: After my tzevet (team) was instructed to move after completing our first station, I heard some screams and shouts coming from another location, where another team was apparently celebrating a good performance in their first test. Something about that set me off ...

... feel," as its "symbol" (like the Liberty Bell for Philadelphia) are the two large refinery towers in the working part of the city. As it said on Wikipedia: "Haifa works, Jerusalem, prays, and Tel Aviv plays."<br><br><br><br>We arrived at the train station right along the coast. The weekend's forecast called for rain, the first of its kind since I arrived in Israel, and it was clear from the start that the weather in Haifa would be colder than what it'd been ...

... must be pretty difficult at the moment, and I was happy to hear him talking about the history of the area we were in. And it's a pretty significant area - literally 50 metres from our restaurant was the part of the Jordan River where Jesus was baptised!<br><br>Back at Dan's place, where I decided to sleep the night, Chava and Zameer were discussing with me why I should make aliyah like Brendan plans to do. For people who have ...

... foamy part of the wave to jump, which is not easy for my kids to do alone, so I had to hold onto them. But it was still fun! Then we sat on the beach a bit, while the kids played in the sand and collected some smooth rocks. We all cracked up &amp; loved it when a big dog, golden retriver, entered the water &amp; proceeded to swim. It was so cute! Made Morris miss Gunner (our dog) even more &amp; prompted him to make a list of 3 things he needs to do ...

... on it to look to the defense of Israel. As we drive to the Tel, we pass through fertile wheat fields on rolling hills overlooking the Jezreel valley. Driving through these hills in the early morning dark and coolness is a time to look out the windows and muse on times past. Who lived here 3000+ years ago? What was life like for them in their villages and towns? What wars were fought here? What will become of this land in the future? The sun is still not up as we ...

... fun too. We have not yet been to Caesarea, so it's seems like a good choice. Caesarea was originally called Straton's Tower after its founder Straton, who is believed to have been a ruler of Sidon in the 4th century BCE. In 96 BCE the city was captured by Alexander Yannai and remained in the Hasmonean kingdom until it became ...