Golan Tiberias

... I went out around 6pm to check out an area called Porriya. We made our way up the hill on a little rural road just south of the Tiberius proper. We had a breathtaking very vertical ride to the top with breathtaking late afternoon views of the lake. Once at the top it was amazingly windy. We wound around through the Porriya neighborhoods and took road 768 through the backside of Tiberius. From this vantage ...

... up to the Lebanese border, and then over to the Sea of Galilee and Golan. Travel books advise that a car is the way to do this, since sites are so scattered about and the countryside is extremely scenic. Who were we to argue, particularly since these parts are known for extreme heat and humidity? Thus, as of yesterday, we are in the air-conditioned (ahh!) comfort of a Hyundai Getz, a zippy little thing, and I'm enjoying being behind the wheel after almost 3 months ...

... too cold in the winter). Built on very steep hillsides, it has amazing views of the harbor and Akko (Acre) on the other side (14 km.), famous for its Crusader fortress, which served as a prison for the Jewish underground by the British before independence.<br><br>Our car scrambled and struggled up the switchback roads up the hill to our hotel, the Nof ("View"), which lives up to its name. We relaxed on the patio overlooking the city ...

... an amazing view of the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights beyond. <br><br>For dinner, we headed back into town, to the Scots Hotel, housed in a stone castle of sorts, where we heard there was a good restaurant with a view of the Sea. When we balked at $50 for the (admittedly lavish) buffet, we discovered that we could eat a la carte upstairs, where we had the place to ourselves, and a better view to boot. The waiter knew his stuff, and soon Kevin was having a ...

... immediately, I morphed into the hyper-competitive intramural maniac who rages inside me, and that famous edge of mine, gone for nearly one year, was suddenly back. It goes without saying that we ended up winning the competition, as well as the Coke bottle and potato chips that came along with it. Every time we meet up within our tzevet with our commander, we are supposed to write up and prepare a little piece of paper to essentially tell her who is present at the "chet." We ...

... maintain the place on their own, and the gardens have a feel of perfect symmetry and elegance that attracts visitors, not to mention members of the Bahaii faith who make their way over once per year.<br><br><br><br>We also toured the German colony immediately below the Gardens. This street stretched from the mount until the sea in a straight line, which is noteworthy because all other roads curved around and in between parts of the Mount Carmel mountain range ...

... and a 6-month intensive Hebrew course for olim. The truth is, I think my parents would consider making aliyah once Dad retires and Bianca's older, they have plenty of relatives and expat Australian friends in Israel - and for people who are kosher and even remotely religious, Israel provides perhaps a better lifestyle than back home. But not for me - when people ask me if I'm an Australian first or a Jew first, I struggle to answer.

... again &amp; then decided to walk up the beach for ice cream. We washed off in the showers provided right there on the beach, which we expected to be ice cold, but was actually very nice temperature. There were many shops offerring all sorts of food, ice cream, drinks etc. We found the afore-mentioned chocolate coveed banana ice-cream delicious ice cream. Joy got a buble gum ice cream with gummies in it &amp; Sarah got watermelon ices. Morris &amp; Tal got ...

... areas of the Tel, where excavations are underway at different depths. As we walk up the hill, we split off to go to our various excavation zones. Some of us dig down in the Bronze Age levels at the virtual start of recorded history, some in the Iron Age, some even later in the Assyrian Period, after the fall of Megiddo to Tiglath-Pilesar III, which is where the Chicago Expedition stopped digging in most areas of the Tel in the 1930s. Here is where we are working: Area ...

... magnificent amphitheater that remain standing today. The lack of fresh water at Herod's new city required a lengthy aqueduct to bring water from springs at the base of Mt. Carmel nearly ten miles away. In order that the water would flow by the pull of gravity, the aqueduct was built on arches and the gradient was carefully ...