Caesarea, Haifa and Olive Farm

Wednesday, October 22, 2014.

The 'amphitheater' (with apologies to David...)

Only a fraction of the original port that once
held 500 ship behind a break-water.

It was another restless nights sleep, but this time, we made sure we got up early enough to thoroughly enjoy the big breakfast.  Our first stop was the Caesarea National Park.  It was a great city first built by Herod the Great as a tribute to Rome and Caesar.  It eventually became a huge deep-water seaport and had all the trappings of a modern Roman city:  palaces, official courts, large theatres, bathhouses, and even a hippodrome (e.g. chariot races….).  

Later (after Jesus) when the Jews revolted and the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, Caesarea became the capital of Palestine which had now become a full Roman Province.  It eventually was taken over by the Byzantines (early Christians) who were later defeated by the Muslims who were later defeated by the Crusaders, etc, etc……

Aquaduct that brought fresh water.

Sharing a great chocolate gelato

We drove up the coast toward Haifa and had lunch on Mt. Carmel, plus a quick stop for gelato (ice cream), before visiting the Baha’i Gardens, which have a commanding overlook of the Haifa bay.  

Baha'i Gardens

The Baha’i faith is mono-theistic (only ONE god) but they believe that god has been revealed to the world throughout history through Moses, Abraham, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna, etc……  They embrace science, service to humanity, equality for all, and finally:  world peace.  It’s hard to argue with their objectives.  Many of their members volunteer a year of service.

Looking down on the gardens

These are olives! (Ellen made me do it.)

Just outside Haifa, we stopped at an olive farm in a Hasidim village.  The Hasidim are typically extremely conservative, orthodox Jews, but this particular village allowed and lived with neighbors who were 'secular' Jews.  It’s an unbelievable story including persecuted Jews accepting a ‘wild west’ Russian Cossack ‘cowboy’ who becomes their leader, and who then has a son who ends up writing the book/screen-play we now know as “Top Gun”.  Check out http://www.yonayolives.co.il/Site/he/pages/inPage.asp?catID=74&subID=76 if you don’t believe me!  We did learn a lot about growing olives and then got to bake our own pita breads and enjoyed a wonderful vegetarian meal.  Of course, we purchased olive oil made right at that farm.

Making our own pita's (They did taste better than the guys made them look....)

cooking the pita's

Our meal....

We then drove to Nazareth and checked into our hotel just after dark.   After a quick break, most of us headed out for 1 ½ mile trek thru the business area but then up the hill past the “Church of the Annunciation” located where the angels first told Mary about what was to happen…….

Church of the Annunciation (from below)

Back to the hotel and maybe a full nights sleep??????