Chichako’s Weblog

Wow, I can’t believe I completely forgot to write about all the scandalous activity there was in Tel Aviv.  Well it was all actually closer to Jaffa.  On Sunday, when we were roaming around the Old City a man had been washed ashore, his shoes, clothes and mind all lost at sea.  His long stringy hair and stark naked body shocked and embarrassed all the tourists out for an afternoon stroll.  Ok, he probably wasn’t shipwrecked and lost at sea.  He was probably mentally ill and/or drunk.  The military police picked him up at the edge of the old town and were not so kind to him.  Kneeing him and pushing him back to the ground.  Needless to say it was an experience.

Then, Matt and I were walking on the beach last night around sun set and a girl in a thong bikini was practicing her yoga right there on the VERY public beach.  It was pretty funny watch all the heads turn as she went into downward dog in her sun salutations series.  I won’t even do this position in shorts, with my butt way up in the air, feeling compromised and conspicuous.  I’ll giver her props on her confidence and maybe question her judgement. 

That was the scandal of the big city.  It is amazing the vast difference in acceptable dress and behavior of individuals from city to city just in Israel. 

Tel Aviv didn’t quite strike my fancy of a place to hang out seeing as it is “just another big city.”  Fortunately I spent the last two days there.  The highlights were a funky seamstress shop near Allenby road, the Old Jaffa Hostel, Sabich on King George St., and Florentine St. 

After several hours of exploring the markets and shops on Allenby and King George St on Sunday, Kellie and I wandered it to the most amazing seamstress shop in the WORLD.  It was on the section of the street where all the fabrics are sold, and there was nothing too distinguishing about this shop, at first glance, except for the large bags out front made out of shear material.  Upon entering it became quite clear that this was no ordinary place.  There were a few exceptionally unique dresses on the right wall, along with scarfs, and table cloths.  On the left hand wall were several bags, not a one of them the same.  At 25 Shekels a piece, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

On monday Matt and I drove Grandma and Kellie to the airport, in Tel Aviv, to see them off.  Matt and I were both supposed to be on that plane, but he decided a long time ago that he was going to stay and I decided positively on Monday morning that I was going to stay (at least for another week) as well.  It was nice to be completely dependent on public transportation once again.  We took the train from the airport to Tel Aviv, took a bus to Jaffa, accidentally took a bus to Bat Yam, and then a bus back to Jaffa, a bus back to the train station, the train back to Haifa, and a bus back to the neighborhood.  In Jaffa we found the greatest market.  One part was a flea market/ resale area.  There was a section of furniture and decor. And a rather large section dedicated to clothes and other accessories for the body.  Having our fill of the area we headed back to King George Street to visit the resale camera shop.  Here we found the most amazing pita sandwich called a Sabich: humus, eggplant, salad, cilantro, spices and sauces and fresh herbs that I don’t even know.  Very, very delicious.  www.sabich.co.il

Wanting to feel a bit independent and to check out the young traveling scene we stayed a night at the Old Jaffa Hostel. http://www.telaviv-hostel.com/index.htmI can’t believe I forgot to take pictures of this place, but it was awesome.  If you read anything about this hostel, you will hear about the roof, and for good reason.  In the evening. it is cool and comfortable.  There is a kitchen up there, plants, comfortable furniture, a water fountain.  It is by far the best atmosphere for hanging out, sitting and reading, drinking coffee, waking up, napping, sleeping.  Whatever suits your fancy.  On the weekends you can sleep on the roof, it is seemingly the same as paying for a bed for the night in the dorm rooms, but you get to sleep on the roof.  We tried to do that, but were turned down.  Not to be missed is the shower up there, there is nothing better than an outdoor shower.  Not to worry, it is very private.  After checking in to our dorm rooms, we headed down to Florentine street.  The entire way there I was positive that we were going the wrong way.  The walk from Jaffa took us into an industrial/commercial area.  But when we turned onto the street and saw this place

we knew where we would be spending the next couple of hours.  Tel Aviv seems to have quite the night life, but a 5am alarm to get to the airport hampers the ability to keep up with the energetic youth here.  Some of the guys staying in Matt’s room went to bed at 5 or 6 this morning, just as the shops were opening and Matt was waking up.

Eilat was an interesting place.  Las Vegas meets Sea World.  Although there were no casinos, no swanky lounge  singers (that we saw anyway), or elaborate stage shows there was continual entertainment on the streets.  The promenade lined with boutiques separated the shopping mall and over sized hotels from the Red Sea.  Most of the beach here had been taken up by restaurant after restaurant, leaving little walking space for the beach comber.  On the west side of the bay were the dive shops, para sailing outfits, the aquarium theme park, the oceanic observatory, the camel farm. 

The coral reefs were beautiful, but the day we went snorkeling it was very windy.  The warnings the lifeguards kept shouting out about staying close to the jetties because the wind and current would carry us further south made us hesitant to get too adventurous. 

Timna Park was rather amazing, 25 km north of Eilat.  There were caves and arches and pillars to explore, all naturally made in the sandstone hills.  There were also ruins here from Egyptian copper mining. 

Eilat was not quite what we had all expected, even so we enjoyed what we did.  The downer of the whole trip though was grandma breaking her ankle on a late evening walk on the beach.  The experience of the emergency room and the search for crutches and trying to get her up and down stairs left us all feeling a little down and out.  We got her back to Haifa safely where she has been holed up in dad’s apartment.  There are too many stairs for her to get up and down on a regular basis. 

The Dead Sea has to be one of the most unique places on earth.  Although it is only the second saltiest lake, at 30% salinity, its shores are the lowest point on Earth accessable by just the human body (or on dry land).  The shores lay 1378 ft BELOW sea level.  The Jordan River trickels into the ever shrinking Dead Sea, and lays between Israel and Jordan in the Jordan Rift Valley giving the lake a spectacular surrouding landscape of desert mountains.  The water is blue, blue, blue and is a quite comfortable bathing temperature.  Floatig in the Dead Sea is probaby the closest experience to weightlessness that I will ever have.  As soon as your feet leave the lake bottom you are suspended in the water, upright with the water hitting at chest level.  As you pick your legs up you come to a floating position on the water’s surface, making it appear that everyone is floating in inner tubes.  Floating on your belly is also an interesting experience, holding just your head out of the water the rest of you hovers at surface level.  Kind of seemed pointless for mothers to put arm floaties on their children, they only need to make sure they hold their head out of the water.  After 5 mins in the water, a slimy flim forms on your skin making it feel like the skin of a fish, only wthout scales. 

The first time we got into the Dead Sea was at Ein Ghedi Spa.  We covered ourselves in mud from the Dead Sea, floated in the Dead Sea and in sulfur hot tubs.  It more had the feeling of co-ed bath house than a luxurious day spa.  We went on a saturday and it was packed; tourists, old and young, male, female, famlies, young couples, little kids.  After lunch and returning to Kibbutz Kaliah 30 km up the road, we returned to the Dead Sea for another float.  This time we went to the Kaliah beach which also had the mud, but the beach here was sandy and mud unlike the Ein Ghedi beach which was precipitated salt. 

There seem to be several Kibbutz along the Dead Sea, the one we stayed at was Kibbutz Kahlia.  A kibbutz is similar to the US phenomena of Communes.  Not really knowing the inner works of either a Kibbutz or a Cummune, I can’t give details. 

On sunday we left Kahlia and headed to Eilat, but not without a mandatory stop at Masada.  Being 10:00 in the morning and the day already getting too hot, we took the cable car to the top of the plateau instead of hiking up.  It is an hour hike up that needs to be done in the cool hours of the morning with plenty of water.  Atop this plateau were palaces, living quarters for commoners, storage units, look out towers, bath houses, senagougs.  King Harod took over Masada in 43B.C. making it a thriving community.  He even had the flood waters into the Dead Sea damed and a water system built to redirect water UP to the plateau.  The most famous story of Masada was the last stance of the Jews against the Romans.  Most simply, the Romans were taking over areas in the Negev Desert.  A group of Jews escaped to Masada and had several months worth of supplies.  The Romans could not successfully invade the well positioned fortress and therefore started to build a ramp out of dirt and rock against the northern palace wall.  When Elazar ben Yari realized that a take over was inevitable he proposed a mass suicide instead of being taken as slaves.  10 men were chosen by drawing shards of pottery, which were recovered by archaeologist.  These 10 men killed all the men, women and children and then each other and the last committing suicide.  When the Romans broke through the next morning they met a stillness that was saddening rather than victorious.  The Romans however did find 2 women and 5 children that hid during the mass suicide and recounted the story to the Romans.  Needless to say Masada was amazing.

Now we are in Eilat, after a long drive through the desert.  More on Eilat later.

On Sunday I was bound and determined to see and do as much in the Golan as possible.  First we headed down to the Druze Village for breakfast, which turned out to be falafel and schnitzel.  Breakfast of champions.  We then went down the most twisty turny road that would give San Franciso’s Curviest Road in the World a run for it’s money.  After quite a long drive our first stop was the Tel Dan Nature Reserve and Historical Site.

The Tel Dan is home of ancient ruins dating back 7000 years including the Isralite Gate, Wells, Flour Mill, Ritual Site.  Between the vegitation and the roaring Dan River this is a wonderfully cool and inviting environemnt.  Standing on top of one of the walls and looking across the vally and up at the surrounding hills made it very understandble why this spot was chosen for a city.  Now it is a nature reserve with many visitors, a majority of them under 3 feet tall and in diapers.  The Pooh Bear Tree (as in Winnie the Pooh) and the wading pool are the reason for all the little people.

Next we tried to get into the Banias to go swim in the pools and play in the water falls.  Being a holiday though, the resort was closing early.  Wanting to see Nimrod’s Fortress seemed more interesting to some than swimming, so we headed up the hill to Nimrod’s.  This site proved to be rather interesting and tons of fun with the spiral staircases and nooks and crannies all over the place.  It would be the most amazing site for a game of capture the flag.  The coolest thing about the castle is the word “assassin” was derived from one group of the castle’s inhabitants.  Hashashins (or Hashish users) used to smoke hashish before going on murderous rampages, because of the practice they became known as the Hashashins. 

After our tour of the Castle we headed back down the hill and stopped at the Kinneret, or the Sea of Galilee.  Wanting to take the fam to the “magical” swimming hole I saw with dad, I drove almost all the way around the Kinneret (at least we did by the time we headed home).  Having sat in the car for way to long and having the chinsy notes I took two weeks ago, I couldn’t remember where it was so we just stopped.  Well the first place we stopped they wanted 70NIS to go jump in the Sea of Galilee, this was a 24 hour pass, but we only wanted to stay an hour.  Thinking this was rather ridiculous to have to pay to swim in Jesus’ lake we headed back down the road.  Seeing a bunch of cars pulled off the side of the road underneath the “Swimming Prohibited” Sign, we stopped, changed into our bathing suits and hit the lake.  It was quite amazing to be in that blue, blue water and look up to the mountains all around you.  The Serene environment was intruded upon by the police boat honking and sounding its sirens.  None of the locals made their way out, so we slowly worked our way back to the beach and headed home….not being sure of the “punishment” for swimming without paying we didn’t want to take too much of a chance.