Our Trip to Israel

 

 Here’s a map that Marc put together showing the places we visited.  Two of the sites listed on the map didn’t get visited: Tiberias (we had the opportunity to visit Tiberias after dinner on day 3, but passed) and Be’er Sheva (itinerary was changed to skip it).  Mamshit is where we rode camels.  Zefat is an alternative spelling for Safat.

 

We started in Tel Aviv, went up the coast through Caesaria and Haifa to Rosh HaNikra.  Then east to the Sea of Galillee, visiting Safat (Zefat) and staying in Nof Ginosaur.  Then down to Jerusalem for 3 days.  Next we went to the Dead Sea and Masada.  We went to Eilat, stopping at Mamshit on the way down, and then back to Jerusalem, stopping at Ramon Crater on the way back.

 

Here’s my Journal of what we did, complete with pictures:

 

Monday 6/26/06 (Day 1)

The flight to Israel, arriving in Tel Aviv, getting McDonald’s for the kids, walking along the beach near our hotel

 

Tuesday 6/27/06 (Day 2)

Tel Aviv (Independence Hall, the place where Itzhak Rabin was murdered), Caesaria, Haifa (the Bahai Temple), Rosh Hanikra, Kibbutz Nof Ginosaur

 

Wednesday 6/28/06 (Day 3)

Jeep tour of the Galilee, Safat (Sephardic and Ashenazic synagogues), the raft trip down the Jordan, Marc’s birthday celebration at the Kibbutz

 

Thursday 6/29/06 (Day 4)

The kibbutz tour and the Yigal Allon Center (with the Jesus boat), the tank, Bet Shean (more ruins), tree planting in the Jewish National Forest, Mt. Scopus, dinner in Jerusalem with cousins Stuart and Marci and kids, walking around Jerusalem after dinner

 

Friday 6/30/06 (Day 5)

The archeological dig and the bullet factory, dinner at the King David Hotel with Stuart and Marci and kids

 

Saturday 7/1/06 (Day 6)

Visiting Miri and Orly (and kids) in Herzelia, visiting David in Tel Aviv, dinner in Jerusalem

 

Sunday 7/2/06 (Day 7)

Jerusalem (Hadassah Hospital where the Chagall windows are and Yad V’Shem), the Dead Sea (the cosmetics factory and floating in the Dead Sea)

 

Monday 7/3/06 (Day 8)

Climbing Masada at 5 am, camel rides, lunch in a Bedouin tent, dinner in Eilat

 

Tuesday 7/4/06 (Day 9)

Eilat: aquarium, snorkeling, dinner cruise

 

Wednesday 7/5/06 (Day 10)

Maktesh Ramon crater, S’de Boker (Ben Gurion’s home), dinner in Jerusalem with Stuart and Marci and kids

 

Thursday 7/6/06 (Day 11)

Jerusalem: “Bar Mitzvah” at the wall, Davidson Center, Burnt house, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, shopping, Tunnel tour

 

Friday 7/7/06 (Day 12)

Jerusalem: the cancer hospice, Israeli Museum, shopping, services, dinner at the King David Hotel

 

Saturday 7/8/06 (Day 13)

Jerusalem, the Fuchsberg center, visiting David in Tel Aviv, the flight home, getting McDonald’s for the kids, and epilogue