Thursday, November 7 – Go West! And North. Then South.

Thursday, November 7 – Go West! And North. Then South.

We checked out of the kibbutz in the morning, along with the swarm of Nigerian tourists we had noticed a couple of nights ago. Ever cheerful, they sang as they loaded onto their buses.

And I did note that the Dona Gracia museum and dinner at Decks summed up our time in Tiberias. Once again, a bit frustrating. Tiberias has played a huge part of Jewish history (it was once a major center of Jewish study with the graves of prominent rabbis) and I’ve yet to actually see any part of that. Somehow, maybe next visit.

For sure it was clear (at least to me) that Gila was definitely more organized than Raffi – clearer and more exact in her instructions. We were to have our luggage out in the hallway by 7:30 a.m. and meet in the lobby to load it onto the bus at 7:55 (7:55? Not 8:00ish?), so we would be on the road by 8:10 at the latest. And indeed we were.

Heading even more north and then west to the coast, as far as we could go – up to the border with Lebanon at Rosh HaNikra – to begin our journey down to Tel Aviv by evening.

Rosh HaNikra is sort of (but not quite) the white cliffs of Dover – daunting and beautiful white cliffs, with water carved caves and rock formations within. Previously a railroad tunnel was blasted into the rock to build a continuous track through to Beirut. The bridge connecting two cliffs was blown up by the Plamach during the Israeli War of Independence in a coordinated event to cut off all access to the fledgling state.

The cable car dock was empty – I flashed-back to my previous visit in August, 2003, when we had a 45 minute wait in the blazing sun and heat. Once on the other side, we could look up to the top of the cliff to see the bristling barbed wire fence marking the border with Lebanon.

The Mediterranean was at low tide, so the caves and grottos were calm – still beautiful, but not nearly as dramatic as they can be at high tide with the waves crashing and sloshing at your feet.

I was also noticing that Gila was better at bathroom breaks, pointing out every opportunity.

Still missed Raffi, though. Something about the rabbinical approach to things. Though I suspect that was what was annoying to some of the other folk in the group.

Back on the bus, we made our way to Akko. Ten years ago all there was to see was ruins of the Turkish/British prison. Since then a great deal of excavation has revealed crusader buildings underneath. Beautifully preserved, with very little reconstruction required.

Let’s not forget about Crusader toilets:

Though I knew there was a shuk in Akko, we went nowhere near it. We continued on to Caesarea, Herod’s pagan city.

Again, ten years ago there was very little to see – only the reconstructed theater. Now, it was the huge ancient city Herod built, including a palace on the shore for himself, and a hippodrome to entertain the masses.

And let’s not forget ancient Roman toilets:

Gila and the Roman Toilets

Even with all our efforts to stay within our allotted time, somehow we were running a little late – the gates to the site were closing at 3:30, and now we were in a rush for the final bathroom break, the final photos of the theater as we went jogging out the gate (the theater was the only thing to see 10 years ago and now we would miss).

Onwards now finally south to Tel Aviv and our first taste of Tel Aviv rush hour traffic, including an ordinary toll booth. I asked Gila if Israel has transponders (like EZpass in the U.S.) but amazingly enough they are not common, and at there is no consistent/uniform system.

As we chugged along through traffic, Gila organized a group of us to go to dinner together at a restaurant called “Benny HaDahg” (Bennie the fish), a seafood restaurant. Interestingly enough, Benny the Fish was not kosher, since crab and shrimp were on the menu. Certainly this would not have been Raffi’s suggestion.

We arrived at the Tal hotel, located at the northern most tip of Tel Aviv’s beach just around the corner from the new port. Greeting us in the lobby was Micki, whom we hadn’t seen since a week ago last Thursday at the airport. She proceeded to apologize for Raffi and hoped that Gila was working out better.

Sure, of course, Gila was indeed very good.

Though we did have to cancel that annoying wake-up call for the next morning.

A brief break in our room before dinner, we detected cigarette/cigar smoke. Before we went too far with unpacking, we called the front desk who agreed to move us to a different room in the morning.

Those of us going to Benny the Fish met in the lobby and we walked the 5 minutes along the boardwalk to the new port.

It was a really, really good thing that Gila was with us. The wait staff was so incredibly arrogant and rude that for sure Andy and I would have walked out after 5 minutes.

Menus were brought out, but it was useless.  A list of available fish and how they could be prepared? Except that only 3 of them could be filleted, and no, you can’t get Saint Peter’s fish filleted and grilled. Whole, half-fried, half grilled. Take it or leave it. And those side dishes? Forget it. The chef decides the sides for the day take it or leave it. Today? Baked potatoes. Want fries? You’re out of luck.

Water was out on the table, but I ordered a big bottle of “soda” (a/k/a seltzer/club soda). For me. Myself. The waiter brings it out and proceeds to start pouring my soda in other people’s glasses! Stop! No! that’s just for me! AHHHHH!

Fortunately, a quick rearrangement of clean glasses solved that little problem.

A flood of “salads” (the Israeli term that really seems to mean “appetizer”) came streaming to our table. Good news – the food was excellent.

My grilled sea bass was a little dry, but Andy’s baked sea bream (whatever that is) was very good.

Stuffed to the gills (pun intended) we toddled our way back to the hotel. Good news! Free wifi everywhere in the hotel, not just in the lobby! Finally!

But, there was no standard hotel book describing the hotel’s features/amenities/T.V. stations. We asked about it at the front desk, but they had absolutely no clue as to what we were talking about. And the T.V. selection turned out to be the worst of all the hotels till now.

Ah well. Looking forward to waking up with a stuffy head due to the lingering cigarette smoke.