נ. ג. ה. ש .It stands for נס גדול היה שם, which translates to "a great miracle happened there." Well, in Israel the dreidel is different. The ש changes to פ for the word פה, which means here. So instead of it being a great miracle happened there, it is a great miracle happened here, but here is Israel, where we are.
So yes, though over a month late, this will be a Hanukkah blog.
We were lucky enough to be given the week off to celebrate the holidays. We had 10 days to do whatever we wanted, with nowhere to be.
Allisabeth spent the week backpacking with her boyfriend down south. Dan, Nicole and Lindsay rented a car and joined Ron up north at his family. And Jackie, Erica, Taylor and I thought long about what we should do.
We could wait last-minute and search cheap deals to places like Greece and Turkey? But we didn't want to take any chance, and we certainly knew that we weren't about to spend our vacation wasting in Ramla.
So we decided to take note from the rest of the group and rent a car. Leaving Ramla on a Sunday we would grab our car up in Tel-Aviv and spend the next four days traveling the country. Sounds great, I mean what could go wrong? It's not like we would be forced to pull over on the side of the road for the cows to pass by.
Sunday comes around and Jackie and I wake up early, the first of many days where we would be rising before 7. We wake up Taylor and Erica, making sure they would be ready when we returned, and headed to Tel-Aviv.
Our first taxi almost crashes and we're stuck with headaches for the next hour from all the beeping and Israeli cussing.
And then we finally see the big BUDGET sign and rent our little getz.
Now the problem is that none of us have ever driven in Israel. So of course I was not the one to be the main driver. (I mean, you guys mostly know how horrible of a driver I am!) But this also means I am stuck reading the map, and navigating where to go.
That should have been our first sign. But we went on. After 3 u-turns and missing our exit on the highway we were finally back in Ramla. We picked up the rest of the girls, packing up the car, and headed up north.
We spent the first day exploring Ceasareas. A small town on the west of the state, about a 2 hour drive from Ramla. A small city that Herod the Great dedicated to Ceasar more than 2000 years ago.
It was a windy day with a beautiful sky. The scene alone was more than enough to forget about the water hitting us from the massive waves or the fact we could barely walk due to the wind. But it was amazing. We spent over 3 hours touring the area, walking in and out of the ruins, climbing the steps of the old theatre, and attempting to get into the gift shop (though it was closed by the time we got there). The only thing that bothered me was the fact that a lot of it had been "fixed." I understand that it is an amazing place and a land that should never be empty, but really? What is the point of adventuring through an ancient city when it really isn't as ancient as it should be? The theater had bars on it to hold people up, some of the passages were filled with wood chips to keep them up, and everywhere you looked something was new, just trying to improve the old.
How does that make sense? If it is a ancient landmark, let it be ancient. Don't make it into a tourist attraction, that is not what it was meant to be.
Since most things in Israel close around 4, we still had the later half of the afternoon to fill our time. We drove to Haifa where we were planning on finding a hostel and spending the night. But after figuring out the numbers and talking it over, we realized it would make more sense to drive back to Ramla and start again early on Monday.
Monday we were planning to explore Akko and Rosh Hanikra, and we had found the most adorable Tzimmer, called Pivko Village, to spend the night. Tuesday we would spend the morning exploring Tsfat and in the evening head over to the Tiberius Hot Springs, all before setting up camp in an Israeli National Forest. Wednesday we thought to hike some more and spend another night relaxing at a camp ground before heading home Thursday morning after a quick ATV ride around the Golan Heights.
Monday worked fine. After finally arriving in Akko and finding the sacred area we spent the day sight-seeing. I quickly fell in love with the old Akko prison. Besides the fact I could spend all day taking photographs, it was just simple amazing. Something about the feel of the place, with the dark clouds racing above and the coldness to the air made it really feel like a prison.
I quickly lost the rest of the girls and started to explore. Since we were rushed for time I never made it down to the cells, but did explore the sleeping quarters, the guillotine room, and the check-in areas.
Some of the rooms had been turned into Museum areas, displaying information about the old prison, and some were filled with statues of what used to be. My favorite room was the most creepiest, a squeaky-dark room filled with no windows and tons of dust. I actually hated that I had to leave.
We then roamed the quarters to the Mosque. With our shoulders covered and shoes o
ff we sat in the "viewing" area, made for non-Muslims, and watched. About 20 minutes later I realized I was the only one left and turned around to leave. But I could have stayed forever. The place was a photographer's heaven. The way the natural light lit up the room and the symmetry off the designs. I left the entire area of Akko knowing I would be returning soon.
We then were off the Rosh Hanikra, an area I loved seeing last time I was here. Unfortunately, the weather was stormy and most of the areas were closed off. I even managed to slip once or twice, but not before making friends with the fisherman attempting to catch some food!
We spent the afternoon relaxing in our cabin, sitting in the hot tub and enjoying a real bed.
Because of the weather our plans had to change. The mountains we were planning to hi
ke and camp out were closed due to the weather, and we simply couldn't afford a hostel after splurging on our perfect bungalow, so after spending the day at Tsfat we would be forced to head back to Ramla.
Tsfat was great, cute, and amazing. We walked around all over and I fell in love. At one point of the day I lost my hat only to return later to find it. I really should stop losing things, but lucky for me, somehow they manage getting back to me.
After we left Tsfat we headed to Tiberius to enjoy a night swim in the hot-springs. The water smelled and of course with my luck I ended up leaving my Florida I.D at the place. Seriously, why do I carry things?
Tuesday night we were back sleeping in Ramla and Wednesday woke up early to head to the Dead Sea area. Taylor decided to stay in Ramla, so Jackie, Erica and I heading the long route (since we were told not to drive through the westbank) and hiked the beautiful mountain of Ein Gedi, which was amazing place to watch people of all ages hiking. Kids as little as a recent new born was being held by the parents as they hiked away, and a group of 4 70-80 year olds (we asked) were climbing faster than we were!
We hiked for almost 5 hours, seeing beautiful views along the way. What was wonderful is how by looking at the view you could see the hills of Jordan resting by the Dead Sea area.
At the end of it all we headed to the Dead Sea and soaked up the mud! Unfortunately it was freezing, and of course with our luck, beginning to rain in the desert, so I barely managed to stay in for more than 10 minutes before I ran for cover.
By Wednesday night everyone was exhausted. Still having the car for one more day we decided to take advantage of it and go to the grocery store, allowing us to get everything we needed, without having to carry a thing!
Thursday Erica and Jackie decided they wanted to see a movie, so I convinced Corey to spend the day exploring with me. We dropped them off in Rehovot and headed to Beit-Shemesh to see the Sorek Caves, which though the tour was in Hebrew, we still got to feel like we were living in the underworld palace from Little Mermaid. I even attempted to steal some of the droppings, but it was impossible.
By Thursday night I was back in Ramla and exhausted. I think I spent the following weekend sleeping and refusing to get out of bed.
I had such a great time that for my birthday in April I want to go all over again, using the hot weather as a plus and exploring camp sites all over! But don't get to excited, at my rate that blog won't be rambled about till July...
I want to end this Ramble on two words: thanks Emily.
Without my sister and her great idea of buying me a traveling/exploring Israel book, this trip would have been a mess. All of us are extremely thankful for it and it officially looks like it has survived the Titanic.
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