Today we set off for the Golan Heights. If we had planned this part of the trip a little better or at all, we would have stayed in the Galilee last night and driven around up there today without traversing back and forth across the state, but that was not the case. So using the map and not a GPS we traveled east and north, getting very close to the Lebanese border more than once. The views were beautiful and it was interesting to see how the terrain changed as we moved away from the sea and traveled north. We saw different kinds of agriculture as we as well as remains of Syrian bunkers as we moved east towards Syria. We did not know if the snow capped mountains in the distance were in Israel, Lebanon or Syria but they certainly marked a difference from the Negev and the Ramon Crater. We know we saw banana trees, oranges, maybe grapefruits, and many vineyards. We had two goals for today’s trip—see the Jordan River which we missed yesterday and go east without accidentally getting into Syria. We met both our goals. We got pictures of the river and did not set off an international crisis.
We traveled as far north and east as a town called Mas’ada, a Druse town up in the hills. While up there it felt like it could snow. We ate at a restaurant owned and run by a father and son team. The father was short and had a mustache and would not let us take his picture. The son was tall with a good command of both Arabic and Hebrew and he did well enough with the English. Food was good and relatively cheap and the service was courteous. We wanted to take pictures of something so that we could remember our visit but the town was so unremarkable we were at a loss. I did find a closed restaurant with an array of large cement figures such as men, chickens, and horses in the front so I did have something to snap.
The trip back was quick. Somehow, for the first time we missed rush hour traffic and arrived at Acre, out dinner destination in about one hour from pretty far north and east. We had no trouble getting into this town and made it to the waterfront where we climbed around the ruins and wall (and then read about them) before it got dark. We ate dinner at this upscale place called Uri Buri which came with a high recommendation from some friends who shall remain nameless. Well, the food was good, not the best meal I ever ate, but good. Bonnie liked hers more than I liked mine, too much pepper for me. But the service was awful, just awful, we asked for water twice, never got it,food came fast but then the wait staff disappeared. Well, we got out of there by getting up and asking for the check and then having to take the check up to the desk. For an expensive meal, it pissed me off. So to make up for it, we drove around the old part of Acre, of course after reading the guide book, I said turn right and Bonnie said no, and I said turn right and she finally turned right, right into the Old City. It was like it wasn’t there, it was a Harry Potter experience, nothing is there, and then you walk through a door to a whole universe of activity. The Old City is totally Arab and teeming. Here she was in a car, fortunately a small car riding around on narrow streets made for a horse and wagon, or a donkey and wagon. She continued around trying to get out and met up with a narrow, too narrow pathway but several local men more than willing to help us get out. They were kind and were laughing, knowing hardly any English, but surpassing our Arabic which includes, saalam, Inchal alla, and shogrin. They got us turned around and then she followed some other small car out of the maze and onto a street wide enough to avoid cats or people or knocking off the side view mirrors.
Tomorrow Haifa and hopeful to see a new baby relative. And maybe another trip north, up the sea coast to the Lebanese border. (I was there with Michael in 1989).
Just an aside, we have noticed a lot of military type aircraft flying overhead. Might have something to do with relations with Lebanon?
No comments:
Post a Comment